There are eight children in my family. I have four brothers and three sisters. I am second oldest.

Zach, my youngest sibling was born in 1985. I was 12 at the time. He was a lucky little boy. He had seven doting brothers and sisters and a mountain of hand me downs. His nickname all throughout his toddler years was “Naughty”.

He was loads of fun. We taught him lots of bad words. He was like a living toy for my friends and I.

One time when he was three he walked to Shopko. It was 2 miles from home. He was just following his Mother to the store.

I was a High School senior when Zach had his first day of school. Just before he left for school my Mother requested that I take his picture.

Zach, being the cheeky little boy that we had created made this expression for us to enjoy today, 20 years later.

I showed it to him yesterday and he said “I remember that, Mom told me to go stand outside for a picture. I used to chew on my backpack strap. You can see where it’s getting worn out on my left shoulder.”

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Photo tips, philosophical ramblings and technical information:

Camera used: Vivitar V335. 28mm lens Tri-x film. Exposure: Sunny 16. 1/250th at f16.5

Zach and his shadow from a convienent “V” for our eye to dance up the frame and back down. I printed the image in the darkroom at Capital High School in 1990. I was careful to put his shoe, head and shadow right at the edge to reinforce the strong diagonal elements.

Diagonals look great in images. They just do.

-Jon Ball is a guy with a photographic habit. www.studiojonball.com. Thank you for reading photo tips.