Aspiring photographer, Sam Cohen, knows there must be more to life than helping his father run the family business in Cleveland, Ohio. He sets off for New York City and stumbles into an unforgettable adventure in the heart of the celebrity and art world of the 1980's. He apprentices with "Johnny Strand the Photo Man" in his wacky commercial studio. Sam gets his big break a year later when he becomes the assistant to the world-famous photographer Izzy Teivel. It is an auspicious start for Sam but reality sets in and dysfunction prevails. Izzy is revered by her fans, clients, and subjects but is unrealistically demanding to everyone, especially Sam, who finds himself questioning his choices and sanity. The pressure nearly causes a nervous breakdown manifesting as nightmares of his father's past as a survivor of the death camps during the WWII Holocaust. Sam's guilt in leaving his family behind is triggered by Izzy's portrait assignment photographing the famous Jewish writers Elie Wiesel and I.B. Singer for Vanity Way magazine. Morally conflicted, Sam has to decide whether to return to Cleveland to help his estranged father and overprotective mother or to stay in New York City and pursue his dreams.

Aspiring photographer, Sam Cohen, knows there must be more to life than helping his father run the family business in Cleveland, Ohio. He sets off for New York City and stumbles into an unforgettable adventure in the heart of the celebrity and art world of the 1980's. He apprentices with "Johnny Strand the Photo Man" in his wacky commercial studio. Sam gets his big break a year later when he becomes the assistant to the world-famous photographer Izzy Teivel. It is an auspicious start for Sam but reality sets in and dysfunction prevails. Izzy is revered by her fans, clients, and subjects but is unrealistically demanding to everyone, especially Sam, who finds himself questioning his choices and sanity. The pressure nearly causes a nervous breakdown manifesting as nightmares of his father's past as a survivor of the death camps during the WWII Holocaust. Sam's guilt in leaving his family behind is triggered by Izzy's portrait assignment photographing the famous Jewish writers Elie Wiesel and I.B. Singer for Vanity Way magazine. Morally conflicted, Sam has to decide whether to return to Cleveland to help his estranged father and overprotective mother or to stay in New York City and pursue his dreams.

Steven H. Begleiter is a noted American photographer, born in Cleveland, Ohio. He has published five books on or about photography (Begleiter Books) His first photography book, Fathers and Sons, Abbeville Press 1989, was a commercial and critical success launching career as a much sought out portrait photographer. Leaving Cleveland is his sixth book and first book of fiction. He currently resides in Denver, Colorado and is an adjunct professor of photography at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. He has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania School of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and the Rocky Mountain School of Photography in Missoula, Montana. He earned his degree in Photojournalism from Kent State University. His photography has been published internationally and his artwork is collected and exhibited in galleries. To learn more, go to: www.begleiter.com and to learn more about his book Leaving Cleveland subscribe to his blog at www.Leavingcleveland.Blog