Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify.
Henry David Thoreau
Since the late 1990s I’ve been carrying a Leica M6 camera. It was the perfect tool for the photographic projects I was working on and together we made thousands and thousands of negatives. I described the camera as “beloved”.
This past weekend I sold it, a gesture toward simplifying life.
The camera is haunted by memories. Those memories trigger a nostalgic reaction that makes decisions to dispose of things difficult. For the past couple of years it sat in it’s Domke satchel waiting for another project to come to life even though I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
I almost kept it. Going through contact sheets and finished prints I was swept up into those moments in silver that I relived in my head. How could I abandon them?
Standing in the darkroom I could see the past; the Leica, the image I made in the early 1970s in my apartment, the Ben Hur book I bought at the Warner Theater in the early 1960s. Details, evidence of my existence are everywhere. They have weight and I feel it.
The Leica couldn’t sit quietly in the cupboard. I thought about it. Felt bad about it. Made plans to use it. It consumed energy. It had to go.
And it has.
When Vespa scooters entered by life the world I was experiencing changed as did the photographic needs that arose. The Leica fell into disuse as digital photography showed its value. And it wasn’t long before Scooter in the Sticks was born, a different project with different needs, that relegated the Leica into memory.
When I sealed the deal to sell it I only felt relief. It was one less thing I whispering in my head.
For me, Thoreau was right, life does get frittered away by the little details. I’m making an effort to simplify life.
Books are next.
You still have the large format camera to fill your need for film. Back when film use was declining, I toyed with the idea of picking up a Leica as I always loved them. But didn’t.
Yes, the large format camera is here and waiting for me to test the loading and unloading off the Vespa. I have a project in mind but it’s a bit daunting at the moment, at least in my head.
And the pinhole camera is here as well. Much easier to pack that though both require tripods. We’ll see what develops — no pun intended.
Saw that you had sold the M6 on Instagram and was not entirely wurprised.
A Leica is forever or so it seems. Problem is the film used, is not and as you noted digital has taken root. I had an M2 which just kept going even after two rebuilds. Sadly it was sold some years ago; the distributer in Canada changed, repair service would now be in the uSA and the problems of shipping back and forth every few years plus too my photographic needs were changing, allowed me to sell the camera for more than I paid 20 years prior. Do I miss it? Some, owever digital is so much easier; although I still miss the smells and experiences of the darkroom. It gets into your blood Steve!
Good image of yourself in the underground connecting tunnel at the head of the column; probably the best I’ve seen!
For now my Nikon F100 is now a shelf object, the Canon point and shoot digital which uses readily available AA batteries is used a s a glove-box walk-around camera. I don’t have a mobile telphone as there is no need. The primary camera is now a Nikon D750, a compromise between the D810 and D610; obtained as a demo courtesy of a friend at Nikon Canada. So far I like the device although as with most photographic devices of today, far more options than I’ll ever use, unlke the Leica which was very basic.
I don’t feel bad about letting the Leica go. I can always get another. But I do feel some sadness walking away from the process of shooting, developing and printing film. It had a unique spirit and quality from the moment I picked up the camera until the time where I was pulling a print off the drying screen in the darkroom. There are few things I do in life that had such a precise ritual and method and at some level it was comforting that I just can’t describe.
My friend Paul Ruby made the portrait of me. We were in State College one evening just walking around making street images. I had been “underground” photographing in a delivery area under some buildings. He caught me emerging from the depths.
Nikon was another long term friend beginning in the early 1970s until just a couple months ago when all our Nikon gear at work was replaced with a Canon system with the 5Ds and the 6D being the workhorses. We made the switch because we added a Canon C100 Mark III to the mix for video and it seemed crazy to be investing in lenses for two systems.
I didn’t feel anything letting the Nikons go though. In the DSLR realm they just don’t have any personality — just a tool. And they all come with a bible sized instruction book!
It was a depressing day when my film gear found new homes. Hasselblad X-Pan, Mamiya C330, Yashica Mat 124G, Leica R4, Mamiya 645, Nikon F100…they all held little pieces of my heart.
But like you said, they consumed time and energy that were better invested elsewhere.
I suppose it’s like saying goodbye to a close friend who you imagine you’ll never see again. I used a C330 for years but it didn’t trigger the feelings of the Leica. In that regard the Leica is unique being the only camera I really felt connected with. I’ve disposed of many other cool cameras over the years. It may be that it was the personal nature of the work I did with it that I’m really mourning…
simplification is key.
life is complicated enough without once in a while seeing the past sitting on a shelf, giving off guilty vibes.
True words Dom.
Lemme know before you start tossing books. I’ve seen a couple on the shelves I’d like to have. 🙂
Get in line. You’re parental unit wants first dibs…
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