Still testing.

Get in line. You’re parental unit wants first dibs…

True words Dom.

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…

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!

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.

life is complicated enough without once in a while seeing the past sitting on a shelf, giving off guilty vibes.

But like you said, they consumed time and energy that were better invested elsewhere.