[Leica] Farewell, My Lovelies

[george.imagist at icloud.com (George Lottermoser)]

> On Feb 8, 2016, at 11:15 PM, W.C. Clough <billclough042541 at gmail.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> USA
> TEXAS
> VICTORIA
> 08 February 2016
> 
>       I have cleaned the bodies, the black M6 and the chrome, 
> double-stroke M3, cycled their shutters at 1/1000 a number of times to 
> keep them in shape and then carefully wrapped them in protective bubble 
> wrap for their journey.
> 
>       As best I could, I cleaned their lenses ? the 35mm Summicron, the 
> 90mm Elmar, the Skopar 21mm ? each with their incredible stories. Soon, 
> equally protected, they joined the bodies, all cushioned and sealed inside 
> the double-cardboard box for their trip to a new existence.
> 
>       Someone once said that all farewells should be brief. That 
> philosophy is the great tradition of Episcopal funeral services, a quick 
> service to spare the grief of those left behind.
> 
>       In this case, the rapidity was to prevent second thoughts. The 
> cameras had been on there shelf for so long it was a surprise to find an 
> exposed roll of Kodak BW400 still in the M6. What frames are latent are as 
> much a mystery as where, in today?s digital world, to have the film 
> developed.
> 
>       ?Of course we still develop film,? says the manager at the local 
> Walgreen?s Drug Store. ?But we put the images on a CD. You don?t get the 
> negatives back.?
> 
>       The company buying the equipment will never know the chain of events 
> that they represent.
> 
>       At the turn of the century I ran a computer search for ?Leica Users 
> Group.? To my astonishment and pleasure there was one. It had a strange 
> program called ?PAW.?
> 
>       At that time, the only bodies I owned was an antique ? and still 
> working ? Leica ii, and a double-stroke M3. The only lens was the first 
> lens I ever bought, a 1960 50mm Nikkor f1.4.
> 
>       A few, senior, LUG members may remember the story of that lens. 
> After a few days of shooting, the aperture was getting stiff. I found 
> leafs of the iris floating freely inside. I wrote a long, nostalgic obit 
> for the lens on the LUG which prompted a score of messages all with ?Focal 
> Point? in the subject line.
> 
>       Focal Point was a company in Colorado specializing in repairing old 
> lenses. A telephone call indicated the problem was common and familiar; 
> the cost would be about $125.
> 
>       I was the news director of the public radio station in Corpus 
> Christi. It was the smallest market public radio station in the country. 
> It ran pledge drives for light bulbs. I was pretty sure I could afford to 
> fix the lens, barely.
> 
>       Then came the invoice for $250. Another obit on the LUG, explaining 
> I couldn?t afford the repair.
> 
>       In less than a week, the lens arrived, paid in full. I still don?t 
> know who to thank. No greater example exists of the LUG being a family.
> 
>       I have kept the Nikkor. It has earned a special place on the 
> collector shelf.
> 
>       The next link in the chain was an email from LUG member no longer 
> active. ?What is your mailing address?? he messaged. I sent it. In a few 
> days a 90mm f4 Elmar arrived. He had found it on a shelf, unused, and 
> thought I might make use of it.
> 
>       A few weeks later, there was a message on my desk that read ?Leica,? 
> with a phone number. It was from a photojournalist who was spending his 
> retirement driving around the country in an RV. When he drove into a town, 
> he checked out the camera stores, and then, at the next town, passed on 
> what Leica bargains he had found in the previous town.
> 
>       He told me that in El Paso, he had found a 35mm f2.8. ?There?s only 
> one camera store there and they want to get rid of it,? he said.
> 
>       He was wrong. There were six cameras stores in El Paso. Naturally, 
> the correct one was the last I called. And, it wasn?t a f2.8, it was an f2.
> 
>        The company emailed me photographs of the lens. This is an 
> important point, because if it knew how to attach photos to an email, then 
> access to the internet was a given.
> 
>       The asking price was $250. At that time, the average used price for 
> a 35mm Summicron was $650.
> 
>       One of the best photographers I know is a colleague, Tyler Vance. He 
> sold me a M6 at half the market price. In short order, I had a Leica 
> system.
> 
>       In the ensuing years, I have hoped that the images I posted to the 
> LUG and to the annual yearbook partially paid for these incredible breaks.
> 
>       Age demands its dues. Over those same years, digital cameras have 
> come into their own. I am just as slaved to the ability to preview as I am 
> to auto focus. So, the Leicas lived in limbo, locked in the camera closet.
> 
>       I still have the old Kinderman tanks: 1,2 4 and 8-reel tanks. But, 
> at 74, I have to admit I?m simply not willing to go back to the game.
> 
>       So, earlier this week, I sold them all. Like a father watching his 
> offspring spring off to their own worlds, I hope they will find a home 
> where they will be as respected and as loved as I loved and respected them.
> 
>       I watched them disappear into a FedEx truck with a smile, a tear, 
> with great sadness and regret. It breaks my heart.
> 
>       I had to wait for the truck to leave. Sending them off was enough of 
> a betrayal. I couldn?t live with myself if they had seen me turn to the 
> computer to study the latest reviews of the Fuji X-Pro2.
> 
>       Farewell, my lovelies.

Beautiful, melancholy prose.



George Lottermoser
george.imagist at icloud.com