Relics

I wasn’t even cleaning clutter, but it came to hand. Kept in a night table drawer. A present. On the occasion of our engagement, almost 40 years ago. PopPop and Mom got this light meter for me to welcome me to the family. Someone must have told the of the time I invited Rachelle to my dorm room to see some of my photos. I took quite a bit of photos those early days with my first Pentax, when a Pentax was a professional camera, or at east a step above the camera of a casual hobbyist. My first years in Israel I had my camera with me everywhere I went, and I went everywhere I could in those days.

A light meter. Did I take better pictures, I wonder? I think in the years following, in the States, Rachelle became the more avid chronicler, of family trips and vacations. the slides,oy, another project waiting to be sorted and packaged for those who will covert to digital.

So what do I do with a device that has no use in today’s world of self adjusting cameras (or iPhones really) where you adjust the lighting after you take the shot? But a device with much more meaning that the purpose for which it was designed, or intended. Is it enough to snap an image of it and then reflect? Can I toss it? Can I let go? If I keep it, what won’t I keep? On the other hand, I got rid of three pairs of shoes, and only replaced them with two pairs of Crocs. That’s progress, really!