Apology 7: SLR Camera

Tender Loving Stuff
2 Haul Away Blvd.
Trash City
TLS 1H0

Nikon Nikkormat SLR
Garage/Studio
On the Lane

Dear Nikkormat SLR:

Please accept my apologies for not using you anymore. You probably have inkling about what happened, but I feel you are owed an explanation considering all your years of exemplary service.

You probably remember that you were first owned by my mother. She was taking a photography course, and something went wrong with her newly-bought Nikkormat. Instead of getting a loaner, she bought another one. When she got the first one back she gave it to my sister – I don’t know which one. Later she gave the other one to me.

I still feel nostalgic when I see you on the shelf. We worked together for a long time. I let you capture my image. Granted, you sometimes caught me off-guard. I blinked. You clicked. Sometimes you did not catch my smile at its widest, but snapped before it started to spread or when it was already fading from my face. These are quibbles. You did a good job, and I put you out to pasture when a newer model caught my eye.

The last time you broke, no camera store had parts for you. I had to drive to the Nikon distributer way out in the suburbs. The guy in the warehouse found the part, but said that if anything goes wrong again you cannot be fixed. They do not make parts anymore. After that you worked just fine, but it was not possible to download your pictures. I bought a digital point and shoot and upgraded to a Digital Single Lens reflex. When I was shopping for it, a young clerk in one of the big electronics stores expressed interest in buying you. I did not get her name and have not seen her since. I was not ready to part with you then, but I do promise if it happens again I will pass you on to somebody who really wants you. I can only hope that someone will want all your peripheral hangers-on as well: case, lenses, etc so I will not be stuck with disposing of them.

I am grateful for your lens. You made me see the two dimensional world differently than when I wrote or drew. You often confirmed my viewpoint, while showing me that I did not detect everything I saw.

Sincerely,