Devora's 'Stonesetting' tomorrow

Devora died within the past few months. I didn’t know her very well, as we only met twice. She was the ‘three score and ten’ and more years, and when we last met in August 2007 she was looking forward to continuing her studies on ‘Morality’, which she explained as the quest for ‘justice’ in society.

She had pursued lots of activities, as well as bringing up her family in Stretford; she had been active in Circle Dancing for many years [ http://circledancenetwork.org.uk/pages/1159300342.htm ], as well as photography. I met her only because in August 2006 I had mentioned to her daughter that I’d started an evening class in photography, and was needing to buy a fully-manual 35 mm. film camera. Her Mom, Devora, immediately offered me her Asahi Pentax K-1000 camera which had been lying around the house for a while. She also offered me a fully-kitted-out photo-processing darkroom. I seized the opportunity and drove up to Manchester, and ‘Hey voila!’ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentax_K1000 ].

We chatted incessantly about all sorts of things; illnesses (she had a few chronic ailments, and I’d just had an operation, so we traded symptoms), photography (she started early on, and by the 1960’s and ‘70s, she knew that she wanted a 35 mm. manual camera. The camera shop in Piccadilly told her about the excellent abilities of the Pentax K-1000 so she bought it. And she really enjoyed taking photos, and developing and printing), and families and religion and relationships, in a general sort of way.
She introduced me to China tea [http://www.waitrose.com/recipes/glossarytermpopup.aspx?glossaryid=323&hideVideoLinks=true and ] which I have drunk assiduously since (China tea (the Yunnan, Jasmine and Lapsang variety) is MUCH more refreshing than coffee, which I had been drinking lots of for the previous forty years !), and I find Waitrose is my best supplier in London.


So Devora, thanks so much for giving me the Pentax K-1000 camera. I have used it frequently in my search for better photos. I am especially proud of the colour transparencies I took in Docklands a year ago; I used Fuji Velvia 50 ISO film with the f 1.2 lens (see my earlier photo blog from July 2008, where one of these photos of Canada Water has been included). The vibrancy of colour, and the depth of shading makes that image very appealing to me. Yes I have other cameras now (a Pentax ES II 35 mm. film, Canon digital SLR, and a Lubbitel medium-format film (120 mm. x 120 mm. size negative) but the K-1000 remains my favourite. This is partly because of its provenance (I got to meet Devora, and to chat for hours that weekend) and partly because it is such a fabulous piece of equipment.
I am going to Manchester for Devora’s ‘stonesetting ceremony’ [http://www.theus.org.uk/the_united_synagogue/burial/stone_settings/ ] tomorrow morning. I will take a few minutes there to contemplate friendships, and life and accomplishments, and ideas and dreams. Then I’ll make my way back to London.