Leonard Nimoy in London
Creation Convention, January 9th – 11th 2004

Other guests:
Nana Visitor, Robbie Duncan McNeill, Tom Hardy and Richard Arnold

No audio recordings were allowed.
The weekend was a mix of guest panels, music videos, a theater show "Seascape With Sharks And Dancers", a documentary and slides shown by Richard Arnold

Leonard was in on the 10th. First he held a one hour guest panel focused on Star Trek and proceeded as in Bonn (1999) beginning with humor and information. When he shared his insurance has calculated the days of life expectancy I wondered: Leonard might not have informed them about the millions and millions of wishes "Live long and prosper" he received and he continues to receive them every day.

He showed footage of the making of ST IV: The whales were created with high technique and a material which does not show wrinkles as plastics would do. The only life shots of whales are those taken in the open sea. The huge flipper and the small whale (in comparison to a person's size) moved in a way which even fooled seals in a tank...

Everybody enjoyed the bloopers of ST IV and the stories Leonard told us about. E.g.: After Kirk and Spock were forced to leave the bus a sound makes the scene unusable. Cameras still rolling Spock goes on: "What does it mean 'correct change'? ... Isn't this your home planet? You should know. Aren't you familiar with your own customs? ..."

A Q & A session followed where ST questions were asked.

Again Leonard answered everybody very friendly, knowing that each person asks the question for the first time.

Immediately afterwards the photo op session was scheduled. Leonard greeted everybody approaching his seat in a very special way and everyone felt the presence of a true gentleman. Amazing, how many people got their chance having a photo taken in only half an hour’s time for all of us. Directly after he left the room the autograph session was on. Hundreds of people queued being called row by row. Most of them bringing Spock pictures, some plastics, posters or books. Some brought the book of photography "Shekhina" and besides writing non – stop Leonard managed to make eye contact or make a comment now and then. I believe everybody admired him for his concentration and kindness.

Only a short time later the main event began: "Pictures, poems and prose" I know that I was not the only one in the audience having saved all year to pay for a golden seat. Looking around you could see people from Wales, Hungary, Netherlands, Germany a. o., mostly from England of course. Susan Bay Nimoy attended, sitting at the side of the hall.

Before Leonard entered the stage a picture of an old camera, the kind he has used, was projected on the screen. He began to share how he had started taking photos when he was 11 years old and how he developed them in the bathroom he had turned into a darkroom.

He showed a picture of his grandfather he had taken and some pictures he took in Spain.

Referring to the presence of God revealing herself in the flesh, in light or movement, he began to share his view of "Shekhina" (the dwelling of God, the presence) with us. He also talked about his first impression of the blessing when he was a boy and the Kohanim shouted the blessing to the congregation.

Then Leonard blessed us by reciting all verses: Lev., 4: 6 ff. in Hebrew and added some other verses to it.

This was a very precious moment in our lives. Showing us some more slides, most of them taken from the book "Shekhina", he allowed us to get closer to his Shekhina by explaining his relationship to the photography of light and movement with the female body, sometimes covered, sometimes revealed. He shared, too, that it only happened later that he could photograph the direct look of the model at him. This was not the case with the first pictures he took. Leonard ended the show by reading "I am an incurable romantic" and – again – did not fail to touch the audience with it. Unexpectedly he offered a chance to talk about his latest work. Afterwards we all were sure: This show left a deep impression on us.

Report by Margitta; pictures by Margitta and Ibolya