Long Lost Film

Diary photos from the archives (pt.1)

I just finished re-reading Girls Blue by Hiromix, a treasured photo book that one of my best friends Richard got for me for my 30th birthday. Inspired by Hiromix’s diary photos, I thought it could be time to revisit the diary format and publish a lot of film photos I’ve had sitting on desktops and in folders for years, from living in Europe in my twenties to spending a sweaty summer in LA, from coming back to Sydney and feeling weird. They’re all shot on an Olympus MJU II, which my dad got me for my 18th birthday. Here they are:

Troieschyna in Kiev in the summer of 2017. We got a sweaty and confusing metro here just to see these Brutalist apartment blocks.

Valentina in Berlin, autumn of 2017. We rented this apartment off a German playwright, and the balcony looked directly onto the TV Tower.

Clifton’s Cafeteria, Downtown LA, 2016. It was the largest public cafeteria in the world when it closed in 2018. Ray Bradbury ate at Clifton’s as a struggling writer and celebrated his 89th birthday here in 2009. Clifton’s opened in 1935, and Michael Stern described the atmosphere; "once you arrive at Clifton's, though, you can feel the magic that used to be.” George Pendel also describes Clifton’s in his novel Strange Angel as a “surreal sanctuary from a broken world." Like so many things sacred and weird, Clifton’s has now closed and has been replaced by a high-end bar, no longer a haven for artists to eat for free.

Baby-faced Tilly in my favourite Berlin apartment on Reichenberger Straße, 2015. We had so many friends staying with us in this apartment that we bought this grey IKEA mattress for the living room, which would end up being the site of so many kickons, including a ketamine-fuelled viewing of Hausu (1977).

Richie at a house party in Petersham, likely early 2017. Peak sweltering Sydney summer. The police shut the party down, but didn’t tell anyone off for doing nangs, which was nice of them.

Berlin Pride, 2018. Known in Berlin as Christopher Street Day. This CSD was hot and sticky, but as soon as the parade ended, the skies opened up and bucketed down on us. There was glitter through all the gutters.

Full moon in Lisbon, 2018. I think I made a wish on it.

Dropping Valentina at Sydney airport, 2016. Valentina was moving to LA (not pictured are all of her bags). I think I might have been crying when I took this.

Purple dusk in Kreuzberg, 2015. I was always trying to capture golden hour in Görlitzer Park, and I think this was as close as I ever got to the real colours of the sky.

Windows in Lisbon, 2018. More sacred well-made objects.

Bertil, Berlin summer 2017. I think we were on our way to drink in the park, or a magazine opening party.

Lost Lenin, summer, Berlin 2017. It was the first warm day, and we got a regional S-Bahn to a randomly selected small town. Drunk on Vitamin D, we climbed over a fence to explore this abandoned manor, frozen in time.

Alex, Summer of 2017, Prague. Prague was criminally busy, and so instead of attempting to sightsee we stripped by the river and drank ciders.

Halloween, Autumn of 2017, Berlin. The year I dressed up as a member of the Manson family and was kicked out of a venue in Berlin for the first time ever.

Toyota Crown Taxi, Spring of 2017, Tokyo. I now have a mini version of this exact car on the fireplace mantle in my bedroom.