Four Days In Sydney
It’s not every day that I get one of my short films screened outside of the local area. Mostly that’s my own fault, I never really submit my work to festivals, something I should probably be doing. That said, I was invited to have my new film, This Shit's for the Birds, screened at Draw Space Gallery in Newtown, Sydney, alongside the screening it was originally commissioned for on Fitzroy Street in Tamworth as part of the Outdoor Gallery project. Being such a special occasion, my wife and I decided to catch the train down to Sydney to attend the screening and, of course, do a little exploring as well.
20/06/26
Now, despite the title of this blog post being Four Days in Sydney, two of those days were spent on the train getting there and back, so I can’t really say much about them—other than the fact I think I picked up the flu on the way down...
I also didn’t really take many photos on our second day, outside of a self-portrait or two in the bathroom and one photo of a rather impressive little cherub statue. No, this day was spent mostly shopping. I came away with three new records, my first film camera, and my second Super 8 video camera, but most inspiring of all was a copy of Christopher Herwig’s photobook on Soviet bus stops.
21/06/26
The next day, however, I got some photos and had quite the adventure. It’s probably worth noting at this point that I only brought one camera and lens with me on this trip: my Canon R8 fitted with my second (and much newer, much better condition) Helios 44-2. It’s a lens I thought I was intimately familiar with, but it turns out using one that’s in excellent condition compared to one that looks and feels like it’s been through hell and back is a very different experience. I guess what I’m trying to say is I missed focus on a good 80% of what I photographed on this trip, so I don’t have as much to show as I might have otherwise.
We started the day early—very early, sunrise early—and began our several-kilometre walk from our accommodation in Enmore to Alexandria. Enmore’s streets were incredibly inspiring to look at, but I found them surprisingly difficult to photograph. I really thought I’d come away with an absolute tonne of street photography, but honestly, I barely took anything. I don’t know why—maybe 58mm was just the wrong focal length. That said, despite the lack of photos, I absolutely loved the architecture and the overall look and feel of everything we walked past on our early morning adventure.
We eventually arrived at our first destination, a café called Grounded. I’d be lying if I said the vibes of the place weren’t off the charts—the café had an impeccable sense of style. Unfortunately (and not to get all food critic on you), despite the obvious care going on behind the scenes, I ended up being pretty underwhelmed by the food. It happens sometimes, I guess, but it was a little disappointing. What wasn’t disappointing, however, was the way the Helios rendered the bokeh in some of the sunflower photos (there was a Van Gogh exhibition on at the time). That’s what it’s all about, baby!
After breakfast, we went for a little walk around Sydney Park. It’s a really cool location—absolutely huge—and it was packed, but it didn’t really lead to much in the way of photos. I guess by that point the sun was already pretty high.
From Sydney Park, my uncle Darryl picked us up and took us to his music studio in Randwick, Fountain Head Studios. We had an absolutely lovely BBQ, followed by a tour of his upstairs studio. Kelly got to sit down at the piano and pretend she knew what she was doing while Darryl created the illusion on the keyboard that she absolutely did know what she was doing. It was a lovely way to spend 45 minutes. It had probably been close to 20 years since I last explored the studio, so it was great to see it again.
Before heading off to Newtown for the screening of my film, we had one more stop: Randwick Golf Course to watch my uncle and his jazz band, the DC3 High Flyers, kick out the jams by the ocean. It was a really cool location, and the band had fantastic energy. Everything was proving to be a great time right up until a sudden and unexpected shower hit not long after they started their second set, which was a real shame. I managed to get a few photos I’m really happy with during the performance, one in particular of Darryl that may or may not make its way into my portfolio at the end of the year. The close-up of him with the microphone. It’s very much the sort of image I gravitate towards when photographing bands because of the energy it captures. Like I said, it’s just a shame they had to wrap up due to the weather just as the light was getting really good.
I unfortunately didn’t get many photos during my film’s screening at Draw Space, but we had a nice little turnout, with quite a few people wandering in off the street to see what was going on. I also got to catch up with my friend and fellow animator John Paine during the event and even managed to grab a few portraits.
To wrap things up, after the screening we took my wife Kelly out to experience her first Pickleback—a shot of whiskey followed by a shot of pickle brine with a pickle—since she’s a big fan of pickles... and, uh... yeah, I think the photos speak for themselves.
All in all, it was a great little trip, and while I didn’t really have much luck with my photography, it was probably the closest thing I’ve had to a holiday since Christmas, so that was both nice and much needed. I just wish I’d come home feeling inspired instead of sick as a dog.
