Tropic Sandz - ISSUE 09
A trip down memory lane ft. Jessie Dinan
Housekeeping
Happy Friday, this week we take a look at some photos of me taken 10 years ago! So get ready for some vintage Lucy Lumen.
Before we do that though I wanted to let you know that I have updated my print shop with some black and white images from a recent roll. The photographer I am sharing with you today is a TriX gal through and through, so it seems fitting that I favor the few monochromatic shots I have for sale this month.
Buying a print is a great way to support the channel/podcast and is also a great way to get work into your hands and on your walls instead of your screens! I will be sharing some of my favorite print shops in the coming newsletters so let me know if you have a darkroom.tech shop and you could be featured in a future newsletter!
Tropic Sandz - Shot by Jessie Dinan
As I edge closer to turning 30 my past seems to be just popping up all over the place. This week, my past arrived on my doorstep in the form of a handmade zine limited to only 2 copies, one for me and one for Jessie. An ode to our friendship and the work we created together a whole 10 years ago.
I left school when I was 14 and 9 months and have basically worked full time since then. Jessie and I met at work, a local cafe by the beach where she made coffee and I served it to people. We hit it off really quickly, growing up near the beach everyone was tanned, blonde and either surfing or partying on the weekends, or both. As you can see in the pictures I wasn’t working on my tan. Instead I was pouring over every art house movie I could hire from the video store, memorizing all the lyrics to every possible underground band I had been exposed to, and just generally moping around wishing it wasn’t 30 degrees so I could more comfortably wear, only black and shield myself from the blazing sun that would nearly melt my permanently applied red lipstick.
I digress though, I mean come on, when don’t I? Jessie had cool tattoos, died hair, and a penchant for 90’s grunge, and she was older than me. Safe to say I thought she was the coolest person ever! Turned out she thought I was really cool too and we became inseparable at work, to the point of getting told off and more or less separated. Every moment we could steal we spent talking about how much we loved Courtney Love’s style, but how we also loved Kurt equally and always…how much we hated work. LOL
Jess was and is very arty in the true sense of the word. She is an extremely talented photographer who has been exhibited many times and even won awards, so definitely check out her website to scroll through her impressive achievements and admire her stunning black and white work!
Jess shot and devved her own film and whilst I had a few film cameras at the time and was mucking around with them, I remember thinking Jess was the real deal! At this point in my life I was more interested in being in front the camera so I jumped at the chance to do a shoot at a nearby abandoned motel that even had an empty pool! This motel was called Tropic Sands, which is also the name of this little zine Jess made me.
Techs and Specs
Being so long ago, Jessie was a bit hazy on some of the details but she is fairly sure the colour images were shot on her dads Pentax K1000 on most likely Fuji Superia. The square images were shot on an old heavy Kiev 88 that Jessie refers to as her “Homebrand Hasselblad”. It had a habit of overlapping frames, Jessie told me, and also left her poor finger bleeding after pressing the shutter! That’s dedication right there!
The black and white work was self developed in Jessie’s old faithful d76 and was shot on Tri-X 400 at box speed. Check out Jess on IG to see her street work also on Tri-X but pushed to 800, which is her go to way of shooting.
Jess moved around a lot and that made it harder to stay in contact back then. Eventually her and her family moved to New York and spent some years there which you can see documented in her street work. I have many fond memories of Jess but the one that sticks out the most is when she told me she was pregnant. Standing outside the cafe she worked at on Addison road in Sydney’s industrial suburb of Marrickville, Jess whispered to me that she was going to have a baby and I shouted out loud with joy, jumped up and down and then cried as she told me to be quiet. I remember wondering if I would ever be lucky enough to meet someone and have a baby like Jess had, the answer is yes, I was.
Podcast News
Tomorrow morning I am interviewing the incredible photographer, editor, cinematographer, colorist, VFX and YouTuber GXace, who if you aren’t aware of you most certainly should be! If you would like early access to this interview and more regular posts from me with updates, photos, discounts on prints and the occasional exclusive video then join me on Patreon. I only have one tier so everything is accessible to everyone no matter their monthly pledge. If being subscribed to something monthly isn’t your jam, then you can donate by buying me a coffee and I will love you forever :)
See you in the next newsletter my friends. If you loved this issue of Love Lucy then share it with a friend or on your socials. Thank you for reading.
Love Lucy xx
So very cool! Thank you for sharing.