iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Farewell to Warrane Sydney’s K sets: ‘R1’, the city’s first air conditioned suburban set, was just short of five years old when I took these photos at Parramatta, Burramattagal Country, on 4 October 1986. Forty years on, it looks like vandalism may have brought the farewell tours to a premature end

On a clear day, the sun reflects across the stainless steel of a set of double deck suburban railway carriages as they cross a newly built concrete bridge, above light (long weekend) traffic, with a low rise background, including an old style dine-in Pizza Hut store. The railway carriages have a unique set of windows, with small ‘hopper’ sections (for those memorable moments when the newfangled air conditioning units failed in a heat wave)

A few seconds later the train pulls up at Parramatta railway station, dwarfed by a tall concrete and blue glass office block and a concrete retaining wall, recently built for the duplication of the railway line. The composition is framed by the dashboard, rear view mirror and windscreen frame of a Datsun 120Y

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

A selection of colour digital and black and white film photos of the Weekend in Wistaria and Regency Fête events held at Parramatta Park

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

In pre-emptive celebration of what would have been John W Smith’s ninetieth birthday next week, here’s a PowerPoint-style compilation of some of my personal favourite anamorphic slides from his ‘CinemaScope™’ series of 1960-63

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

100 years ago: on 13 September 1926, the North-West Mail, an overnight passenger train travelling from Moree to Sydney, was climbing the grade towards Murulla Station when several heavily laden runaway freight wagons collided with it, killing twenty-six passengers. Photo by my grandfather

A photograph from the scene of the Murulla railway disaster of 13 September 1926: the worst railway accident in New South Wales before the Granville Bridge disaster, half a century later. In this photo, three members of the clean up crew look up towards the badly damaged front of steam locomotive 3292. The wreckage of the runaway break van has been piled up behind them, while the haze from the burning wool wagon lingers over the scene

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Streamline-moderne building, Roseville, Warrane Sydney

A black and white film photograph looking up at the round corner of a former bank branch. The sun glints in the central window, while the scene is partially framed by a largely bare, wintry plane tree and a band of clouds, whose looser curves sort of echo the shape of the building below it

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Yanada Moon over the city skyline, Warrane Sydney

Looking up towards a waning gibbous moon setting behind two office blocks and a construction site, which are bathed in the orange glow of dawn. The two office blocks are angular, in order to minimise the shadows they cast over a nearby park

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Cherry blossoms and a Torii gate, in the Japanese Garden, Auburn Botanic Gardens, Wangal and Wategoro Country

Looking up towards a Japanese Torii gate, in shiny red paint against a deep blue sky. In the foreground there are several branches of a cherry tree, with one pair of blossoms dominating the centre of the photograph

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Bidjiwong Eastern water dragon sunning itself in the Japanese Garden in Auburn Botanic Gardens, Wangal and Wategoro Country

A close up view of a large lizard resting on a rock, in front of the rugged brown back of a tree. The lizard’s grey with brown stripes camouflage is working pretty well in this context

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

“Errrrmerrrrgerrrrd, like, high maintenance drama queen? Hard no!…”

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Marshalite Monday 2/2: Found slide: All Saints Anglican Church, seen as a Holden ute runs the red of a Marshalite traffic signal at the corner of High Street and Murray Road, Preston, Naarm Melbourne, May 1957. Photo by Reverend Robert B Doing

On an overcast late autumn day in suburban Naarm Melbourne, we’re looking through an orderly tree-lined garden towards an early nineteen-thirties modern-gothic church, in particular its notice board, advertising a sermon by the photographer, visiting American evangelist, Reverend Robert B Doing. However, our attention is slightly distracted by what is happening in the foreground: immediately to the right of the notice board we see one of Melbourne’s unique Marshalite traffic signals: a set of dials indicating the traffic flow on top of a black pole with yellow stripes. The dial has moved to indicate that traffic in High Street has to stop and give right of way to traffic on Murray Road. A white FJ Holden ute on Murray Road has begun to cross High Street but that hasn’t stopped the beige FJ Holden ute of Northern Decorators, from the neighbouring suburb of Reservoir, racing past the red signal on High Street to cut off the other ute

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Marshalite Monday 1/2: Found slide: Marshalite traffic signal at the corner of Union and Whitehorse Roads, Mont Albert, Naarm Melbourne, February 1957. Photo by Reverend Robert B Doing

On a sunny summer day in suburban Naarm Melbourne, a Marshalite traffic signal, a locally designed invention using a set of dials to indicate traffic flow, approaches amber as a black car turns left from Union Road into Whitehorse Road, where a white Holden waits for the green. The Marshalite pole is black with yellow stripes, matching those of the traffic lights on the opposite side of the road: this intersection being unique in having both types of signal installed. The driver of the white car is looking in the direction of the photographer: he’s wearing sunglasses so it’s difficult to tell if his attention is drawn by the photographer or if he’s checking the Marshalite dial to see how long till the green light (or, indeed, both). To the left of the Marshalite a tall silver-painted pole holds a tensioning wire for the nearby tram terminus (extended across the intersection towards Box Hill nearly half a century later) and a red public fire alarm pole reminds us of the time when household telephones were still a bit of a novelty. Across the road, besides another silver tram wire pole, is a pair of shops, Wendy Wool Shop, an Edwardian building brought into the mid-century modern world by the sign’s typography and a pink and white striped canvas awning, and a more soberly grey and yellow newsagency of a similar vintage, advertising newspapers; including The Argus (which had folded a few weeks earlier), The Age, The Herald and The Globe; magazines; The Australasian Post and Garden are partially visible; and its role as an agency for the Bank of New South Wales

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

(What happens when a trend hits just while you’re contemplating why you love the largely-ignored live-demo-rushed-to-single 1984 version of “Throw Your Arms Around Me” so much more than the well-produced-and-remixed 1986 version… and you just know…) youtu.be/uUZzGk1dL-E?...

youtu.be

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Hunters & Collectors & Middle Management

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Found slide: Goods train, heading to Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa Gisborne, crossing a bridge at Opoutama, Aotearoa New Zealand, Easter 1960. Photo by a member of the Elson family

On a clear autumn day, a goods train, led by a pair of steam locomotives, crosses a modernist concrete bridge over an inlet leading into Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke Bay. The white steam trail from the leading locomotive dominates the blue sky, while a white wooden house with a yellow verandah overlooks the inlet at right. In the distance, visible between the angular bridge pylons, the Māhia Peninsula can be seen

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Traffic cone in the Domain Express Walkway, a lengthy (and now immobile) travelator, Warrane Sydney

Looking along a mid century modern travelator, with its walls lined with murals, ending with a relief sculpture of the Sydney Opera House in the distance. The foreground is dominated by a traffic cone, casually placed on the handrails, which, like the rest of the travelator, haven’t moved for years

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

About two years ago an acquaintance; of the same age as myself; was midway through an “everything about 80s music was great” rant when the thought crossed my mind: “you’ve forgotten ‘Day Trip to Bangor’, haven’t you?”… of course, that damned song has been stuck in my mind ever since…

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Found slide: An Olympic pole vaulter trains at the Olympic Village, West Heidelberg, Naarm Melbourne, 1956 [photographer unknown]

On a slightly overcast day, a pole vaulting athlete wearing a casual dark tank top and white shorts with dark lining, clears a high crossbar, feet high in the air

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

“We are now approaching Troy. Please ensure your trays are in the upright position, your weaponry is stowed in the overhead compartments or under your seat and that your window shades are up… [off Odysseus’s look]… sorry, force of habit…”

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Looks like the AusAlert test tech crew aren’t across the idea that many of us haven’t been able to afford to upgrade our phones since the 2010s…

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Still waiting for the AusAlert test… guessing that there are still some issues to iron out…

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

In celebration of the centenary of public transport in Kamberri Canberra, here’s a 2024 photo I took of one of Clem Cummings’s iconic bus shelters, in Haig Park, which have now been sheltering the city’s bus commuters for slightly more than half the local bus service has been in operation…

A rounded concrete bus shelter, painted cream with an orange fibreglass window frame (the actual windows have long since gone), stands on the side of a road, with a fenced-off blue excavator working on a new pathway through the parkland behind it

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Some black and white film photos with a couple of colour digital shots from yesterday’s Whale Watching walk at Watsons Bay, Birrabirragal Country. Starting with the old tram line and ending with an “is it or isn’t it?” shot of a distant plume between the second and third whale watching cruises

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

About the same age as Sooty and from a similar background: apparently a local runaway turned communal cat, then part of our household, this blue-eyed Himalayan cat was more adventurous but age caught up with him: farewell Blue

A portrait of a Himalayan cat; blue-eyed with dark brown face and ears contrasting with the rest of his cream coloured fur; sitting in front of shrubbery

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Much needed night out to see Yve Blake’s ‘Mackenzie’ (or, as we theatrical types know it, ‘The SPop Play’) at Bell Shakespeare’s Nutshell… full of sound and fury, signifying… quite a lot, actually…

A grey bearded man wearing a cap, with the song title “City Girl”, standing in front of a poster for the play “Mackenzie”… a twenty-first century pop culture adaptation of The Scottish Play

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Found slide: Looking north along Elizabeth Street and Hyde Park, Warrane Sydney, from the furniture branch of Mark Foy’s department store, September 1944. Photo by a visiting member of the US service personnel stationed in the South Pacific

Alt text: Looking out from a department store window, about six storeys up, along a busy street and landscaped park on a sunny, if slightly misty or smoggy, spring morning in wartime Sydney. The left side of the street is lined with early twentieth century office buildings (only a few of the buildings partly visible in the background are still standing). Several trams and cars run along the street: a parked car at left has a gas bag fitted on its roof due to petrol rationing. Passengers are boarding a tram at a stop in the lower left, while a track repair crew work behind it, possibly extending the safety zone as petrol rationing increases passenger numbers. There are relatively few people in the park: the shadows suggest that lunch hour is still an hour or so away. Besides trees, the south-eastern edge of the park is marked with an obelisk-shaped ventilation shaft in the middle distance and the blocky brick entrance to Museum underground railway station at lower right

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Weaned under our house by a neighbour’s cat about 18 years ago, adopted by the street as a collective pet after his owner left, too man-shy for that to continue, our cat from lockdown onwards: from a tough beginning to a beloved pet: farewell “Sooty” (his communal pet name stuck), circa 2008-2026

A black cat, with yellow eyes and grey and brown fur tones, looks back from a balcony rail as the sun sets over the garden behind him

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

100 years ago: on 10 June 1926, the Brisbane Limited left Sydney, bound for Wallangarra, where a narrow gauge train was to take the passengers on to Brisbane. Tragically, as the train passed Aberdeen at around 9:50 pm, a wooden viaduct collapsed under the train. Photo by my grandfather

A slightly warped nineteen-twenties photographic print of the wreckage of two railway carriages, as the rescue team begins to bring the ladders down. Sightseers are starting to join the clean up effort, under the watchful eye of a uniformed man; probably a railway official rather than a police officer; at left. Among the people standing in front of him, a woman in a conspicuously stylish combination of a fur overcoat and chequered cap: she was possibly one of the troupe of J C Williamson actors, on their way for a planned season of the play ‘Katja’, who had fortunately survived in one of the worst damaged carriages with only a few injuries

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

A trio of black and white film photos from today’s visit to the University of Sydney, Gadigal Country: Suspended studies; No Stopping Information; Shadow of a Gargoyle

Looking at a multi-storey bridge linking two academic buildings, with chairs and desks for studying sort of suspended in the air

Two signs, “No Stopping” and “Information”, outside the Power Institute of Art and Visual Culture

The shadow of a gothic revival academic building is cast upon the grid-patterned wall of a mid twentieth century modern lecture theatre. Above the castellated pediments, the silhouette of a gargoyle stands out

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

While “Will you still need me?” and “Will you still feed me?” are both valid points, I feel that “Will you still offer emotional support when The Verlaines’ ‘Death and The Maiden’ turns 50, when I’m 64?” is the deal breaker…

A black and white film close up of New South Wales Government bus fleet number, 2033, a 1948-built Leyland OPD2 double decker, with disembarking passengers reflected in the freshly polished paint

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Found slides: Pen-blwydd hapus i’r Rheilffordd Talyllyn yn 75 oed! Happy 75th preservation anniversary Talyllyn Railway! A trip from Tywyn Wharf to Abergynolwyn on the Talyllyn Railway, Cymru Wales, 1957. Photos by Graham J Habbin

At Tywyn Wharf (then Towyn Wharf) Station at the western end of the Talyllyn Railway, steam locomotive 4, the Edward Thomas, prepares to run around a collection of narrow gauge open and enclosed carriages, in order to carry summer holiday passengers to Abergynolwyn. The driver is in the cabin at right, the guard at the other end of platform at left, while halfway along the train a man dressed in black appears to be signalling something to the driver; possibly an all-clear to let him know it’s safe to proceed

Looking east at Abergynolwyn Station as the first passengers arrive for the journey back to Tywyn Wharf. A family are waiting near the slate station building while a railway employee walks along the platform

Looking east, again, towards Abergynolwyn Station as passengers start to settle into the open carriages. The Edward Thomas is at the front, while the trees around the station and hills in the background frame the scene

A view of the platform at Abergynolwyn Station, looking west, with the train now almost ready for its return journey. The open carriages are full of holidaymakers in summer clothes; and quite a few hats and cloth caps. Another passenger is boarding one of the enclosed carriages towards the end of the platform, with another man, possibly the railway employee seen in the earlier slide, partially visible at right. Meanwhile, in the shadows beyond the platform, two children are looking at the locomotive

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

I had to cut a bit of detail from the caption to fit the various word limits of social media but Sydneysiders of a certain age will notice that, yes, my first serious photo walk was plotted around an independent record store and a second hand book and record store. Very much on brand…

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

This week is the fortieth anniversary of my first efforts with 35mm photography (the big anniversary of my photography is a few months away): Anthony Hordern’s store from outside Ashwood’s; and the AWA Tower from outside Red Eye, Sydney, 8 May 1986; street corner in Ermington, 7 May 1986

Looking upwards towards an Edwardian department store from under a shop awning covered in old posters. The department store building is in decrepit condition (most of the building had already been demolished). A modern brutalist office tower can be seen in the background

A nineteen thirties communication tower/lookout/art deco landmark is silhouetted against an overcast sky, while a nearby crane works over a building site between two older city buildings. A curved concrete structure frames the top of the photograph

A suburban street corner in mid nineteen eighties Sydney, with mid century bungalows with well tended gardens on either side (both have recently been demolished). In the distance the hill leading to Top Ryde looms over the railway and road bridges across the Parramatta River

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Found slide: Two Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force personnel passing statues and poppies on their way back to the underground RAAF operations room in a disused railway tunnel under the Botanic Gardens, Warrane Sydney, September 1943. Photo by US Army Sgt C E Stannard

On a sunny day, two women in dark navy uniforms, in the left background, have just climbed a stairway in a public garden. They are passing two white marble statues, heading towards a path lined with white, orange and yellow poppies. On the horizon behind the statues, the South Head Lighthouse can just be seen

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Gotta love the way the iPhone struggles against its preprogrammed resistance to ever getting the moon in focus…

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

I thought it was Boomers and Gen-Xers trying to ban the music video for ‘Age of Reason’ once they realised that, when viewed now, the sign in the background, counting through the future years to come, fades out about two decades ago…

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Kewpie doll display at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show, Wangal Country

A close up photograph of a kewpie doll, wearing a green tulle skirt with Star-shaped sequins and a yellow feather in her hair, with glimpses of other dolls in blue and pink tulle on either side. The sun is shining through the feather. In the left background, part of the booth’s “Kewpie Doll” sign, in white text on a crimson background, can be seen. In the right background a flag is silhouetted behind a grove of trees. During the closing ceremony at the Sydney Olympic Games, a bit more than a quarter of a century ago but only a few hundred metres to the left of this scene, a giant kewpie doll danced across the arena to the rhythm of John Paul Young’s classic song “Love is in the Air”

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Found slide: Looking from a garden bed outside the Parnell Rose Garden towards Waitematā Harbour, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, January 1947. Photo by William F Herlikofer

On a partly cloudy day, a long bed of red flowers, lined by a low wall of volcanic stones on the left and a grassy slope on the right, divides two roads: Gladstone Road, heading downhill towards a leftwards bend, and a park road, along a plateau heading towards a rightwards bend. Gladstone Road is lined with telegraph poles and wooden fences, with a car park at the bend. The park road turns past a grove of pōhutukawa trees, with late summer blossoms just visible among the dark green leaves. In the background, two freighters are sailing out of Waitematā Harbour, past the Devonport Naval Base on the north shore. At left, a pilot boat is heading towards the city’s waterfront, passing two flying boats moored in Mechanics Bay

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Thirty years ago I travelled from Sydney to Melbourne on a coach without a working toilet… unless the ISS can be quickly repurposed as Albury Viennaworld in space, I can see problems…

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

I remember a time, about thirty years ago, when I’d watch ‘Network’ every time it played on television… with each screening, the point at which the plot moved from relatable commentary into dystopian fantasy edged closer and closer to the final reel… until it became too uncomfortable to go on…

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Found slides: For the 70th anniversary of Naarm Melbourne’s Harris Trains: Following a seven car Harris set, led by 504M, as it passes through the Jolimont rail yards into Flinders Street Station, June 1956. Photos, taken from the top of the SEC Building, by John W Smith

Looking across the Jolimont rail yards as a blue and yellow Harris set passes a Red and Grey Tait set in the midst of the Jolimont marshalling yards. Most of the trains are the older Taits and ‘Dogboxes’ but another Harris set can be seen glinting among them just left of centre in the background. Further in the background there is traffic on Wellington Parade, passing Fitzroy Gardens and the massive Cliveden mansion in East Melbourne, while the suburb of Jolimont behind the marshalling yards bustles with Italianate townhouses and art deco flats. In the lower left we can see the platforms of Princes Bridge Station, lined with billboards

The Harris set is about to pass under Swanston Street as it approaches Flinders Street Station, whose dome looms on the right side of the image. A pedestrian on Swanston Street is passing below the dome, along a poster-lined parapet. In the background we can see the eastern end of some of Flinders Street Station’s platforms, with some red-painted works cars on the sidings. Strings of light bulbs line the dome: these photos were taken at the same time as the Flinders Street Station clock tower slide I posted a while back, in which a working crew could be seen hanging new lights in anticipation of the imminent Olympic Games. The train’s ultimate destination is illegible but is most likely Broadmeadows

Harris car 504M pulling into Flinders Street Station (I can’t tell which platform… maybe platform six?). Most of the waiting passengers are still seated but some are walking along the platform and a family group at right are standing in front of the seated passengers. A similar, if slightly less busy, tableau appears on the next platform in the background. In the foreground there are some visible signs of the main station building: a parapet at left and what appears to be a pair of Edwardian ventilation shafts at right

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

“If I told him once, I told him a thousand times, ‘Don’t go, Julie!’ I said, ‘It’s the Ides of March, beware already!’…” 2,060 years on, an appropriate day to see ‘Julius Caesar’ by Bell Shakespeare at the Sydney Opera House [additional dialogue in this post by Wayne and Shuster]

A pair of posters promoting a season of William Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’ by Bell Shakespeare. On the left we can see portraits of the cast and creatives, on the right the main promotional image of a lean and hungry Leon Ford as Cassius

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

… and you can just make out the site of yesterday’s post as the camera draws back in the final shot…

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

On 23 February 1976, AC/DC, the Rats of Tobruk Pipe band and an Australian Broadcasting Commission film crew set off down Swanston Street… we salute you… Found slide: Swanston Street, Naarm Melbourne, looking north from Collins Street, circa March 1976 (photographer unknown)

A vertically oriented streetscape of early to mid twentieth century office buildings on a sunny day. A white-helmeted traffic police officer moves aside as traffic passes by, while a W2 class tram, heading for East Brighton, waits in the background. A sign on a yellow-painted traffic light pole indicates that we are looking at Swanston Street

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Found slide: St Kilda Road, Naarm Melbourne, looking south from from the Linlithgow Avenue intersection, January 1947. Photo by William F Herlikofer

On a sunny summer’s day, looking down a wide road with two avenues of trees dividing the main central section from the side access lanes. The traffic is light, mainly contemporary cars and trucks, with a much older car coming into the frame from the side road at left. In the left background, between the old car and a Brunswick green lamppost, a woman dressed in black is walking in the direction of the Shrine of Remembrance, hidden behind the trees and statue immediately in front of the photographer

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Early morning reflections on a cloudy day, Cook + Phillip Park, Warrane Sydney

Looking down at an ornamental pool in a city park, with the reflections of trees and a cloudy sky distorted by the ripples on the surface and the low light slowing the camera’s speed

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Eric Riddler @eriddler.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

[citation needed: The Masters Apprentices on the same bill as The Templars? Has to be one of the Masters’ first gigs outside Tarndanya Adelaide, in 1966]

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