35mm photographs from a month in Tbilisi

by Ollie Micek

44 pages
Self-published magazine

I went to Georgia not really knowing what to expect. Spent most of September walking around Tbilisi with my camera—sometimes aimlessly, sometimes with purpose, mostly somewhere in between. These are the photos that felt worth keeping.

Shot everything on 35mm because that’s what I had with me. Some came out better than others. I’ve printed them as a small magazine, the kind I staple together myself. Every copy is hand-numbered. It’s not fancy, but it feels right for what these pictures are honest moments from a month that changed how I see things.

I stayed in Varketili, in one of those massive Soviet apartment blocks. My host would cook these incredible meals grechka, kotlety, khachapuri when he was feeling generous. We’d eat and talk about his life there, my life back home, why I was taking so many pictures of ordinary things. Those conversations shaped these photos as much as anything I saw walking the streets.

This isn’t meant to be some definitive portrait of Georgia. It’s just what caught my eye during those weeks some moments I knew were important as they happened, others I only understood later when I got the film developed.

If you get one, it helps me keep doing this and staying long enough to see past the tourist stuff, making something real about the experience.

You can see some of the photos here if you want to know what you’re getting into.