The Berghain Morning

There’s a moment around five in the morning when people start leaving the clubs. You can see it on them—they’ve been somewhere else. Their clothes are damp, they blink hard when the sun hits them, and their eyes haven’t caught up yet. They’re crossing back into the city like it’s a different world.

Sabrina Jeblaoui photographs them at that moment. She came to Berlin from Paris and never really left the clubs—she just moved behind a camera. On Instagram at @NachtClubsBerlin she’s documented the people moving through Berghain, Tresor, Griessmuehle, mostly at the hours when they’re leaving, when the music is still in their ears and their bodies are still moving.

It started simple. She’d post pictures so the people in them could find their own images. Then it became something bigger. Now it’s a community of people who follow because they want to see what Berlin’s nightlife actually looks like, or because they’re fascinated by what people wear to dance in a techno club, or because they’re not here and this is as close as they can get.

What draws her to all of it is the diversity, the freedom. In Berlin’s clubs you can actually become yourself, or someone new if you need to. The city helps you figure out who you are if you want to know. She talks about escaping there for hours, dancing, meeting people who otherwise you’d never meet. The club isn’t just a place to go—it’s a place where you find out what’s real about you.

The funny thing about documenting nightlife is that it changes every time. The same room on different nights is a different city. Maybe that’s why what Sabrina does matters—these photographs aren’t a record of what happened. They’re proof of what’s happening right now.