It's a wretched mess, but at least photo comments show up again when viewing the photo. This is just temporary until these conversations are merged into the common conversation viewer, so it's not worth spending a lot of time cleaning up the remnants.

include/conversation.php

@@ -1150,6 +1150,7 @@ function conv_sort($arr,$order) {
 	elseif(stristr($order,'ascending'))
 		usort($parents,'sort_thr_created_rev');
 
+
 	if(count($parents))
 		foreach($parents as $i=>$_x)
 			$parents[$i]['children'] = get_item_children($arr, $_x);

mod/photos.php

@@ -976,14 +976,14 @@ function photos_content(&$a) {
 			$sql_extra LIMIT 1",
 			dbesc($datum)
 		);
+
 		if($linked_items) {
 
 			$link_item = $linked_items[0];
 
-			$r = q("select * from item where parent_mid = '%s' and mid != '%s' 
+			$r = q("select * from item where parent_mid = '%s' 
 				and item_restrict = 0 and uid = %d $sql_extra ",
 				dbesc($link_item['mid']),
-				dbesc($link_item['mid']),
 				intval($link_item['uid'])
 
 			);
@@ -1004,6 +1004,9 @@ function photos_content(&$a) {
 			}
 		}
 
+		// FIXME - remove this when we move to conversation module 
+
+		$r = $r[0]['children'];
 
 		$edit = null;
 		if($can_post) {
@@ -1094,6 +1097,52 @@ function photos_content(&$a) {
 
 
 
+				foreach($r as $item) {
+					$comment = '';
+					$template = $tpl;
+					$sparkle = '';
+
+					if(((activity_match($item['verb'],ACTIVITY_LIKE)) || (activity_match($item['verb'],ACTIVITY_DISLIKE))) && ($item['id'] != $item['parent']))
+						continue;
+
+					$redirect_url = $a->get_baseurl() . '/redir/' . $item['cid'] ;
+			
+
+					$profile_url = zid($item['author']['xchan_url']);
+					$sparkle = '';
+
+
+					$profile_name   = $item['author']['xchan_name'];
+					$profile_avatar = $item['author']['xchan_photo_m'];
+
+					$profile_link = $profile_url;
+
+					$drop = '';
+
+					if(($item['contact-id'] == $contact_id) || ($item['uid'] == local_user()))
+						$drop = replace_macros(get_markup_template('photo_drop.tpl'), array('$id' => $item['id'], '$delete' => t('Delete')));
+
+
+					$name_e = $profile_name;
+					$title_e = $item['title'];
+					$body_e = bbcode($item['body']);
+
+					$comments .= replace_macros($template,array(
+						'$id' => $item['item_id'],
+						'$profile_url' => $profile_link,
+						'$name' => $name_e,
+						'$thumb' => $profile_avatar,
+						'$sparkle' => $sparkle,
+						'$title' => $title_e,
+						'$body' => $body_e,
+						'$ago' => relative_date($item['created']),
+						'$indent' => (($item['parent'] != $item['item_id']) ? ' comment' : ''),
+						'$drop' => $drop,
+						'$comment' => $comment
+					));
+
+				}
+			
 				if($can_post || $a->data['perms']['post_comments']) {
 					$comments .= replace_macros($cmnt_tpl,array(
 						'$return_path' => '',
@@ -1111,73 +1160,7 @@ function photos_content(&$a) {
 					));
 				}
 
-				foreach($r as $item) {
-					$comment = '';
-					$template = $tpl;
-					$sparkle = '';
-
-					if(((activity_match($item['verb'],ACTIVITY_LIKE)) || (activity_match($item['verb'],ACTIVITY_DISLIKE))) && ($item['id'] != $item['parent']))
-						continue;
-
-					$redirect_url = $a->get_baseurl() . '/redir/' . $item['cid'] ;
-			
-					if($can_post || $a->data['perms']['post_comments']) {
-						$comments .= replace_macros($cmnt_tpl,array(
-							'$return_path' => '',
-							'$jsreload' => $return_url,
-							'$type' => 'wall-comment',
-							'$id' => $item['item_id'],
-							'$parent' => $item['parent'],
-							'$profile_uid' =>  $owner_uid,
-							'$mylink' => $contact['url'],
-							'$mytitle' => t('This is you'),
-							'$myphoto' => $contact['thumb'],
-							'$comment' => t('Comment'),
-							'$submit' => t('Submit'),
-							'$sourceapp' => t($a->sourcename),
-							'$ww' => ''
-						));
-					}
-
-
-					$profile_url = $item['url'];
-					$sparkle = '';
-
- 
-					$diff_author = (($item['url'] !== $item['author-link']) ? true : false);
-
-					$profile_name   = (((strlen($item['author-name']))   && $diff_author) ? $item['author-name']   : $item['name']);
-					$profile_avatar = (((strlen($item['author-avatar'])) && $diff_author) ? $item['author-avatar'] : $item['thumb']);
-
-					$profile_link = $profile_url;
-
-					$drop = '';
-
-					if(($item['contact-id'] == $contact_id) || ($item['uid'] == local_user()))
-						$drop = replace_macros(get_markup_template('photo_drop.tpl'), array('$id' => $item['id'], '$delete' => t('Delete')));
-
-
-					$name_e = $profile_name;
-					$title_e = $item['title'];
-					$body_e = bbcode($item['body']);
-
-
-					$comments .= replace_macros($template,array(
-						'$id' => $item['item_id'],
-						'$profile_url' => $profile_link,
-						'$name' => $name_e,
-						'$thumb' => $profile_avatar,
-						'$sparkle' => $sparkle,
-						'$title' => $title_e,
-						'$body' => $body_e,
-						'$ago' => relative_date($item['created']),
-						'$indent' => (($item['parent'] != $item['item_id']) ? ' comment' : ''),
-						'$drop' => $drop,
-						'$comment' => $comment
-					));
-				}
 			}
-
 			$paginate = paginate($a);
 		}