The Merewether Surfboard Club, Portrait Collection was photographed to celebrate the club’s 50th anniversary by Paul Foley, Newcastle Australia

New York City Photography by Paul Foley / Lightmoods, Newcastle and Sydney, Australia.

Australian Ocean Baths Photography by Paul Foley / Lightmoods, Newcastle and Sydney, Australia. Australia's Ocean Baths were originally built to safely wet and cool the citizens on hot summer days. Today, along with the ebbing edges of the Pacific Ocean, they hold memories and remnants of past living and lives. Coastal pools like these at Newcastle, Merewether, Kiama and Gerringong are spread along the East Coast of Australia. They are often nostalgic places - especially in times of special light. Worn, whitewashed steps have seen the same feet skip and later shuffle, growing from tiny & soft to gnarled and wide. Parents, holding small, excited hands, have nurtured the tentative steps of offspring beginning their own memories. These places are community - gatherings of clans and friends. For such a visual feast 'the baths' are just as sensory with closed eyes. Squeals of fun, the slap of bare feet on wet concrete, the crashing of waves and the squarks of seagulls picture the story of the Australian coast indelibly on the mind. Ocean Baths are very familiar to my camera and sometimes when I visit it's enough for me to sit with eyes closed and let the sounds and scents refresh those slideshows in my mind. Paul Foley