Night nominee

Night Surf is a series of 6x17 format panorama images I made at Merewether Ocean Baths near Newcastle, Australia. It was a winter night when high surf surged over the rock shelf and across the pool. During the 15 and 20 second exposures the artificial glow of poolside lighting blended with the natural world in an iridescent dance of exploding waves.

I like to capture many moments in a single frame, to hold the fragments of what I see and experience for longer. The result is a picture that compresses my observations in motion and emotion. And, in this series, light and dark. With the pretensions of a timelord, I witness familiar places differently whenever I open the lens.

My years on this earth, filled with triumphs and tribulations, have shaped not only who I am but also my perspective as a photographer. A life experience of good and bad, yin and yang, light and dark, shapes how I react, anticipate, and appreciate.

Paul Foley is an Australian landscape and fine art photographer who creates tactile prints to express his fascination with light and shadow. His eclectic collection of images, from single experiences to broader landscapes, reflects his inquisitive nature and constant search for interesting light.

2024 – Seascape Exhibition — The Glasgow Gallery of Photography
2024 – Clouds3 — Newcastle Art Space, Newcastle
2024 - Time|Space|Light, Back to Back Galleries, Newcastle, Australia.
2022 – Intersection, Back to Back Gallery, Newcastle, Australia.
2016 - Raw Artists Signature Exhibition, Sydney, Australia
2011 – Portrait Prize - National Portrait Gallery Canberra
2022, 2011, 07, 05 – View 3 – Newcastle
2010, 08,07,06 – Selected to hang - ‘2088’ Group Exhibition – Mosman Art Gallery
2002 – one of two Australians invited by the Chinese Government to join a group of 50 international photographers to exhibit and photograph in China.
1996 – Five Women – anonymous bodyscapes, Newcastle and Sydney
1993 – School Days - portraits of the students of Newcastle SSP for intellectually disabled students. Complemented by poems/stories written by the children after viewing their pictures – Watt Space Gallery (University of Newcastle) – Also published in SMH “Good Weekend” magazine.