I turned a year older than I care to think about last Saturday. It began inauspiciously as the temperature gauge hit 27C. It was only 7am. Sweaty & older, what a blast! The rest of the day was a real scorcher. We were staying at a coastal sleepy hollow called Venus Bay. Sounds romantic, but when the paint is melting, the air-con struggles to keep the living room below 30C, & the birds almost fly backwards it is anything but! It was too hot for the beach until late afternoon. Then they came out in droves, like marching ants, to find a cool breeze, catch a few sets on the turn of the tide, engage in some ancient caveman-style mating rituals on the sand, & let the kids rip. The storm clouds rolled in on sunset & the next battalion of Venusians arrived with their dogs, sadly banned until evening (I can almost hear the neologism already - we have sexist, racist, ageist & now probably dogist!). As usual the kids were the last to leave the water, silhouetted against the darkening skies like pixies. I was reminded of Rennie Ellis & his series" Life's a Beach " which chronicles 30 years of sun, surf & sand – the Great Australian Dream. He says "On the beach we chuck away our clothes, our status and our inhibitions and engage in rituals of sun-worship and baptism. It's a retreat to our primal needs."

I had thought that I would snap off some pithy moments to commemorate the passing of another year, & with hot addled brain, only took a portrait lens on the pilgrimage to the beach. As the clouds gathered, the pithy moments morphed into capturing the amazing sky & I decided to flout convention & take portraits of the storm.

The whole day was pretty primal, but Venus Bay did not disappoint, the earth finally cooled & I came to grips with another year on the clock!