WinterSun kicks off with a black and white retrospective

The motel's roomy reception area overlooking Merimbula, hosted a display black and white photos by Pambula photographer Paul Brand.

Taken during the 1970s the photos are literally that snapshot in time, a combination of an era, a surfing culture and local moments in time.

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They have a candid quality about them that can be hard to replicate in a society where everyone has a camera in their hands and people have become cautious of the effects of social media.

Paul shared a cottage on the highway at South Pambula - it's still there - with his sister and her husband but when they decided to move to Queensland, Paul needed to find some people to share the cost.

"It was $12 a week, I couldn't afford that," he said laughing. But with a couple of mates to house share, the $4 a week was manageable.

Paul was 16 when his boss at the time, sold him a secondhand Pentax camera; he soon became hooked and built a dark room in the house.

In revisiting the photos, Paul started to digitise his collection.

"I scanned the entire collection. I tried not to do too much to them, just tried to clean off the dust and take out any scratches.

"It was a real adventure going through them and rediscovering them. I scanned about 1500 but only half are any good. There's 24 on show and a lot are people. It's a real grab of the 70s and 80s," Paul said.

At the time the photos were an earnest attempt to connect and capture everyday life but today reflect the mood of Merimbula and surrounds in the 70s.

In opening the exhibition, Hillcrest Motel owner Caspar Tresidder said it was so exciting to see the display which was a "real time stamp".

"The images are unbelievable and so relevant for the Hillcrest," Caspar said.

"The evening well so well and it was a perfect night for Paul to be able to showcase his work of that time."

While Caspar has renovated and updated the motel, he has also kept certain 70s features to keep that sense of nostalgia and history.

He said people forget when they take a photo that the moment is crystalised for a long time, but not just the image but often the emotions and sense of history from the time.

Not everyone who appears in the photos was present at the event. When I showed musician Chris Ralfs a copy of one of the photos, he gasped in surprise.

"I remember that jacket, I was 28," Chris said, immediately wanting to know if he could see them.

Caspar has purchased all of the images for the hotel and they will be relocated to the guest rooms.

However for the next two weekends June 17,18 and June 24,25 he is throwing open the doors to allow anyone who would like to see them to visit.

"I'm happy to welcome people to the exhibition, pop in have a drink or a coffee, anytime from 12 noon to 4pm over those two weekends," Caspar said.

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