Words by Angus Bell Young.
My name is Angus, I’m a somewhat irregular contributor to Life Without Andy, but you may know me from my work as a photographer and occasional writer with standout galleries including Lost Paradise getting up close and personal with the Arctic Monkeys, and writing about how I, like the rest of us, have a weird fetish with Matt Healy’s sideburns.
The rest of my time is generally spent with the loves of my life (my mates) and one day about 3 years ago I had the bright idea to assemble a book made up of all the things we got up to.
This project became the Around The Sun Yearbook. I combined my love of documenting life with my love of journaling, love of partying, and love most of all for my friends. So each year as part of their annual portrait sitting I ask them the same several questions that are as much retrospective as they are projecting the future, like “What’s your proudest moment from 2023” and “Who do you want to get closer with in 2024?”. The book is a time capsule of cultural moments too which captures each year how we feel, where we love to eat, and things like favourite gigs, etc etc.
Once it’s done, and usually this take about three months to prepare, we throw a party. Thanks to House of Music and Booze for hosting us, we’re able to revel in that community spirit together, reading through the book, signing each others. There’s no feeling quite like sitting there in almost complete silence as everyone reads through it, listening to the laughter as we find those things we’d completely forgotten about.
It’s a project that is enjoyed only by those in it, and will never be bought or sold… but here’s how it starts:
This volume marks the third iteration of the annual yearbook aimed at documenting the brilliant crazy stupid remarkable lives of those around us; a way of reflecting in the distant future of who we were and what we got up to, our thoughts and feelings, our interests and loves, and when you’re sixty and your back hurts for some reason you can look again through these pages and go, “oh yep, that’s right, I jumped in way too many bushes.”
There are four sets of butt cheeks in this book.
About two dozen vapes, weirdly not that many photos from Bar Planet (but I guess one martini in and you lose all track of time and space.) Plenty of snaps from Enmore Country Club which opened in 2023, and I think between us we’ve kept the place in profit.
There’s also way too many photos from big nights (and big days) that I don’t remember.
Ah well.
Over 1400 individual images submitted, and from that the winner of the most uploaded photos of their girlfriend is Ethan Hatton-Warham with 158 snaps.
Salina Alvaro in second place with 130 mostly out of context photos of food.
Honourable mention goes to Chom with 69 uploads. lol.
ON THE COVER: Tiahnn Heusmann is known for her do-or-die attitude to community sports. Between 2022 and 2023 I lost count of how many injuries were sustained in the line of duty. The last of which was an AFL tackle that snapped her leg in a few places, pictured here with a vape and a green whistle.
ON THE BACK: Ethan Hatton-Warham with two full moons. No further questions.
Each year this little book grows a lot bigger, as does the community of those I love.
And that’s a wrap on another year Around The Sun.
Love,
Angus
