Rock music photographer Scarlet Page may have been born and raised in the UK, but a part of her will always be in Sydney.
That’s because at Sydney’s Big Day Out in 1994, she was lucky enough to capture a shot that would propel her to a career where she traveled the world capturing the biggest rock stars at their best.
The photo, of Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, was used on the cover of groundbreaking rock magazine Raw – and launched Page into a career that’s still going strong after 30 years.
Anyone who has followed the music through magazines like Rolling Stone, Mojo, Q, Uncut and many others has seen her photos.
From a ‘deep and serious’ Nick Cave, to Silverchair in their heyday and The Vines.
Music fans will also have seen her portrayals of names like David Bowie, the Foo Fighters, The Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, Bjork and The Rolling Stones.
And that’s just scratching the surface.
And for those who want to relive that special time or experience it for the first time, Page’s work is on display for a limited time at the ‘Captures’ exhibition which opens in Sydney from Thursday.
Rock music photographer Scarlet Page has captured portraits of Australian legends such as the ‘deep and serious’ Nick Cave (pictured), Silverchair and The Vines
Page’s big break came almost by accident. Fresh out of college, she was at Big Day Out 1994 to work as another photographer’s assistant, but also got some time off to take her own shots.
Back in London after her Australian venture, she approached a syndicate agency, who circulated some of her photos to various publications.
Raw magazine wanted Chris Cornell’s and Page’s career suddenly took off, all thanks to a photo that doesn’t even rate her that highly.
“It’s certainly not the best live recording,” Page modestly told Daily Mail Australia. Perhaps so, but it opened doors that have remained ever since.
Page got her big break with a photo of Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell (above) taken at Sydney’s Big Day Out show in 1994
One of Page’s most memorable tours was capturing some very early Silverchair performances ‘in scuzzy little venues’ across England.
“We didn’t know much about them at the time, but we heard there was a huge buzz about them (in Australia) and all I knew was that they were very young and they were very much that kind of Nirvana. grungy kind of vibe.’
The members of the Newcastle band – Daniel Johns, Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou – were young enough to have parents and chaperones with them on tour.
They were “like Labrador puppies, like excited young boys, you know, really enjoying every second of it,” Page recalls.
When she went back to look for pictures for the Sydney exhibition, she found “some really nice pictures, especially of Daniel who just looked like a beautiful kid, like a beautiful boy.”
Rock photographer Scarlet Page remembers Silverchair’s Daniel Johns (pictured) as ‘looking like a pretty kid’
She thought Johns was “pretty shy” and “enigmatic,” but the band was so young that even though she was in her early twenties, she “felt pretty old with them.”
Page found that Nick Cave lived up to his reputation and was “quite deep and serious” and said that Craig Nicholls, lead singer of The Vines, “just seemed like the odd man out.”
It later emerged that the behavior for which Nicholls became known in the early 2000s was due to his then undiagnosed Asperger syndrome.
“Now that I’ve worked with people on the spectrum more and photographed them, it’s kind of fun to think and think, ‘Wow, I see this in a completely different light now than what I did at the time,’ because he has a lot grimaces,” she said, reflecting on the shoot with The Vines frontman.
Page said The Vines singer Craig Nicholls (pictured) ‘just seemed like the odd man out’, but neither she nor he knew at the time that Nicholls had Asperger’s syndrome
Scarlet Page has also photographed Australian punk rock singer Brody Dalle (pictured)
Brisbane’s Powderfinger (pictured) is one of several Australian bands photographed by Page
Other Australians Page has photographed include Brisbane legends Powderfinger and Melbourne-born punk rocker Brody Dalle.
She said putting together her exhibition in Sydney “made me think more about the Australian side because it’s so hard to put together a collection from 30 years of work.”
“But I thought, well, I’m going to think about all my favourites, but also think about the Aussie bands and everything I’ve recorded in Australia and include that because it would seem more relevant.”
With so many of those she’s photographed — Chris Cornell, David Bowie, Amy Winehouse, and many more — passed away, the photos begin to mean more to her.
“Especially as time goes by, the photos somehow become more nostalgic and valuable, and they bring back such beautiful memories,” she said.
The late David Bowie (pictured center) was a “gentleman,” Scarlet Page recalls
Page said she is ‘very grateful’ to have had the opportunity to photograph the late Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green (pictured)
Page grew up around rock stars – her father is one of the most famous guitarists who ever lived, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin – and she believes this helped her get over all the nerves.
“I think it’s a well-known playground in some way. So maybe the way I go in isn’t in a star-struck kind of way, maybe,” she said.
But most of the time, the people she photographs don’t make a connection to her father, and despite growing up in the music world, she can still be in awe of her subjects at times.
Such was the case with David Bowie, who was impressed by the work she had done for the Welsh band Placebo, and had specifically asked for her.
He wanted her to photograph rehearsals for his 50th birthday show in 1997.
“So that was pretty scary. What upset me more than anything was what a gentleman and how respectful he was to me,” she said.
Rock band Foo Fighters are pictured in a wooden bathtub in a photo taken by Scarlet Page
Icelandic singer Bjork (pictured) is another musician photographed by Page
While the deaths of Bowie, Cornell and Winehouse made her dear for photographing them, the musical death that hit her hardest was that of Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green, who passed away in 2020.
“I just feel, you know, I’m really thankful that I got the chance to connect with him.
‘To reach him… to find him, because he’s quite withdrawn. But it was really important to me to go out of my way to get (a picture of him).
And when he agreed to be a part of the project, it was a huge honor. I was really happy with what I managed to get from him. I felt like this was the right kind of portrait.
“And so when he died, of course it’s sad, but I was really grateful to have had the chance to meet and capture him.”
Photographer Scarlet Page (pictured) doesn’t like having her own shot taken, except for this one
Page understands and empathizes when some musicians hesitate to have their picture taken.
“The most important thing about what I do is try to be very human on the other side (of the camera).
“And as someone who hates having their picture taken, it’s about almost reassuring them in a way that they’re going to be okay…it’s like phototherapy sometimes.”
Scarlet Page’s Captures exhibition opens at Behind The Gallery 205 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney on Thursday 5 May.
She will discuss her work in the gallery on Saturday 6 May from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.