"I don't only shoot famous people, but it's fun working with cranky old rock stars": Photographer Scarlet Page on her portraits of Lemmy, David Bowie, Dave Grohl, Chris Cornell and more
· louderBy Paul Brannigan
( Classic Rock )
published 7 November 2024
Scarlet Page has shot portraits of some of our greatest rock stars, and she's got stories about all of them
A well-known and respected name as a music photographer, Scarlet Page celebrated 30 years in the business with an exhibition of her work, fittingly titled ‘30’.
The free exhibition, which ran in London in September, included iconic images of David Bowie, Lemmy, Foo Fighters, Chris Cornell and Scarlet’s father, Led Zeppelin legend Jimmy Page, among others.
"It bonkers to think that it’s been thirty years," says Page, whose work has appeared in the pages of Classic Rock, Kerrang!, The Guardian, The Times more publications. “I could probably spend the next thirty years just going through my archives, as I’ve shot so much. But I still have my passion for it, and I still love being active, and learning and passing on knowledge. Obviously I don’t only shoot famous people, but it’s fun working with cranky old rock stars, and I think that’s what I do best."
Here are Scarlet’s thoughts on a choice selection of images from ‘30’. Prints are available from Behind The Gallery.
Lemmy (London, 2010)
This photo is maybe a bit over-exposed on him, but for me there’s just something very striking about it. Obviously Lemmy was a bit of a legend, and he was very polite. I remember asking if I could take a picture with him, and he beckoned me over to sit on his lap. Being five foot ten, I don’t really like sitting on anyone’s lap, and I thought: Oh, this is normal [laughs]. But it was a brief sit!
David Bowie (Phoenix Festival, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1996)
This was shot on July 18, 1996 at the Phoenix Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon, with The Prodigy and Placebo among the supporting cast. I’m printing up ten copies of each print in the exhibition on fine art Hahnemühle metallic paper, and Bowie’s Union Jack outfit looks incredible on the prints. I ended up working a lot with Placebo, and Bowie became friends with them too.
He obviously saw some work of my shots for them, because when he was rehearsing for his 50th birthday show at Madison Square Garden, I got a call from his management asking me if I’d like to come to the Hanover Grand in London to shoot his rehearsals. He was so respectful, so lovely and such a gentleman, and he basically gave me free access to do whatever I wanted… which was quite overwhelming and scary.
Dave Grohl (London, 2024)
This was taken at one of the Foo Fighters’ shows at London Stadium in June. The day after my mother-in-law’s funeral, actually. I don’t ever take my family to work, but because of the timing I thought it might be good to bring my husband and the kids, and it really was, because the band were just so lovely.
I’ve been shooting the Foo Fighters since 1995, and it’s amazing to see how big they are now, and how much their songs mean to so many people. It was an incredible show, and for us, as a family, that energy flip was just what we needed. This shot was taken during Times Like These, during the big singalong, and I like it because Dave Grohl looks so serene in front of this sea of people.
The Darkness (Australia, 2004)
I spent a year on the road with The Darkness during the Permission To Land era, and it was quite a crazy, exciting, fun year. This shot was taken in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney, Australia when they were filming the video for Love Is Only A Feeling.
The video had everything you’d want from an epic rock video, with helicopters overhead filming Justin Hawkins soloing on a mountaintop, like Slash in the November Rain video, and my job was just to get as many great shots as I could. It was really stormy, and I used lights to make the sky look super-moody. They used this as the cover of the single, and the only thing Photoshopped was the band’s logo on the plectrum that Justin flicked at me. He was, and still is, one of the funniest people I’ve ever photographed.
Jimmy Page (London, 2014)
This was part of my ‘Resonators’ project, in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust. I’ve always shied away from putting dad into the mix in terms of my career, but obviously when you’re doing a project shooting lots of legendary guitarists, that connection is helpful for introducing yourself and, hopefully, gaining some trust.
This was pretty much one of the last shoots I did for the book, probably on purpose! Because my dad is so well known, I felt a certain amount of pressure, as it had to be right, but I took it at home, and just kept it quite simple, using natural light. There’s no mask, and I think it’s quite a strong image.
Stereophonics (London, 1998)
This shot came from an idea that [Stereophonics vocalist/guitarist] Kelly Jones had, based on an old Annie Leibovitz photograph. We went for the same kind of aesthetic, and rather than shooting in front of prison gates we used a football pitch near the Westway, close to V2 Records.
The main girl was a model called Lucy [Joplin] who was going out with Mark Keds [The Senseless Things/Jolt] at the time, and we roped in pretty much the whole of record company as extras. This photo holds a very special place in my heart. It was used for the band’s 1999 album Performance And Cocktails, and I remember seeing it on billboards all over London.
Chris Cornell (Los Angeles, 1999)
The first photo I ever had published in any magazine was a live shot of Chris Cornell in a magazine called Raw, and when that went down the pan I started shooting for Kerrang! This was a Kerrang! commission when Chris was doing press for his first solo album, Euphoria Morning, and it was taken on the balcony of a hotel in West Hollywood.
I just like the intensity and simplicity of it. I like photos where you feel like you’re going a little deeper than just a superficial layer. And obviously, as time goes by, some images seem to carry more weight and meaning, so the fact that Chris is no longer with us gives this an added gravity than it had in 1999.
Prints of Scarlet Page's work are available from Behind The Gallery. Celebrity Skin, an exhibition of Scarlet's work, is running at the Riverside Gallery in London until January 5 2025.
Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder
A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.
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