Sophie Howarth

I interviewed the Big Day Out's official photographer, Sophie Howarth, for an art mag called Empty. (Yes, sometimes I write about more than music. Who knew such pleasures existed?) We'd played phone tag a couple of times before actually catching each other at the same time, but she was still so warm and friendly to chat to.

An effervescent Sophie Howarth begins our conversation by telling me, “I take photos to remember my life,” which is then followed by a hearty laugh that rings down the phone line. Can I quote you as saying that, I ask. “Yeah, why not. It’s a good way to start, isn’t it?”

While every second person you pass on the street sees themselves as a photographer, Sophie is a little different. Not everyone you pass is regarded as the official photographer for the Big Day Out festival. Nor do they have the cream of the Australian and international music industry in their portfolio, as evidenced by her book Peace, Love and Brown Rice, which photographically documents the Big Day Out since its inception in 1992 until 2005. It’s not bad for someone whose original artistic plans didn’t involve photography at all.

Sophie went to art school “for art. I did painting and drawing and printmaking”. Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll photography came later, when she was first introduced into the world of the Big Day Out by her longtime partner, and Modular Records head honcho Steve Pavlovic, in 1992. “I guess photography came to me in a way,” Sophie says, and recalls “people just asked me ‘Do you have a camera?’ I discovered that’s how I actually liked photographing”. This was soon followed by endless nights battling the mosh, standing front row in a sweat-drenched t-shirt, honing her skills. “When you’re younger, you can do anything and go everywhere,” says the photographer (who’s far from old at 36 years of age). “I used to go to the Metro every single night of the week. When you look back, you have a retrospective mind; you can see how it all happened. But when you’re in it, you don’t even know what’s going on, you just do it.”

After slaving away in the world of advertising for six years, Sophie is reaping the rewards of years of hard work in the form of Peace, Love and Brown Rice, which was published early last year. “I love music, and music and photos go together pretty well.” The book, the first published on the Big Day Out, came about due to the amount of photos Sophie had taken for the event: over 20 000 were culled down to fit into 224 pages. “I’ve got a studio full of photography and it was like ‘What are they going to do, sit there forever?’”

Sipping on dandelion tea on the other end of the line, Sophie’s a mile away from her beer-drenched Metro Theatre beginnings. Her work has made its way into most of Australia’s major music publications, and she’s become the record company’s go-to girl for shots of Magic Dirt, Something for Kate, Youth Group, Grinspoon and countless other bands. So how does Sophie manage to stay afloat in a sea of photographers? “I think it’s understanding how it works,” she answers. “It’s a real stop and start cash flow scenario. But it’s knowing you need lots of different aspects.”

So what sets her apart from the rest? “I follow my heart.”