About
Charlie Hardy is an Australian music photographer based in Sydney, NSW. He began pursuing his photographic career in 2013 and has been fortunate to have worked with acclaimed national and international artists and music festivals.
Charlie has toured with Spacey Jane, DMA’s, The Preatures, The Jungle Giants, Confidence Man, San Cisco and Violent Soho.
He has been employed by Australian festivals and promoters including Groovin The Moo, Cattleyard, Yours & Owls, Spilt Milk, Fairgrounds, Download Festival, Secret Sounds, Mushroom Group, Frontier, Live Nation and has been part of the official photography team for Splendour in the Grass and Falls Festival since 2015.
Charlie has worked with Australian and international record labels and artist managements on artist press shots, as well as producing, creating concepts and photographing assets for album artworks, vinyl inserts and posters.
Hardy’s work has been published on the pages of national and international titles, including Rolling Stone, NME, Life Without Andy, Happy Mag, The Daily Telegraph and The Australian. He has also worked internationally, covering Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits for Monster Children Magazine.
Charlie’s main passion is photographing moments on the road, from documenting candid interactions back of house to those final moments before the artist walk on stage. He uses both modern photographic equipment and analog processes in his work.
When shooting on 35mm and 120, Charlie self develops his film using a local darkroom. He creates contact sheets for image selection as well as archival purposes, he then digitises the stills himself. It is his love for analog photography and its processes that his artistic practice is heavily influenced by, and this has moulded his unique artistic trait.
Charlie has experience managing video teams and often works with 16mm motion-film cameras, such as an Arri SR2 and a Bolex H16 Rex5. He has recorded live video for a number of bands including Spacey Jane, Winston Surfshirt, Violent Soho, DMA’s, Running Touch and Flight To Dubai.
Over the Summer of 2020, during the chaos of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Charlie exhibited at Newcastle Art Gallery. ‘WE CAN BE HEROES: a backstage pass’ showcased the work of four leading Australian music photographers – including Hardy, Maclay Heriot, Sophie Howarth and Luke Kellett. The exhibition celebrated the connection and relationship between the photographer and their subject.
Charlie exhibited his collection of works featuring The Preatures, Baker Boy, DMA’s, The Jungle Giants, The Chats, Bleeding Knees Club and Flight To Dubai.
Additional artists Charlie has photographed and worked with include Tame Impala, Alex Cameron, Lily Allen, The Vines, The Naked And Famous, Amyl and The Sniffers, Tyne James-Organ, Boy And Bear, The Rubens, Vacations, Pist Idiots, I Know Leopard, The Kooks, Jack River, Skegss and many more.
This collection of work features some of Charlie’s favourite music shots spilt into four volumes - I, II, III & IV, career highlights and personal work. The images are accompanied by short personal descriptions and details written by Charlie.