.
Passing TRAINS
photographs by Charles Page

.NOTE: Linked large images in this collection have now been archived.
If you would like to view images other than those thumbnailed here please contact us via email.

Charles Page spent four decades documenting the impact of steam trains on the world. Since the start of Image #40the Industrial Revolution trains have been the means of both creating and destroying communities. In this world of fast changing technology the steam train is disappearing from developed nations, kept alive only by hardy enthusiasts who eagerly board the steam train for a day's outing. In poorer countries, trains are an economic necessity but often an environmental polluter. It is this resulting conflict that Page recognises and photographs, producing timeless images to remind us of the past and alert us to the world as it is today.
Page is not a train enthusiast but an observer of the relationship between trains and people. Across five continents, he has captured many moments when people and steam trains connect. He offers us evocative and enduring images of magnificent feathered plumes of steam rising from funnels, of trains cutting a dash through landscapes from China to India, and the might of this engineering marvel.

Image #27Page's committed compassion for people has seen him work for the Red Cross in places such as Somalia and Chechnya. He believes the documentary aspect of his photography has a duality allowing the viewer to see beyond the image and achieve an understanding of the place and the lives of its people.

His pursuit of steam trains has resulted in photographs grand in scale, breathtaking in beauty and thought provoking in content.



If your Search Engine presented only this page, click here for the entire Gallery and all of our catalogues and artwork.

Charles Page (Australian,1946-). Since the 1980s, Charles Page's work has been exhibited extensively in one-man and group shows. His work, both at home and abroad, has been diverse and challenging.
In Australia his commissioned work and projects have ranged from photographing the construction of the new Parliament House in Canberra, and photographing inside Boggo Road Prison to show the sociological effects of incarceration, to photographing the environment and the removal of the last Australian Huskies from Antarctica.
Page's international work has involved travelling to many places where recent conflicts have caught the attention of the world. He has worked for the International Red Cross (in Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1992, in Chechnya, 1995 and 1996, and in Jordan, Colombia and Peru for the World Disasters Report in 1997), the UN, Red Cross, Australian Armed forces and U.S. Marine Corps (in Malawi, Mozambique and Somalia, 1993), and the Thai Red Cross (1994-95).
Many of his international projects have been supported by Research Grants from Griffith University. Charles Page is a lecturer in photography at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University.


Charles Page acknowledges the support of Global Arts Link, Ipswich Qld