Tony Mott

Tony Mott (born Anthony Moulds, April 1956) is an English-born Australian rock and music photographer. In a career spanning more than 30 years, his photographs have appeared in local and international magazines, newspapers, and album covers. Mott is recognised as Australia's premier rock photographer and a leading worldwide exponent of the craft.

Chef's career Mott trained as a French and pastry chef and spent 10 years working in hotels in the United Kingdom and in Australia. Mott went on to document the Sydney music scene of the 1980s and 1990s when the city and suburbs were full of live venues and had a flourishing record industry.

Street press and magazines Shortly after his first break with the Divinyls, Mott found work through the free Sydney paper On the Street, working closely with editor Margaret Cott, later publisher of Drum Media. Mott was given a free rein to develop his skills as a rock 'n roll photographer with many bands. His photographs began to appear in mainstream music magazines Juice, Drum Media, RAM, Juke, Creem, and Rolling Stone.

Mott's success is reflected in the number of magazine covers featuring his photographs. Since his first cover for the German issue of Rolling Stone magazine in the early 1990s, his work has been featured on the cover of Rolling Stone 14 times. His photographs have appeared on an estimated 900 magazine front covers.

At the height of Mott's career he was estimated to have 172 music magazines on his books, and could sell one concert photograph to 30 magazines at a time. Today 162 of those magazine titles no longer exist. These trends mirror changes in the record industry, which in Sydney had 12 major labels in the early 1980s, down to about three in 2015. and Mott was hired as Jagger's tour photographer. This subsequently led to Mott being hired by the Rolling Stones and touring with them on three occasions. In the same year that Mott was hired by Jagger, he toured with Bob Dylan and Fleetwood Mac, establishing an international reputation. Mott has photographed a large number of the international acts to have visited Australia.

Mott's portraits have become the best known images of many musicians and bands; examples include Chrissy Amplett of the Divinyls at the Piccadilly Hotel, Kings Cross, 1983; the classic shot of Peter Garrett at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in 1985; the much published portrait of Icelandic singer Björk at the Big Day Out, 1994; the defining shot of Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten (Lydon) at the Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, 1994; and the dynamic portraits of Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave who sang the duet "Where the Wild Roses Grow", 1996.

Music festivals Music festivals were another fertile source of photographs for Mott from the late 1980s. Initially he visited the summer festivals in Europe and the United States. Milton Keynes, Reading, and Glastonbury were among the popular UK festivals. thumb

Exhibitions Rock Exposure (25 May – 24 June 1984), Music Gallery, Woolloomooloo. A collaboration with rock photographers Bob King, Ian Greene and Tom Takacs. Mott's photographs featured a selection of women in rock including the Eurythmics, the Belle Stars, Kim Wilde, Joan Jett and the Divinyls. Still Noise: Australian Rock Photography (1991), National touring exhibition. Coinciding with the release of book by the same title. Rock & Roll is the new trainspotting (2010), Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane galleries. Mott's first solo exhibition. A 30 year retrospective coinciding with the release of his book: Rock & Roll is the new trainspotting.

Photographic output Mott has published more than 30,000 photographs in 20 countries, including 900 magazine front covers. Spanning over 40 years, Mott has been able to assess and share photos that he would have "disregarded years ago" with the improvements in digital technology.thumb List of works

Published books Mott's photographs have appeared in numerous published works. Mott has collaborated in and published a number of books featuring his photographs, often coinciding with exhibitions of work. These include: Still Noise: Australian Rock photography (1991). A collaboration with four other rock n roll photographers: Bob King, Chrystene Carroll, Wendy McDougall and Adrienne Overall. Released to coincide with a national touring exhibition. Rock 'n Roll Photography is the New Trainspotting (2011). A retrospective of Tony Mott's work from the last 30 years. Alphabet A-Z Rock 'n' Roll Photography by Tony Mott: Some rock, some roll, some other things! (2015). A retrospective of Tony Mott's work from the last 30 years coinciding with the State Library of NSW exhibition: What a Life! Rock Photography By Tony Mott"(17 October 2015 – 7 February 2016). Films

Television and Mini Series Mott's work on television and mini series' in Australia has largely been as a stills photographer. However, he did appear in the episode Snowy Pizza (Season 1, Episode 8) of the TV series Pizza in a cameo role.

As Still Photographer

Awards 1991 Australian Music Industry Awards: Best Rock Photographer 1992 Australian Music Industry Awards: Best Rock Photographer 2001 Australian Music Week: Best Live Concert Photography 2002 Australian Live Music Award: Best Live Concert Photography 2003 Australian Live Music Award: Best Live Concert Photography 2005 Jack Rock Photographer of the Year 2006 Jack Rock Photographer of the Year

Personal life Mott changed his name from Anthony Moulds to Tony Mott after receiving his first photo credit. Mott is named after the most influential band in his life, Mott The Hoople.

In 2006 whilst employed as stills photographer on the feature film Suburban Mayhem'', he met production manager Libby Sharpe, whom he married in 2008. They have two children, twins Harvey and Lucinda, born in 2011.