Mott's interest in photography began in Sheffield, where he learnt basic black-and-white developing skills and explored an interest in social documentary photography whilst working as a chef.
Pennie Smith, a London-based photographer who worked for music magazine
NME, was an early influence. 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.
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. == List of works ==