Shooting Stars

I loved the title from hello. Australian music photographer Tony Mott’s new book "Rock’N’Roll Photography Is The New Trainspotting: A retrospective of work from the last 30 years" spans his incredible career of three decades of rock…

I loved the title from hello.

Australian music photographer Tony Mott’s new book "Rock’N’Roll Photography Is The New Trainspotting: A retrospective of work from the last 30 years" spans his incredible career of three decades of rock.

Out now from Rockpool Publishing ($49.99), the large format softcover book showcases beautifully Tony Mott’s photos which have been published globally in 20 countries, appearing on the covers of over 450 CD’s and more than 700 magazines.

He took the photographs of rock and pop idols by touring with legends including The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Madonna, U2, Fleetwood Mac, Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne, Silverchair, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan and Pink.

Rock’N’Roll Photography Is The New Trainspotting. Why did he call it that?

Tony Mott explains. “That’s exactly what it had become to me. In my youth I was, in fact, a trainspotter (and I’m not embarrassed about it). The object being to collect as many locomotives’ numbers as possible and, apart from rock’n’roll photography being a career, it is very much a quest to collect as many photos of rock stars as I can."

"I still get a thrill when I am photographing a new artist, and am not happy til I’ve got what I consider a great shot. I’ve been chasing this collection of what I consider my best photographs, picked from different points of view, a combination of capturing the essence of the artist and photographic qualities.”

Thread.co.nz loved the variety of images and the combination of technical brilliance with emotion; he clearly is trusted by his subjects and they allowed him to get up close and personal and he captures their personalities so well.

Obviously it is a picture book and he lets the images speak a thousand words, as the saying goes. The only thing that was lacking for me was text; I would have liked a bit more explanation of where and when the photographs were shot than the very brief blurbs given, as I am sure there are some interesting stories to tell behind many of them! Having said that, the short blurbs are insightful and give context to the images. It doesn’t seem to be in any kind of order; chronological or alphabetical, just a random selection of the lates and greats in all types of rock n’ roll.

I can’t imagine having a back catalogue of 30,000 photographs to draw from. What an archive. He could definitely start his own museum, but until then, owning this book is a good start for any rock fan.

I would recommend this book to lovers of photography and fans rock and roll everywhere.

Below: Thread.co.nz’s favourite image, of Sid Vicious.

Megan Robinson 12 March 2011.