September 9, 2016

For this week’s edition of Frames, we’re heading north of the border into Queensland: Home of the Cane Toads and one of Australia’s prominent live music photographers, Mitch Lowe aka the guy that took the gumboot bong photo at a Violent Soho gig.

Having first earned his stripes shooting house parties as part of the SaveTonight collective, Mitch gravitated towards live music one he hit 18 years old, but still faced hurdles from music publications who weren’t willing to give him a shot. In a sea of rejection emails, he eventually built up his own reputation to gain access to these gigs directly, eventually shooting some of the biggest names in the world including Eminem, Guns N’ Roses and One Direction.

Now, he calls SaveTonight “a consolidation of like minded people who to have dealt with the same dilemmas in photographing their favourite acts from around the world. I know the happiness and pride that comes with photographing an act that means something to you, so to support people in making their photography dreams come true is an honour.” Importantly, he highlights first-hand experience as the most valuable photography teacher you can find. “I actually studied photography back in 2013, well I studied 2 months of a 3 year course… Photography may require skill, but experience triumphs qualifications when it comes down to it. My most successful photography and videography friends are all self taught, and that must stand for something, right?”

Mitch is a go-getter in every sense of the word, and his collaborative work ethic in the photography community is something that we champion here at Life Without Andy. That’s why we’re happy to present his favourite images, presented below: