The story behind a near impossible photo

You will have noticed a familiar face in the news this week after a long absence from the headlines: Tony Mokbel.

There he was on our front page and leading our website – an exclusive photo of the drug kingpin, cleanly shaven and wearing a crisp white shirt, sitting in a prison van and looking straight into Age photographer Jason South’s camera.

Jason South waited eight hours outside the County Court this week to get this shot of Tony Mokbel leaving in a prison van.Credit: Jason South

Mokbel – one of the most recognisable figures in the gangland wars that rocked Melbourne in the early 2000s – had just left the County Court, after his first public appearance in more than a decade. (Who could forget the mug shot of him wearing an ill-fitting toupee after being arrested in Greece in 2007 after months on the run?)

In prison since his extradition, Mokbel was back before the courts, now appealing his remaining drug conviction, arguing – in the wake of the “lawyer X” scandal – that his then lawyer, police informant Nicola Gobbo, had contaminated the case.

When it became clear Mokbel was likely to attend court in person on Tuesday morning for the hearing, rather than by video link, South was diverted from another story to the County Court in a hope of capturing a photo.

Crime and justice reporter David Estcourt and Naked City columnist John Silvester were ready to file articles on Mokbel’s evidence. However, giving readers a glimpse of Mokbel, now 58 and sporting scars of a jail assault on his skull – after years away from the public eye – was also central to the day’s story.

Unlike at the Supreme Court, where you will have seen images of prisoners being transferred from a police van to the building in cuffs, at Melbourne’s County Court prisoners are driven past the roller doors and into the building. Being a high-profile prisoner, it was likely Mokbel would be transported in one of Victoria Police’s blue BearCat armoured vehicles, making the photographic assignment all the more challenging.

Other assembled media told South he had little chance of getting a decent photo. The Age’s deputy picture editor Paul Rovere also tempered expectations in our morning news conference as we discussed and planned the stories of the day. “But if anyone can get it, it’s Jason,” Rovere told us.

He pulled up a 2019 photo of a handcuffed George Pell in a prison van that no other photographers had got. South had trained his lens on a security screen in the van to get the shot (below) – no mean feat, Rovere reminded us.

Jason South took this shot of Cardinal George Pell in 2019 by training his lens on a security screen in a prison van, as Pell was being transported to jail on child sexual abuse charges.Credit: Jason South

Heading to the County Court on Tuesday, South quietly knew the task wasn’t impossible.

It was a scenario he had been preparing for. When I asked him the next morning how he managed to take the Mokbel photo, he confided he had been practising with lesser known prisoners arriving and leaving court, trying to get it right.

“I knew that it could be done, so I just sat on it, sat on it until the right case came up. A high-value prisoner, and that’s Tony Mokbel.”

South stood outside the court on Tuesday for eight hours (not unusual for a photographer covering courts, he noted) positioning himself away from the media pack, on a street corner so he could see the van approaching and maximise his time to get the shot of Mokbel.

“I banged on the glass with my flash to get his attention and he turned his head,” South recalled. “The police yelled at me then, but that was it. I looked at the back of my camera and I had it. It was pretty ropey. But as a news picture, it was good enough.”

Rovere predicted South would be modest about the photo, adding “People think it’s just luck – it’s much more than that.”

This wasn’t the first time South had photographed Mokbel. “I’d taken his picture on the streets, when he was a free man – on the way in and out of court. Him, Carl Williams, all of them. It will be really weird if it goes full circle and I’m there to photograph Mokbel getting out one day.”

The Age is spoiled with photographic talent in our newsroom. The unique qualities and demands of the job also mean they are a tight-knit group.

I was reminded of this a week ago, while attending the memorial service for former Age photographic editor Peter Cox. “Coxy”, as he was affectionately known, died of a heart attack last month, aged 69. Attending were past and present Age photographers, editors and reporters.

Coxy started his 41-year photographic career at The Age as a cadet in 1972, with a stint at the Herald Sun in between, before returning as photographic editor. He retired in 2013.

As I listened to his family, friends and former colleagues speak about his generosity, humour, and love of travelling, the Melbourne Football Club and horse racing, I also took in the photographs Coxy had taken that lined the walls.

Former federal MP Andrew Peacock and film star Shirley MacLaine strolling on a beach near Portland in their bathing suits in 1982 (below). Nelson Mandela with then prime minister Bob Hawke at a press conference in Canberra in 1990. Carlton veterans Alex Jesaulenko and Peter Jones ahead of their VFL grand final appearance in 1979. Then prime minister Malcolm Fraser clambering to safety up a stockyard gate to get out of the path of an angry bull in 1980. A tense encounter with Frank Sinatra’s bodyguards when Ol’ Blue Eyes visited Melbourne in 1974.

The Age’s much missed former photographic editor Peter Cox produced some memorable images, including this shot of federal MP Andrew Peacock and film star Shirley Maclaine strolling on a beach in 1982.Credit: Peter Cox

Rovere said Coxy served as a mentor to a generation of Age photographers and those on our photo desk, including himself, our current photo editor Danie Sprague and pictorial manager Rebecca Hallas. His absence has been felt.

“Amidst the chaos of the nightly production, Coxy radiated a calm presence, always championing his photographers and their craft,” Rovere said.

Any smart reporter knows the value of having a great photo to run alongside their story. It can help elevate a news story to a better position in the newspaper, or higher up the homepage. Any reporter will also tell you how invaluable a photographer can be on the road, especially when you’re learning the ropes – myself included when I was starting out.

Spending hours on a job, waiting, watching events unfold around them, photographers learn some pretty important skills – such as knowing where someone who is trying to evade your attention is likely to enter and exit, or how to encourage a subject to relax and talk to you.

While a picture is worth a thousand words, the value of an experienced, expert photographer, who is generous with their time and wisdom – like Coxy, South and any number of The Age’s photographic team – is precious beyond measure, both for those who work alongside them and for our readers.