His career started at The Boston Globe in the late 80s and continued until 2006 as a contract photographer for Agence France-Presse. Mottern has been published in scores of major newspapers and magazines around the world, and has covered every presidential election since George Bush senior first took office. His coverage in El Salvador was honored by Pictures of the Year with the first place prize for newspaper portrait photography for images of children injured by war. He focuses on social issues and politics, and is currently working on a series of stories with photographs about America's homeless.