Nicky Thompson

I grew up in Essex and worked as a senior podiatrist for the Health Service for 12 years and then went to Art College and obtained a 1st Class Honours degree in 3D Design Ceramics from Cardiff Institute of HE. From there I worked at Dartington Pottery and then taught at Exeter College for 22 years. During this time I completed an MA in Photography at Plymouth University, which focused on experimental photography techniques. Since then I have been mainly working with wet plate collodion.

My most recent series is ‘Wild Swimmers’, an ongoing project that began during a residency in 2019 at The Dartmoor Summer School. Throughout the Pandemic and lockdown, the physical and mental health benefits of swimming in cold water and being in the natural environment has become so much more important to many people. Here I capture people wild swimming in the rivers on Dartmoor. You can see my darkroom tent in the middle of the moors and the reality of shooting in the middle of nowhere and you can never guarantee the weather.