Nicky Thompson
Wild Swimmers
Some of these images were taken in the summer of 2019 as artist in residence at the Dartmoor Summer School of Photography in Devon. On the second day, a group of the participants got up early to take a swim in the icy cold waters of the River Dart, so I followed them down with my 8”x10” plate camera and portable darkroom. The wet collodion (ambrotype) process has a timeless and other-worldly quality, it seems at first that this could have been taken during the Victorian era, yet on second glance the modern bathing costumes bring you to the present day. The women appear distant yet relaxed, returning the gaze as if interrupted during an intimate moment. I have begun to realise the importance of swimming in the rivers, being in nature and the link with physical and mental health. This picture was selected for the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2020.
A Portrait of Moretonhampstead
A strikingly innovative photographic archive of the community of Moretonhampstead, an old market town in Devon, using the wet plate collodion (ambrotype) process. These portraits are of individuals who live or work in the Moretonhampstead area, focusing on the old families, farmers, shop owners and individuals, thus memorialising the community with over one hundred wet plate collodion portraits, a ‘snapshot’ of this rural community in 2015. See more images on my website.
