About my work

Since 1996 I’ve been shooting high quality corporate, marketing and editorial photography for clients throughout the UK. My clients range from small businesses to multi-national blue-chip companies, and include magazines, PR agencies and design agencies.

I always welcome the opportunity to show potential new clients my work – if you’re based in Scotland, drop me an email at nick@nml.uk.com to arrange a meeting. I’m in London around every three or four weeks, and am happy to meet clients there as well.

The majority of my work is shot on location, often at clients’ offices. Most of my product photography is shot at my office in Stirling.

My biography

After graduating with a degree in English, I started freelancing full time for The Scotsman newspaper. I spent the next five years there shooting news and features, including a two-year stint on the picture desk.

I left the Scotsman in 2001 and spent the next two years freelancing for the newly established Scottish business daily Business am, where I shot business portraits almost exclusively. At the same time, I continued to build up a long list of corporate clients.

After Business am closed in December 2003, I made the decision to concentrate almost exclusively on corporate work, including brochures, websites and public relations photography, while still shooting editorial work for newspapers, magazines and contract publishers.

I have been shooting digitally since 2000, and shooting solely on digital since 2007.

Industry bodies and organisations

When I don’t have a camera in my hand, I represent the interests of UK photographers on a number of industry bodies.

I’ve been a board member of the British Photographic Council since 2008, a director of Editorial Photographers UK since 2007, and for the last four years I’ve held positions on the National Union of Journalists’ Freelance Industrial Council, Photographers Committee, Copyright Committee and Scottish Executive.

In 2009, I co-wrote Photojournalists: An Endangered species in Europe ? – a major EU-wide study on the future of photojournalism for the European Federation of Journalists.

From 2005 to 2010, I wrote a weekly email newsletter for industry professionals on current issues in the UK photography sector. From 2006 to 2009 I was the editor of the Editorial Photographers UK news website, responsible for the relaunch of the site and producing fresh weekly content.

I instigated and was responsible for organising the 2009 and 2010 British Photographic Council Industry Surveys, and produced the 2010 survey report, analysis and conclusions. I am proud to say that the annual British Photographic Survey remains the definitive research onto the daily working lives of professional photographers.

In 2007 and 2009 I was invited to speak at the National Union of Journalists Photographers’ Conferences, where I gave talks on business issues as they affect photographers. I designed and teach “The Business of Freelance Photography“ course for the NUJ.

I was involved with the launch of the Photo Histories website, and continue to be involved with the organisation of the NUJ’s Stand Up For Photojournalism exhibitions, selecting and showcasing the best of the UK’s contemporary photojournalism.

And in my spare time…

I’m somewhat fanatical about Formula 1, I love collecting bones with my son and am a huge fan of the poetry of Derek Walcott, about whom I wrote my dissertation.

To relax, around two or three mornings a week I photograph the herds of red and roe deer, and occasionally the red kites, all of which live in the forests around my village.

While at university, I met my wonderful wife Mary. We live in a beautiful Perthshire village with our eight-year-old son Jake, baby Samuel, who was born in March 2010, and our cats, Bailey and Eisenstaedt.