Artisans of Dartmoor - Book - Page 57
LEFT: A picture of an old barn
reveals itself in a developing tray.
Some chemicals used for wet-plate
collodion photography are highly
flammable and toxic if inhaled, with
cynanide poisoning a risk if they
aren’t handled properly, so Nicky
wears a mask and gloves to develop
her images. Because she only has 15
minutes to process a plate, she uses
a pop-up darkroom – a blacked out
ice-fishing tent – on location shoots.
RIGHT: Nicky holds a newly
developed self-portrait at the
entrance of her mobile darkroom.
appear, it feels like witnessing a miracle. You never
know what you’re going to get, and that makes it
incredibly exciting.”
Nicky grew up in a photographic family – her
grandfather ran a photography studio in Ilford and
documented East London’s bomb damage for a local
museum during the Second World War – so she has
long been familiar with darkroom processes. The
eerie glow of the red light, potent chemical smells that
made her nose twitch, and the rhythmic sloshing of
images being gently bathed in developing trays are all
vivid childhood memories.
Nicky was 42 when she realised photography was
her future. She spent her early career working as a
podiatrist and then a ceramicist, before enrolling at
Plymouth University to study an MA in fine art – only
to end up switching degrees.
After graduating, she taught photography
full-time at Exeter College; then, during a trip to
London in 2010, she visited a wet-plate exhibition
by the acclaimed photographer Sally Mann. “It
was a lightbulb moment. I was fascinated by her
ghostly, other-worldly images. They had scratches,
hazy patches and blur, but the imperfections were
part of the charm.”
Inspired by what she had seen, Nicky decided to
go part-time at Exeter College. She signed up to a
wet-plate photography course, purchased a vintage
The Photographer • Nicky Thompson
57
