Nick Elliott

Born in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, Elliott grew up and was schooled in Stanground[6] before leaving to pursue a career as an editorial photographer with East Midlands Daily Press (EMAP) newspapers The Peterborough Evening Telegraph and The Peterborough Advertiser.[7]

After completing training in editorial photography, Elliott moved on to work in the Magazine Division in the EMAP group shooting for titles including: Anglian Times, Motor Cycle News[8] and Motor Cycle Racing.[9]

He left EMAP to pursue a freelance[6] career and continued in editorial photography and was commissioned by International Publishing Corporation (IPC) for Truck Magazine, Car Magazine, and Auto Car,[7] alongside EMAP and other media and publishing houses.[10]

During this time, Elliott also shot royal and celebrity stories including the Queen, Princess Anne, the Duke of Bedford, Barry Sheene's win of the world 500cc Motorcycle Championship and Dave 'Boy' Greene's British Heavyweight title attempt.[6]

After a successful career in editorial photography, Elliott's career moved onto working in creative advertising and was commissioned by London agencies such as; Saatchi & Saatchi, Yellow Hammer, Carlson, Young & Rubican,[10] GGT, Ogilvy & Mather, MSBK and Publicis.[11]

During this period he shot many major above and below-the-line campaigns for blue-chip companies and brands such as Jaguar, Marlboro Cigarettes,[12] Coca-Cola, British Airways, Walt Disney,[13] Lloyds TSB Bank, British Telecom, and Sheraton Hotels.[14]

In 1990, Elliott was placed 3rd in Euro Best Advertising Awards with Publicis' campaign 'If You're Not Feeling Too Special' for Sonatogen[8] and, after shooting Prime Minister John Major in 1991, was commissioned by TBWA to photograph the 1992 UK general election billboard campaign for the Liberal Democrats[10] depicting the message 'light at the end of the tunnel'.

Elliott's first encounter with shooting rock music professionally came early in his career when he photographed Trapeze[9] for the Peterborough Evening Telegraph[7] when the band performed in Peterborough in 1973.

Elliott has photographed: Alice Cooper, Amy Winehouse, Bill Wyman, Blondie, Bob Geldof, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Garbage, Idlewild, Motorhead, Metallica, Nickelback, Ozzy Osborne, Robert Plant, Roy Wood, Saxon, Status Quo, The Blockeads, Thin Lizzy, ZZ Top.[15]

In 2010, Elliott shot at the Country Music Association (CMA) awards in Nashville, Tennessee[16][9] and became official photographer for Planet Rock radio station.[17]

Elliott's images have been published extensively in the media[17] and licensed for use in CD covers, promotional material and live performances[3] with commissions by record companies, record labels and independent music artists, and his work has been exhibited in throughout the UK, Europe, and the USA.[18][19]

In 2011, Elliott was approached by specialist music book publisher Rufus Stone[20] and released his debut book, TEN-A Decade In Images of his favourite images from ten years of the legendary Cambridge Folk Festival.[21] It was officially endorsed by the folk festival organisers Cambridge City Council[22] and included quote by some of the musicians featured in its pages such as Richard Hawley, Fairport Convention, John Tams, The Levellers, and Steve Earle.

Elliott went on to release a follow-up book, 50Folk[23] as a personal celebration of 50 years of the festival in 2014 and a year later released third book, Three Weeks One Summer,[11] documenting the pop band The Marmalade during the making of their Penultimate project of a CD, DVD, and vinyl record with promotional booklet all shot by Elliott.[24]

A fourth book, Ice Cream & Sun Cream, was released in 2017[25] and was entered for an award at the Vienna Photo Book Festival.[26]

In 2013, Elliott was invited to appear as himself in a music video for singer Gary Curtis' single Crazy Love[27] and also made a cameo appearance alongside singer Anne Nolan, actress Sally Geeson, and actors Paul Barber and Brian Murphy in Curtis' video for If Every Day Was Like Christmas.[28] Both videos were filmed at Pinewood Studios.

Elliott guested in a short film, The Guardian, by Aturn Films[29] in 2015 and in the same year made a further cameo appearance in music video Why by Gary Curtis and Anne Nolan.[30] A further appearance in Curtis' All Alone At Christmas alongside Gary Ashburn, Sally Geeson, and Jerome Blake followed in 2015.

Elliott was invited to co-host a specialist rock show, Tracks of Nick's Years, on community radio station Endeavour FM, which ran for 7 episodes in 2014. The following year Elliott's radio show Sound And Nick's Vision began airing on the award-winning radio station Siren FM.[31]

• 2011: TEN-A Decade In Images (Rufus Stone Publications)
• 2014: 50Folk ISBN 9781320352857
• 2015: Three Weeks One Summer ISBN 9781366441300
• 2017: Ice Cream & Sun Cream ISBN 9781366421609

• Official portfolio website
• Office press office