Loving the journey...
Specialising in active lifestyle & sports photography + motion, Duncan's emotive style has seen him create powerful images of the worlds’ best sports women and men - Olympic Gold medalists, World Record Holders, World Cup winners and Super Bowl and Major Champions.
Blessed to have shot for so many top tier global brands like Nike, Under Armour, adidas, New Balance, The NFL, Chicago Bears and The FA - Duncan is just a little bit sport and fitness mad himself.
When the camera is not in his hand, he is often found out cycling, on the yoga mat, pretending he's not freezing whilst cold water swimming, or running around with his 3 year old son Ziggy.
For Duncan it’s all about creating work that inspires positive health, wellness, environmental and social change. Executing those shoots in ways that are as sustainable as possible.
A member of 1% for the Planet, Duncan gives back by donating 1% of his annual sales to environmental non profits. For motion & integrated campaigns, he has joined forces with Tobias James and created GOOD PLANETS.
Empathetic storytelling is at the heart of Duncan’s work. His first short film, WALI is an emotive story about the blind marathon runner Wali Nori, who lost his sight whilst being a translator for allied forces in Afghanistan.
This approach has also led to him to create campaigns for clients like This Girl Can, The Invictus Games, The Red Cross, The Royal British Legion and Scope.
AWARDS:
2018-2021 ONE EYELAND BEST OF THE BEST PHOTOGRAPHERS
2020 - Short film WALI - Best Short Film at Big Teeth, Small Shorts (Chicago)
2017 TOKYO FOTO INTERNATIONAL AWARDS - WINNER
2017 SIENNA INTERNATIONAL PHOTO AWARDS - SHORTLIST
2016 PDN ADRENALIN SPORTS & ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY - PEOPLES CHOICE WINNER
Projects
- SPURS - FREE YOUR STYLE CAMPAIGNVideo and Stills campaign, shot for Spurs and commissioned by MATTA Photography - Me Directors. Tobias James and myself (as Good Planets) DOP - Borja Mucientes Creative Producer - Tom W Producer / Agent - Pamela N Gaffer - Evance Breteuil Digi - Ollie Jarman Drone - Sam Butcher (Vert Media)
- Maurten - Just Running, The Speed Project 2023A very special commission for Maurten, documenting the journey of Just Running - a bad ass all female team of runners, and they took on The Speed Project. Racing 500km from Santa Monica to Las Vegas, and trying to break the all female record. https://www.maurten.com/magazine/just-running-the-speed-project And for more from the project, check out: https://www.duncannicholls.co.uk/portfolio/active-lifestyle
- The Speed Project - Motion PortraitsDropping these motion portraits, ahead of our short film dropping in July 2022. What a wild few days from LA to Vegas. Created by Tobias James and Duncan Nicholls - aka Good Planets TV https://goodplanets.tv/ https://www.duncannicholls.co.uk/portfolio/active-lifestyle
- Denise Lewis x NextMore from my activewear shoots with Denise Lewis MBE for Next. Always amazing to work with Denise, and all the creatives teams from Next. Huge thanks to Art Director Tara KD, Bjorn Krischker on Hair & Make Up, Emma Lane on Styling, Vicki Tarbuck, Zoe Kramer, Dawn-Marie Jones on Lighting, Maria Monfort-Plana on Digi - and my agent Pam Nolan (Global Assignments.agency) https://www.duncannicholls.co.uk/portfolio/active-lifestyle
- THE SPEED PROJECT 2022 - LA TO LV (day 002)TSP is a 360 mile non stop relay race from Santa Monica Pier LA to the Las Vegas sign. 60+ teams from around the world taking part, this was one of the most incredible career experiences. Short Film dropping in summer 2022 too. Here's a couple of frames from shoot day 002. Enjoy https://www.duncannicholls.co.uk/portfolio/active-lifestyle
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Projects credited in
- This Girl Can / Sport EnglandThis Girl Can believes that there’s no right way to get active – if it gets your heart rate up, it counts. And we want more women to find what’s right for them. The campaign celebrates active women who are doing their thing no matter how they look, how well they do it or how sweaty they get. We want to challenge the conventional idea of what exercise looks like and reach out to women of all backgrounds and ethnicities who feel left behind by traditional exercise. In doing so, we’re aiming to
- WALIA story of superhuman courage, willpower and overcoming a life changing injury. Whilst working as an Interpreter for the British Army in his home country of Afghanistan, Wali Noori was involved in a Taliban ambush and suffered serious injuries as well as the loss of his sight. 'Wali' tells his story and how he found inspiration and healing through sport.
Work history
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Photographer/DirectorDuncan Nicholls Ltd
London, United KingdomFreelance
Freelance Sports Portrait, Fashion and Lifestyle Photographer + Director.
Co-founder of Good Planets, and 1% for The Planet Member.
Skills
- Photography
- Directing
- Art Direction
- Creative Direction
- Filmmaking
- Sport Photography
- Lifestyle
Education
Awards
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TOKYO FOTO INTERNATIONAL AWARDS - WINNERTokyo International Foto Awards
Personal Work - Category Winner