Above: Jordan Godwin, double peg to hard 180 t-bog shot for wethepeople.
Words by Dunk Photos by Nick Wotton
Hailing from Devon but having recently moved to Cardiff for University, Nick Wotton has found himself neatly placed within a riding scene who are always keen to explore their city abundant with spots. I met Nick a few years ago whilst shooting with Fooman. He’s always had a knack with the camera it seems, and in recent years his skills have improved exponentially. He also films and makes great edits too, some of which have been used by WTP. With enthusiasm such as Nick’s and his willingness to travel and generally get out there, I’d be surprised if his name didn’t become a regular sight on pages such as these.
Name: Nick Wotton Occupation: Student Age: 20 years young! Hometown: Paignton, Devon Instagram:@nickwotton
Rob Harris, double peg to hard 180 barspin for Dig.
Josh Webber, wall ride on the hut to ‘Dak’.
– Tell us a bit about yourself – where you’re from, your involvement with riding and how you got into photography.
“I’m from Torbay in Devon, the English Riviera. It’s sweet in the summer but when winter comes around it’s dead. I guess you could say I’m just an average rider, I used to ride for Kye Forte’s bike shop but not any more, riding has taken a back seat in my life at the moment due to injuries. I first started messing around with photos when my dad brought home a digital camera from work when I was real young and I used it to take skateboarding photos of me and my friends out on the street, plus my mum always had film cameras like 35mm ones so I have always been around cameras.”
– What was it that caused a spark with photography? The catalyst which made you wan to learn more and progress with your abilities?
“I studied photography at college but didn’t take it seriously, I just used to take my camera out with me just in case I wanted to put the bike down, but then in February last year I tore my ACL ligament in my right knee, which fully sucked so had to put my positive energy into something before I lost my mind and obviously to continue being involved in BMX.”
– Your riding scene has changed fairly recently with you going to Uni. How has that helped you as an artist?
“Yeah fully, I moved to Cardiff for university. I already knew a few people up here from previous riding trips so just hit them up and got in on their group chat, I mostly ride with Jordan Godwin, Rob Harris and Cam Wheeler though and from then onwards just started hanging around their crew. I wouldn’t say its helped me so much as an artist but it has given me more opportunity to produce work for companies and magazines for sure.”
– As you also do a lot of filming do you find your time dedicated to one over the other or do you film as much as shoot photos?
“Hard to say, personally I prefer shooting photos as I get way more of a buzz off being able to capture the one single moment rather than a clip. But if I am working on a filming project I tend to put all my efforts into that so the end result can be the best that it could possibly be.”
Josh Webber, flair. Just a casual photo, home in time for dinner.
Rob Harris, smith grind to hard 360 for Dig.
– With the internet awash with a constant supply of photos both good and bad, what was it that caught your attention to provide inspiration?
“I’d probably just say growing up around people such as Fooman and Cal Earnshaw. Seeing constant high quality professional work inspired me at first and then obviously from then on I started to find my own photographers to follow, mostly checking out their Instagram, or their photos in the magazines.”
– Who gets you stoked nowadays? Either photography wise or with riding?
“Photography wise I’d say Vince Perraud is high up on my list, Fred Murray and Lucho Vidales. Fooman has had a big role in my photography basically teaching me everything I know, so its always cool to see him pushing it. Filming wise I’d say Rich Forne, his edits blow my mind every time.”
– What’s your most used equipment, and what is your preferred setup?
“My most used equipment is my Canon 5D Mark 2 with a 50mm f1.8 – that lens is always on my camera, if I’m not shooting BMX that’s all I take sometimes. You can’t go wrong with the 50mm and it is always crisp if you know how to use it. BMX wise I take all my equipment such as flashes, fisheye, tripod… the list goes on, my bag is a recipe for a bad back, I know some people have heavier bags though.”
Lowepro vertex 200 Bag
Canon 5D Mark 2
Canon 50mm f1.8
Tamron 70-200 f4
Sigma 14mm f2.8 fisheye
Canon 600d second angle for filming
3x Canon 540ez flash guns
2x Pocketwizard tt5
Pocket wizard tt1 to hypersync
2x flash stands
Filming light
35mm film
Lens pen
– To date, what has been the most fulfilling moment for you with regards to your photography?
“On the reg I usually get just as hyped on a photo as I do when the rider lands the trick, as soon as I have shot the photo I am itching to get back and edit it haha. Probably the most fulfilling moment was being drunk at the Endless magazine launch party and seeing my first photo in print, shout out to Bakos and Scott at Crucial for making that happen.”
– In day to day life, outside of BMX and photography, what do you like to do?
“When I am at university on my days off I don’t mind catching up on my sleep, haha. Or I probably have some sort of work to sort out but once I have done that, I’m usually meeting up with some good people to go for a pint in the sun.”
– From first hand experience (and despite popular belief) the life of a BMX photographer isn’t that glamorous. So what do you personally get out of your experiences shooting photographs and filming?
“I kind of go with the flow, as long as I’m out doing something productive I don’t mind how much effort it can be sometimes, not that my short time in it has been overly bad, I guess I have all that to come then aye. What I like the most about it is meeting new people. I still struggle to comprehend how easy it is to meet and instantly become friends with someone through something like BMX, and through shooting photos I have been able to travel around a lot more recently to experience this.”
– If it hasn’t yet taken you to where you’d like it to, where would you like this path to lead?
“My path at the moment is heading in the right direction I guess, I’m just having fun enjoying what I do, I have quite a lot of stuff in the works for this year already and I enjoy seeing that grow every year. Only thing more I could want is to go on trips abroad I guess, but that could be happening sooner than I think, we shall see…”
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