Nic began documenting South Africa’s post-apartheid transition as an anthropology student at the University of Cape Town. He apprenticed alongside master photojournalists of the time who helped shape his honest visual signature. For two years he worked as staff photographer at the Cape Times newspaper before going back to freelancing from 1997 to 2003 while sailing solo around the world. Nic then worked for 20 years for the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) where he set up the Africa network first as West Africa chief photographer then chief photographer for Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa Bureau chief.
Career coverage highlights include six Olympic games, the 2003 Liberian civil war, 2004 Togo civil war, 2005 Sudan-Darfur war, 2006 DRC crisis, Israel-Palestine crisis, end of Apartheid in South Africa, three Wimbledon championships and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
In 2015, he launched the Globephoto project, which teaches photography to children from different communities to help bridge South Africa’s social divide.
In 2023, he founded the pioneering photojournalism agency Matrix Images.
Over the past 30 years he has worked in more than 100 countries and held more than 10 exhibitions. Awards highlights include three Pictures of the Year International Awards (POYI) and the Ischia International Award in Italy. His work is part of the permanent collection at the University of South Africa Art Gallery.
Nic is based in Cape Town, South Africa.