Ed Thompson (b.1980, Wales) is a British freelance photographer. His photographs often focus on fringe groups and subcultures, although his choices of subjects are widely eclectic.
He developed a distinctive style from an early apprenticeship with the Russian photographer Sergey Chilikov, whom he met at the Arles Photography Festival in 2002. That summer he stayed with Sergey in Paris and learnt the value of shooting everyday life, Sergeys friend, Gueorgui Pinkhassov, told him how the everyday can allow you to touch at something great. His first job after graduating was working at a chain of static caravan holiday camps in the South-East taking portraits of children sitting on the knee of a giant rabbit.
In 2007 he studied the Master's Degree in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication for which he received a first class distinction, during that time he worked on various photo-series including The Texas Hill Country and Living Historians.
His documentary photo-essays have been published in international magazines including National Geographic Magazine, Newsweek Japan, Greenpeace Magazine, The Guardian Weekend and The Sunday Times Magazine Spectrum Supplement (U.K). His work has featured on television internationally and exhibited in photography festivals in Arles (France), Tampere (Finland) & London (U.K). He is represented by LUZphoto, Italy, Salt Images, Russia and Fotogloria, Germany. He lives in East London with his fiance Shanu and a cat the Nuclear Families gave to him.
