Fine art photographer Nicola Taylor talks to Ruth Addicott about giving up her job as a city stockbroker for the tranquillity of the North Yorkshire Moors

FIVE years ago Nicola Taylor was a stockbroker, working a 60-hour week in the City of London. Money was no object, but the hours and pressure of the job were beginning to grind her down. The stress was affecting her health, she had no life outside of work and she started looking for an escape. Five years later, she has found it - in the open spaces of the North Yorkshire Moors.

Nicola left her job in 2010 and re-trained as a fine art photographer. Inspired by the Yorkshire landscape where she grew up, she moved back to Great Ayton and produced a collection of prints entitled Tales From The Moors Country.

The images are self portraits, based on illustrations from children’s storybooks, fairytales and stories her grandmother used to tell her as a child.

“I didn’t consciously set out to use myself as a model,” she says. “I just found I did my best work when it was me and my camera going off into the Moors on my own. Yorkshire has inspired people to tell stories for thousands of years, the landscape is very evocative and fertile ground for stories.”

Nicola often travels 15 to 20 miles, either early morning to catch the sunrise or late evening for the sunset, before driving back and crafting the final image on her computer.

Snilesworth Moor near Osmotherley is among her favourite locations, along with Hob Hole, near Blakey Ridge. “It’s beautiful light there first thing in the morning, the sun comes up, the trees break up all the light and it collects in little pools. It looks really magical,” she says.

Using a self-timer, she has to set up all the props and then race to get in front of the camera.

For every image which is published there are usually ten or 20 that never see the light of day.

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“I can be at home and the weather is pretty mild, then you get up on the moors and it’s absolutely freezing,” she says. “I’ve tried to take pictures in rivers before and it’s been so cold I couldn’t bear to be in the water more than a couple of seconds.”

Some of the shoots look so strange, they have made passing drivers and dog walkers stop in their tracks. “People often stop and talk,” laughs Nicola. “I had a group of people stop in a car on the road and watch for a good 10 to 15 minutes. I’ve done some pictures where I’ve had veils over my head and face, so if people are walking past, it can look a bit strange.”

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Nicola, who has always had a passion for literature describes her pictures as “little stories”.

She studied American Literature at university in Norwich and did a masters in Theoretical Psychoanalytic Studies in London before the City beckoned. She worked as a stockbroker for seven years

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“In the beginning it was fun and exciting, but after a few years I felt like I was on a tread mill and there was something missing from my life,” she says. “I come from a working class family and I think my family really felt I had made it because I was doing so well financially, so it was quite difficult to leave. I didn’t know what else I could do.”

The early mornings and late nights had taken their toll, Nicola was suffering from exhaustion and felt increasingly trapped. Eventually, she realised she was never going to figure out what else she could do while she was still tied to the job. Having accumulated some savings, she eventually quit her job and booked a flight to Asia the following day.

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She spent six weeks in Bali training to be a yoga teacher and went on a detox program in Thailand, involving a seven-day fast. The daily regime of Yin Yoga, clay shakes, juices and vegetable broth almost pushed her to her limits and she describes it as “the hardest and most transformative experience” of her life.

After coming back, Nicola decided to do a one year photography course at London College of Communications. “I found myself spending hours in the library looking at books of illustration - particularly children’s illustration, wishing I could draw or paint well enough to do it myself,” she says.

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“I started wondering what if I could do this with my camera, what if I could try and create images that are reminiscent of these children’s storybook illustrations.”

She embarked on her Tales From The Moors Country project and received such a good response that, in July 2012, she decided to move back to North Yorkshire and start her own business, selling her prints through art and craft fairs.

Since then her work has appeared in a number of exhibitions and she has launched a line of accessories including handmade jewellery, cards and bags. Prices range from £400 for a limited edition print to £2.50 for a greeting card.

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“I love any literature that uses the landscape to echo the feelings of the characters,” says Nicola.

“That’s what I have tried to do in my pictures.”

W: nicolataylorphotographer.com