Nicole Forrester

Born and educated in Harare, Zimbabwe, Nicole Forrester, nee Demblon, attended university in Durban. She achieved a Chartered Governance Institute certification, and while there discovered the underwater world of scuba diving.

As the youngest of five siblings, she has fond memories of family camping trips anywhere from the misty mountains of Nyanga to the shores of Lake Kariba, sometimes venturing to the coasts of neighbouring countries such as Mozambique and South Africa. These adventures early on in life fostered a fascination for the natural world and the wildlife in it.

In Zimbabwe and later Mozambique, Nicole and her husband Kyle owned and operated dive centres. With a desire to share the incredible beauty and fragility of the marine ecosystems with other people, Nicole found an interest in underwater photography and filming. Despite many setbacks, including a devastating house fire in Mozambique in which she lost all her equipment and photos, Nicole persisted with her passion, and at the age of 50, having relocated to the UK and seen their three children finish school and embark on their chosen careers, she returned to university. This time she attained a first-class honours degree in Marine and Natural History Photography from the prestigious Falmouth University in Cornwall.

Nicole and Kyle currently live between Scotland and Saudi Arabia, where he works as a pilot cleaning up oil spills and fighting fires. During his leave periods, the couple undertake expeditions to various locations: wild camping in the magnificent Saudi desert landscapes, peering at game through the Kenyan bush, drifting through the depths of the Red Sea, and traversing the vast, largely unexplored expanse of the Sud; all of which create fantastic photographic opportunities for Nicole.

Having a camera in hand whilst quietly absorbing the peace of the outdoors, be it underwater, up a mountain, in a forest, on a river, or under the beating sun in the African bush, is Nicole’s “happy place”, a natural remedy to clear her mind and improve wellbeing. She enjoys the unpredictability of marine and natural history photography, never knowing what might cross her path. She attempts to capture unique images to share with the world, in the hopes that people will be inspired by her work to appreciate and conserve the diverse, complex, and vulnerable natural environments in our precious world.