EMPICS

EMPICS, a Press Association Group company, is a UK firm which deals with licensing photographs of people and events for the press and other mass news media.

EMPICS is the photo licensing arm of the PA Photos division, bringing together the news, sport and entertainment picture productions and archives of the Press Association, EMPICS, AP and leading niche photographers to offer a comprehensive range of editorial photography from the UK and around the world, from past to present.

History

EMPICS, originally known as East Midlands Pictures, was founded in 1985 by Phil O'Brien, as a news/sport/features photographic agency after covering the East Midlands M1 plane crash. Profits were invested in colour wiring equipment and with the company then focusing on sports photography.

EMPICS was based in Musters Road, Nottingham, very near to the Trent Bridge Cricket Ground and home stadiums of Nottingham Forest and Notts County. Towards the end of the 1990s, it was branded as EMPICS SPORTS PHOTO AGENCY. Over the years many staff moved on to work for rivals Allsport including Picture Desk Manager John Childs who left in 1997 along with photographer Laurence Griffiths. EMPICS later moved into the centre of Nottingham and expanded with many new sales staff.