
Preface
My career has taken me around the world and introduced me to a number of notable figures. I'm not typically one to openly share those experiences, but when prompted or the right scenario arises, I'll share an anecdote or two. Then there's David Dee, a former colleague and friend, who sees something I shot and asks about it.
"How did you land that gig?"
"What was the shoot like?"
He's genuinely curious about the process. Recently, he asked me to sit down for a conversation. He wanted to do a profile piece on me for the Philly Ad News. The rest of this article is what he created... with some additional visuals for your viewing pleasure.

A profile of Philadelphia native & creative Nic D’Amico
We all know that one person, the kind of friend whose life is stitched together with stories that could fill libraries. You sit across from them, drink in hand, eyes wide with disbelief. For me, that’s Nic D’Amico: a photographer and relentless creator of experiences, an enigma wrapped in film. In this feature, I’ll peel back the layers of Pier’s world: his journey from immigrant dreamer to advertising maven who’s immortalized pop culture icons, and the seismic shifts he’s weathered in our fickle industry.
The Early Days
After graduating from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and racing motorcycles for a few years, Nic pivoted back to creativity, boldly choosing Philadelphia over NYC to launch his studio. “I got started at the tail end of the two-martini lunch era,” Nic recounts. Like any young photographer worth their salt, he paid his dues with headshots and corporate gigs, grinding his way into the agency circuit. Then fate intervened. A stroke of luck hit during a Nike lifestyle shoot, as a keystroke error in Photoshop created an over-sharpened image that ignited an unexpected trend in lifestyle photography. Awards followed. The phone rang off the hook, but one call stood out: Wieden + Kennedy, Nike’s top agency. The big leagues were here. All thanks to one beautiful, serendipitous mistake.

The GOAT Whisperer
Nic’s first gig with Wieden + Kennedy? A fresh-faced kid out of Akron, barely out of high school. LeBron James. No pressure, other than he had to shoot it digitally. “Before that, we’d shoot 150 rolls of film. Then it’d take a week to process and deliver the files,” Nic recalls. W+K didn’t want next week; they needed it next day. So, he made it work. He used the change in format to his benefit, and invited his subjects into the process. It wasn’t just directing them anymore; it was creatively collaborating with the athletes and agencies.

This was the early 2000s, the dawn of athletes taking control of their brand narratives. After a successful LeBron shoot he was asked to capture Kobe Bryant. Nic showed Kobe LeBron's shots, and Kobe’s competitive fire lit up. He wasn’t just in, he was all-in. Nic was delivering, and the creative directors at W+K took note. They showed up on set, watched him work, picked his brain. Remember, this is all pre-burst mode on cameras. No machine-gun shutter clicks. "We had 18 packs on set, big stands, big lights. I could only do…pop, pop, pop… maybe three shots, because I was limited by the recycle rate of the flash? I had to nail the moment," Nic says.

His work with Nike’s team sports division gained momentum, leading to projects with Tom Brady, Shaun White, Albert Pujols, Randy Johnson, and many more. Then it expanded beyond the Nike ecosystem, working with The Undertaker, Triple H, Randy Orton and other WWE superstars. It's a momentum that has carried through to present day, resulting in projects where he's photographed Simone Biles for GK Elite and Ja Morant for SLAM. Each shoot is more than just another name in his portfolio. They are completely unique experiences, whether it's capturing Snoop in New York during the height of the East Coast/West Coast feud, or working with Thom Yorke the day his solo album leaked. Each moment demanded pivoting, reading the room, knowing when to push, when to pull, and how to relate creatively with other artists. GOAT whisperer? Yeah, that tracks.

More Than Portraits
With so many A-listers and jaw-dropping projects in his portfolio, I had to ask Nic if there was one that stood out. He barely pauses. “Probably the Jordan Melo M8 shoe launch event in NYC,” he says. Nic intimates that this project holds a special place as it was a high point for Klip Collective, an experiential projection mapping shop he co-founded in the early 2000s. “We got one key art frame from W+K. It was Carmelo Anthony slam dunking over the East River.” They left it up to Nic and his crew to make that image jump from concept to reality. And they did, by projecting a video animation onto water spraying out of the river itself. At the time, Disney was the only other player experimenting with water projections. The experience kicked off with a stuntman leaping from a helicopter into the East River, triggering the projection, and then flowed into an exclusive event and launch party on Pier 54. “You have to understand, thirteen years ago, nobody was doing this kind of stuff,” Nic recalls. To this day Nic holds seven US patents for projection mapping.
There’s a lot to learn if you listen, and I’m always curious to get a read on how industry vets view the current state of affairs in our beloved advertising world. How have things changed in their eyes, and what if anything, gets them genuinely excited about what the opportunities that exist. Nic begins by highlighting the flood of content saturating every corner of modern life, “These visual platforms are storytelling playgrounds, perfect for building communities.” He would love to see brands continue to push boundaries with bold, unexpected activations. “Surprise people, make them feel something. Sponsor more art and creativity.” Not surprising, seeing as that’s what fueled Klip Collective. But it’s when he talks about today’s tools that his energy really spikes. “Blending AR/VR technologies with projection mapping can take experiential projects to another level. It makes them interactive, giving a crowd of guests their own unique experience.” One-to-one experiential marketing? Yes, please. I’ll give you my whole family’s personal information.
Words of Wisdom
“Don't do it,” that’s Nic’s lighthearted response when asked if he has any advice for the next generation of photographers. “It’s similar to when being a scribe was a career. No one could write, so you were in need. Then everybody could write and being a scribe wasn’t a viable career anymore,” says D’Amico. He goes into detail on how the democratization of the medium and ease of shooting has impacted industry, “Now, when I’m shooting Simone Biles or Jordan Chiles jumping in the air I don't shoot one shot. I burst 15 shots. The whole skill of capturing ‘it’ in one snap, has become so much easier with the upside being more resources going to creative direction.”
I press him for something less cynical, eventually he relents, offering a sliver of insight that feels raw and true. “Nowadays it takes a village to do these break through projects, like Klip,” he says. And he’s right. The bar for spectacle isn’t just high, it’s orbiting the goddamn moon. If you’re not sending a car hurtling through space, you risk being dismissed as pedestrian. But when you bring multiple disciplines together, all aiming at the same bullseye, the possibilities explode. The creative potential multiplies, creating something bigger, more compelling, and more thrilling than anyone could have imagined alone. He left me with this: "Creativity is the one currency that never devalues, it not only engages but also forms the bond that cements the connection between an audience and a brand." Nothing could be more true.

Some Favorite BTS Moments

Keep an eye out for the physical print of the January / February edition of Philly Ad News, or view it here: https://mobile.phillyadnews.com/january-february-2025/page-c1

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