 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.