After graduating in 1980 with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art, Nash assisted portrait photographer Geg Germany for two years and then began working as a freelance photographer. Since then, he has built a reputation as 'one of the most creative photographers of his generation' ( the Late Show, BBC2 Arts programme) and has held over 60 exhibitions of his Dance photographs in 19 different countries. His work has had such an impact on contemporary dance in England, that he is the recipient of a Dance Umbrella/Time Out Award, the inscription of which reads; 'For helping to make the face of dance more recognisable, this award is made to photographer extraordinaire Chris Nash.

His last major exhibition, A Glance at the Toes looked back over ten years of Dance photography by Chris Nash and featured the work of European and American choreographers and dancers. The majority of the images on display were commissioned by the Dance Companies themselves, for use as press and publicity material and are the result of a unique collaboration between choreographer and photographer. Because of the advance deadlines of magazines and poster designers, the photo sessions need to take place well before the creation of the actual dance pieces, i.e. before there is any choreography, costumes, set or lighting. However, it is still essential to somehow capture the flavour of the piece and it is his unerring ability to tranlate a choreographers ideas into captivating images that typifies Nash's work.