The diary of a pro.....

Monday 8th February
Tuesday 9th February
Wednesday 10th February
Features all cancelled due to bad weather. Shoot some fly tying sequences, some odd tackle shots and generally bum around :)

Did see a few of my shots used on different covers though. This is always a nice thing, as generally, the shots you take for cover shots are the ones you do tend to take most time over, or at the least, you get the best feeling from when you press the shutter.



Thursday 11th February
Day off again to visit the wonders of IKEA with the family to order a kitchen – great!

Friday 12th February
Portland, Dorset



5am start so I can be at Portland for 8am. Sea fishing is something I’m starting to love, although the catch rate isn’t as reliable as coarse of game fishing. Still, the day is wonderful despite a freezing wind and we have a good chance of a decent wrasse. We’re on Pulpit Rock, just to the right of the lighthouse. It’s where the British record wrasse was caught. Four bites, two fish and it’s feature done by 12pm so I can be on the road and home for mid-afternoon for some well-earned Call Of Duty action on the Xbox… well, a bloke needs some R&R every now and then!!
 
Monday 15th February
Deepest Leicestershire
Quick morning shoot for a group tackle test about sub-£300 poles. Crap lighting so ISO 640 all day and with cat ice all over, the fishing is totally pants. Still we get the few shots we need for the piece and the journo is happy with the results.

Tuesday 16th February
Thornton Reservoir, Leicestershire



My first reservoir session of 2010. This is always a big thing for me because A) reservoir trouting is glorious fun and B) the start of the season is usually rocking because of fresh fish just gagging to be caught.
Ifor at Thornton is a quality fishery manager; totally honest, full of knowledge and he makes a mean coffee for those early mornings when you need a pep up. The fishery look spot-on, although it's still very cold and there's probably the tiniest bit of extra colour in the water. That aside, he's noticed a lot of fish showing close to the bank so it should be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Today is probably the first proper day of sunlight I've had so if we get fish it's a great opportunity to shoot some good stuff. However, despite three of us trying our damnedest, we manage only a handful of fish - it's harder than we first thought. Still, we get some great shots and enough to illustrate the feature.

Wednesday 17th February
Birmingham City Centre
It's raining, it's cold and I hate canals at this time of year simply because they're the last chance saloon for fishing mags. To be honest, the brief is so basic (catch some roach) that neither myself or today's angler, Shakespeare Superteam skipper Paul Bick, is really feeling up for it. Safe to say, we catch neither in out first spot on the Soho Loop or out on the canal in Wednesbury so by 1.30pm we're heading home, wet, cold and thoroughly cheesed off with the whichever idiot sent us out today.

Thursday 18th February
Feature cancelled so get some time to catch up on my expenses, sort some future ates out and have a browse for new equipment.

Friday 19th February
MBK Leisure, Petersfield, Hampshire



After two crap days I'm blessed with glorious sunshine and 7˚C temperatures. Today's angler, Korum-backed specimen hunter Duncan Charmon (he's a wedding tog so we get on like a house on fire), is already fishing by the time I arrive at 9am and he's catching well. MBK is famed for its high stocks and easy fishing and today is no different as Duncan latches into 8oz roach after 8oz roach. Both of us are agog at the number – and size – of fish that are coming out and today is one of those days where we get all the shots we want, plus a potential cover (or two... on the 85mm f/1.8 too) that subsequently, the editor of Total Coarse Fishing went bonkers for. it's always great when the editor gets excited, especially when he can share a bit of your enthusiasm for the job.

As with all cover shots for magazines, more is better in terms of space to put page furniture like straps and headers. I tend to shoot all my fish holding shots of this type on something between 70mm-100mm. At these focal lengths you can A) handhold, and B) control DoF better than at longer lengths like 150mm+. Even the blandest subject can be given some life in this way and to be honest, that's probably why I use telephoto lenses for covers more than anything else - sometime I'm not always blessed with the best looking cover subjects. This one works for me because it has good tonal range (plus lots of green to lay yellow and white text over, a designer's favourite) and the red in the hoody sets it off. Plus everything is biased to the right so leaving plenty of space on the left for text. The big roach helps too, although Photoshop will come into play on the missing scales, probably a spawning or heron attack injury.
 
Who'd have thought fishing could be so interesting?

Best thread currently running!

Subscribed!

:thumbs:
 
Monday 22nd February
I was supposed to be out with England internantional Sean Ashby today but due to bad weather it's called off. Instead Sean comes into the office for plan B; a shoot about mixing different groundbait recipes. This just involves a few mixing sequences, some product shots and a main shot of Sean surrounded by groundbait - nothing taxing. We're done within an hour so I get on with shooting a potential cover for the forthcoming re-launch of Total FlyFisher magazine. Still-lifes work on this magazine simply because fly-tying is such a huge part of this field. However, we still need to be mindful of suiting the image to the general demographic and although my shot of three salmon flies works, it's deemed to 'salmony' and not of interest to our core reader, the stillwater trout angler. Still, it's given me something to do and it's another shot to add to my portfolio.



Tuesday 23rd February
Willow Park, Ash Vale, Surrey
I'm with carp angler Ian Chillcott. To beat the M40/M25 rush it's a 5.45am start, which gets me down to Chilly's house for just after 9am. The tea is flowing and we knock out a few shots of Chily at work in his office. Then it's out to Willow Park to take some outdoor shots. However, somewhere inbetween the Gods interfere and my D2X dies.... it still fires but every lens is stopped right down to its minimum aperture - this is bad! I don't carry a back-up body because I have to finance my own equipment and with a five-month-old at home, money has to be diverted elsewhere. I don't know what's worse; losing my beloved Nikon for the next few weeks or having to use the works kits!!

My head isn't in it now so i rattle off the shots the journo wants, say my goodbye to Chilly (who understands totally that equipment can fail) and race back to the office to find a repair shop on the internet and get it in the post ASAP*. The images are given to the journo in charge of the feature and I go home feeling deflated, annoyed and (stupidly) doubting whether or not I should have gone for Canon gear instead...

*I managed to get it sent off to Fixation that afternoon but my aim for a quick turnaround was scuppered when Fixation took 16 days to get it back to me. £320 was the bill, although half the parts and labour costs were to cover replacing the rubber grips on the body which have to be removed to access all the screws underneath that hold the casing together. It turned out it was a shutter box failure - the lever that opens the lens apertures up had failed but it's a whole unit rather than one little part.

Wednesday 24th February
Littleborough, Lancs



Penine Fishery up past Manchester today. It's a 150-mile trip to get there from Rugby so I hit the road at just before 6am so I can get up there for 9am and be away for 2pm - I need to be back for 5pm because I'm on babysitting duty!! They say it's grim up north (I should know coming from Hull) and it's no word of a lie; the hills are still thick with snow that's only just beginning to melt away. Still, it's not turning the fish off, as we find out within 10 minutes of wetting a line. Penine is renowned for big fish, although we're catching five-pounders that give a good account of themselves. Two regulars – they're rather jovial (read: loud) scousers – are sacking up on big fish we have a chat and a joke and get some shots of them for library purposes. I'm with Howards Croston from Hardy/Greys and his assistant Scott looking at the difference between imitation and exaggerated fly patterns. Anything you put in the water today works TBH.
Because the Nikon is in the repair shop I'm forced to used a battered 20D (ungripped) and my lens selection ranges from a scratched 17-40mm, an even worse 28-90mm and a 100mm macro. I also have a 550Ex flash that seems to have a mind of its own and fires at full power on 9 from 10 occasions!! Anyway, despite the snow (this is for an April issue) and the bad camera we get the job done and I make it home for 4.55pm - job well and truly done :)

Thursday 25th February
Mottisfont Abbey, Hampshire



I've always wanted to fish the River Test with coarse tackle and today's feature with Bob James is the perfect opportunity. Bob is pretty famous, mainly for his big fish talents and his starring part in A Passion For Angling, which aired on the BBC back in the early 1990s. Unfortunately, today's feature has to be shot A) in the pouring rain, and B) using an absolutely pooped EOS 30D with a lagging shutter button. I'm also limited to a 10-22mm EF-S lens (which I'm quite impressed with) and a 28-135mm IS that has a wobbly barrel and strange vignetting at the long end - not ideal but it will have to do until the D2X comes back. I'm also limited in where I can shoot because we're in the grounds of the abbey, which is NT controlled and currently closed for the winter. We're also here on a spacial favour so we have to play nice and that means making the venue look as unrecognisable as possible.
Anyway, we sacked up on 8oz dace –*there are millions in the test that remain uncaught because it's better know as a fly fishing river – but did manage two 2lb roach, one of which you see above. We also caught a stream of three and four-pound rainbow and brown trout, which loved the maggots and gave a great account of themselves on light float rods. It's not exactly my ind of fishing because it's a bit contrived, but in the wetness of late February it's more than welcome :)

Just for the record, the image above won't appear in the magazine as you see it; I like having a fanny around with processing techniques to see how I can 'enhance' images so they look better on the page. however, the industry being what it is, experimentation isn't always welcomed so this image will probably straight when it goes to print - that means flat and boring in other words!!!

Friday 26th February
Got nothing booked today so I'm off work for the day - result :)
 
What a great thread - I've missed it up to now but will certainly keep popping back.

Are you ever up in Scotland at all ?

I missed the opening day of the Salmon (Jan 15th) on the Tay at Kenmore.
 
this is a great thread, thanks for sharing with us :D

do you automatically know in your head when shooting for a Mag their front page layout - ie logo position, or do you need to remind yourself before you go out?

do you shoot RAW and deliver RAW?
 
Dinners, I'm itching to get up to Scotland this year, if only for the grayling fishing on the Teviot. Our fly fishing editor comes from Howick so knows the borders well and he'll be my guide. In general though it's too far to go unless it's for several days to get a loads of features in the bag. We have good contributors up there who ca get shots and at the moment, with a baby at home, I'm not that keen on being away for long spells. Probably when he's a bit older then I'll get out for longer - we gets some freebies to places like Spain, Cuba, The U.S. and Patagonia that I'm hoping come my way at some point.

Bobtographer, I used to be the editor of one of our mags for six years (and a deputy for two before that) and being the opinionated so-and-son I am, I stuck my neb into how every mag works so I'm fairly familiar with the layout and design of each mag we produce. Saying that, because I'm shooting so many jobs I do have the odd bout of brain fade with regards to mastheads and cover layouts, so i generally have the odd magazine floating around the back seat of the car.

Front cover design is usually pretty rigid at our place because A) we need to keep our hard-core of newsstand buyers happy so they can recognise the mag each and every time they go into the newsagent/supermarket, and B) if you start going too wacky then the mag just doesn't fit the general demographic. Ultimately, there's an ethos, an aim to each magazine that has to be met every month in order to satisfy what the regular reader wants. We keep them (the covers) simple; clear images, simple, catchy strap lines; not too much clutter. I do have some freedom to be creative when I want – in fact, it's encouraged because sometimes you get some greta stuff out of the blue - but generally I'm shooting to what i know sells the magazine best.

As for shooting raw it's a sore point; I started last year because I was adamant I could get better quality but ultimately I've gone back to JPEG for a number of reasons:

1) The in-house processing team know jack about processing raw files
2) The software we use (CS2) is, in their eyes, not geared up to processing large amounts of raw files.
3) They don;t use a photography-oriented software like Aperture or Lightroom, which would help them batch-process raw files quicker.
4) Although I shoot the most stuff I'm no the only one with a camera; there's only so much space on our server and everyone shooting raw would soon fill things up.
5) Our paper stock isn't great so any benefits that raw would bring in terms of IQ would be lost because of the printing process

I do still shoot raw when shooting for the cover; we have a seperate technician who appreciates what I'm aiming for and he knows how to process raw files pretty well. We also use a different (glossy) paper stock for covers that take blacks better and just look cleaner so the benefit of raw can be better justified in this case.

I don't actually have much to do with the processing. I give my opinion here and there if I see a shot being butchered (which happens a lot) and when asked by editors who are on my wavelength, I'll do some retouching prior to the images being handed over to the repro team. To be honest thought, I often don't have the time to be retouching everything and because what I'm putting over is a full shoot (albeit with the real duff shots taken out) I don't know what the editor is going to choose to it would be a waste of my time retouching 200+ shots when they only need 20. :)
 
brilliant thread. Some serious commitment to the cause you have, im not going to moan about my 200 mile round trips again! :)
 
Got back at 9pm last night after a wonderful day spent with F1 driving legend John Watson - great bloke and a true gent. Will post a reports ASAP. Just finishing off my porridge, it's 4.58am and I'm getting ready to head down to Weston-super-mare for a carp fishing feature....I didn't know this early existed until taking this job!!!! :)
 
Wow, I enjoyed reading this thread. Keep em coming.
One question, do you use in camera/off camera flash?
 
Strobemonkey, I use both. For portability, ease-of-use and being able to do things quickly then you can't beat on-camera flash; setting up multiple flashes just isn't something that can be done quickly IMO. However, when I'm on a shoot where I can be flexible, creative and have plenty of time, then I work with up to three flashes all triggered via Elinchrom Skyports.

Because I have to fund my own equipment the Pocket Wizard and Nikon CLS systems are just too pricey at the moment - maybe in time I'll move onto one of these but for now the skyports do a fine job. I don't use anything fancy other than that; an SB800, an SB28 and an SB28DX. The '800 was my first Nikon flash and it's very useful, especially the 1/128th power setting and the optical (SU-4) trigger, something that's lacking on the SB28 and SB28DX. Mind you, I use the '28DX on camera a lot as a trigger for the SB800 but that's generally when I want the odd 'strobist' shot, usually in a small space where lightstands and brollies can't fit.

For light stands I use Konig tripods (about £45 of amazon) because they're stable and can be set up on really rough ground without blowing over. For brollies I use those heads that FITP sells; for straight flash I generally have a Nikon Speedlight (SU-19) foot attached to each ball head. Brollies only come out on calm days though - they blow through easily in a gusty breeze.
 
Monday March 1st
Day off - DIY to be done. I have been ordered by her who shall be obeyed :)

Tuesday 2nd March
River Wensum, Norwich



Sun, glorious sun. Has Spring arrived at last? Even if it hasn't today is just a pleasure; great location on the River Wensum a mile or so from the city centre, great light and great company in the form of Total Coarse Fishing editor Kev Wilmot and ex-Angling Times staffer Lewis Murawski, who now owns a tackle shop on the city and is the focus of today's shoot. We're chasing bream on a falling river that's carrying plenty of colour but has been producing of late. THe fishing takes care of itself, as Lewis does what he does best and we have a laugh as we catch up and talk shop. Bream to 4lb come to the net after some persuasion and we finish the day with 25Lb+ of fish, which is a right result. The 150 mile journey is good too, as Kev and myself set the world to rights :)

Wednesday 3rd March
Thursday 4th March
Friday 5th March
One day in the office, one day at home looking after my boy and the Friday spent fishing a match on the River Avon in Stratford (I came 3rd) make this one of the easiest weeks for ages - result..... :)
 
Really glad I found this thread. I used to enjoy fishing a lot when I was in my teens. We have some of the best fishing in Europe over here in Northern Ireland. I remember getting some great advice on the River Bann in the early 80's from the likes of Dick Clegg, Kevin Ashurst and Bob Nudd.
Subscribing to this thread now :thumbs:

Paul
 
Im really jealous you did a shoot with Mick Brown. Easily my favourite angler to watch.
 
Monday 8th March
It's the first time I've visited Focus On Imaging at the NEC since my university days (think 1998 or 1999 was my last time) and although there were some nice things to look at, I couldn't believe how many people there were at the show and how many were kitted out with expensive lenses protruding from their mid-riffs. Still, each to their own and all that.
From a professional POV the Adobe stand was of most interest, especially the CS4 and Lightroom seminars - very interesting stuff indeed and I took away some key tips that can help me in future. Personally I was disappointed that there weren't as many hands-on bits of kit on the Nikon front and TBH, the Nikon stand was too crowded, partly because the seminars were inside the stand. The show really has become a selling show these days and although a selling element has always been present, it's gone a bit car boot sale.

Tuesday 9th March
Packington Somers, Meridan, Coventry



Packington is a venue that's been good to me over the year in terms of match fishing but I haven't visited it for several seasons so it was good to get back there. I'm here to meet Sean Ashby again to shoot for Total Coarse Fishing magazine. I've got my D2X back from the repair shop and apart from a first-day wobble with the AF not working properly (it quickly sorted itself), things are looking good.
Some editorial teams are very flexible when it comes to what they want me to shoot and Total Coarse Fishing is probably the most flexible of our nine titles. The feature is a look at maximising your swim's potential in Spring, focussing on pellet and maggot fishing for F1s and silver fish - pretty standard stuff for this time of year when many readers are just dusting off their tackle to get ready for the warmer weather. In terms of a brief there's little have to get other than a catch shot and a sequence on bait preparation; other than that I'm free to shoot how I want, which is great for me creatively because I can really put my stamp on a feature. It's not the most exciting feature but we catch loads and Sean is very easy to work with so just does what I tell him.
Bummer of the day is my Skyport transmitter battery going dead - must remember to buy in bulk to avoid this in future!!

Wednesday 10th March
Naseby Reservoir, Northamptonshire



Quickest feature I've ever had - turn up, the guy has already taken catch shots of a double so that's taken care of and I need to do a couple of sequences and a main DPS shot with a rig in a tank. Arrive at 9am, leave at 10am - sweet as a peach!!!!
Spend rest of day getting my ear bent by the missus because I'm behind on the DIY kitchen renovation....

Thursday 11th March
Newhaven, Sussex



It's half-decent weather and I'm doing a sea fishing feature - I think I'm blessed this week because me and boats in rough weather really don't mix. We're here to teach ex-Formula 1 driver John Watson how to cast ans then int he afternoon we'll be heading otu for a few hours boat fishing with top skipper Frank Shaw on his awesome dual-hull boat, Carrick Lee.
We're delayed on the M1 and M25 heading down there so the journey takes nearly four hours but at least I'm not driving - TSF editor Barney Wright is doing the honours today. We get there to meet John who's been enjoying several courses at the local greasy spoon and we're instantly struck by just how nice a guy he is; I recognise his voice, probably from his commentary career, and although he's now in his 60s, he's active and we notice he's adopted a single-seater seat position in Mercedes. He's a cool guy!
This feature actually came about because one of our part-time contributors, Stan Piecha (who used to be the F1 correspondent for The Sun newspaper) was in TSF recently and John, being a reader, sotted his old aquaintance and got in touch. It turns out he's been a mad-keen sea angler ever since he lived in Bognor Regis during his racing days and has recently rekindled his love for all things fishy. However, his casting is a bit 'off' and with barney being a former world champion on the casting scene, it was the perfect situation for John to improve.
Shooting around leads going at 150mph+ isn't great because things move so fast and the danger element is obviously of concern. However, with a good telephoto you can get close in. I'm actually using my pre-'D' 85mm f/1.8 more than my 80-200mm these days because it seems sharper, which is hard to believe but true. I do get a chance for some close up shots with the 12-24mm though so take advantage and I'm happy with the results.
The afternoon on Carrick Lee is great fun; I drop the camera for a few minutes to sack up on small whiting (12 for me plus a flounder, one whiting each for John and Barney) before knocking out some shots for a mini-feature we can bag up for future use. We're only a mile out because of heavy seas further out into the Channel so we're fishing over barren ground, but it's nice and it's one more boat session where I don't feel sick so that's a bonus. Start out at 7am and got home at 9.30pm - totally bushed.

Friday 12th March
Acorn Lakes, Nailsea



Up at 4.30am to get to the lakes for 8am - I'm pooped. I'm meeting up-and-coming angler Mark Bartlett at his parents' fishery. Thankfully it's tea on tap and Mark's had a fish in the night so we're making progress straight away. Mark is one of those guys I love meeting; confident, approachable, a good laugh and talented so the feature goes great. We even manage a mid-double during the session. The biggest bonus is a fry-up of mega proportions brought to us on the bank by his sister - that's what I call hospitality.
The feature is a bit of a punisher though because Total Carp shoots are generally all set out in terms of what i need to shoot. Although I do have a bit of creative freedom I need to get a set number of shots for sequences. We get a potential cover shot though and with good light, it's an easy shoot.
Back on the road for 2.30pm and home before tea - I'm on babysitting duty tonight while the missus heads out with the girls so I'm cooking tea!!!
 
A great thread Pat, very entertaining! It does seem like you have an ideal job!

I used to do a lot of fishing, mainly for trout and grayling, this thread has me itching to look out the waders and gear again!

Look forward to following this thread!

Dave
 
Just realized that I’m well behind on this so forgive me for updating in dribs and drabs…. Plus, I’m running out of space on the TP server to upload images so I’ll have to cut back on what is show. Anyway….


Tuesday 16th March
Secret Location, Cambs/Beds border



Bream fishing today on the warmest day of the year so far. I’m with Ultima-backed James Anthony who’s today’s star, showing how to bream fish using spodding tactics. Spodding is the preserve of carp anglers and entails casting out a spod (which basically looks like a mini scud missile) filled with bait to a specific area of the lake. Anglers use these to get large amounts of bait out to distance with accuracy. They’re much better than catapults because of this and means you can get loose particles like hemp out with ease.
Anyway, James is on form after getting there early to get some bait in and after a steady day of casting and playing fish he’s got 100lb* of big slabs no problems.
It’s nice to have blue skies for once – long may it last….

(* Bream go red very quickly out of water and TBH, that doesn’t look good, hence why we cherry-picked the biggest fish for the final catch shot.)

Thursday 18th March
The Glebe, Mallory Park Fisheries, Leics
A quick tackle testing day to get some stock shots and tackle shots for TCF.

Friday 19th – Sunday 21st March
Newquay, Cornwall
A monster 8-hour drive down to Newquay (via Cardiff to drop the missus of at her mum’s) sees me totally bushed but I manage to drag myself out to have a beer with the White Acres massive after the Bait Tech festival.
White Acres is a bit of a Mecca for match anglers; it’s a massive complex with lakes on and off site that cater for 200+ entry festivals that run through the week. It’s big deal – most have a winner’s purse of around £5,000 - but we’re here to get three features done over the two days before heading back (again via Cardiff) on the Sunday.
Crap weather on the Saturday puts paid to anything decent on the revered Porth reservoir with White Acres fishery Manager Clint Elliot. It rains all day and is very cold and is one of those days I wish I’d not bothered TBH. However, the Sunday works out great, with nice light available to shoot two features in the morning that work really well.
It’s the first outing for my new 10.5mm fisheye so I go fisheye mad for the day, getting mixed results from my new bargain as I learn what I can do with it.

Tuesday 23rd March
Packington Somers, Meriden, West Mids



I’m shooting for MF with Drennan Team England angler Sean Ashby. Sean actually used to be my boss for a while but it didn’t work out in publishing for him but we still see each other quite a bit for feature work, which he’s pretty good at. He’s a very good angler – to fish for your country you need to be – but today is a bit like shelling peas for him, as it’s a standard pellet feature on what is quite a cold day.
Temperature drops are a big worry in this job because with inconsistency you get poor catches. However, Sean shows his class and we get just enough for the camera.
Home for 3pm – nice!

Monday 29th March
The Oaks, Sessay, near Thirsk
Thirsk is a looooong way from Rugby so I’ve stayed overnight at my folk’s near Hull. Still, the A19 around York is a nightmare in the morning and it takes me 2-hours to do the 70 or so miles, plus, I think I’ve got a speeding ticket… bummer!
It’s peeing down too, which is never good and we’re on a muddy commercial that just doesn’t have any photographiclly pleasing assets. I’m in auto mode today; that’s press shutter and move on to the next shot without really getting everything 100%. Sometimes there are days like this, it’s one of those things when you’re shooting all the time. The rain just gets worse and worse so by 1pm I’m done and head back, making sure I stick below the speed limit.

Tuesday 30th March
Whelford Pools, Gloucs



Shooting for Total Carp magazine is always straight-forward because their briefs are always very concise and the feature very focused. The guy I’m meeting, Lee Pollard, even has a high 20lb fish sacked up so that’s effectively feature done.
Lee has shades of Eastenders’ Max Branning about him, although his not a dodgy insurance salesman and he speaks with a Avon/Somerset accent. He’s a really good bloke and great to get on with and despite on/off rain showers, we get the feature shot in no time, even getting a potential shot done with his fish. The lakes are still in winter mode – barely any bankside vegetation – so I need some off-camera flash to since things up. My Skyports are starting to play up now though after several soakings and I’m starting to know their limitations in terms of battery life; the receivers need recharging every day to make sure they work to full range and I’m probably changing the transmitter battery every three weeks to make sure I get a good signal. Otherwise they just misfire or don’t fire at all, which is pretty annoying when are under pressure.

Thursday 1st April
Tunnel Barn Farm, Warwick
Covering live matches ain’t my thing so I’m not really looking forward to today, which is the first round of the Match Fishing/Garbolino Club Angler of the Year competition. We’ve got 160+ anglers (all nominated club champions) who are fishing it out for 12 places to go through to a final against 24 that will qualify from two further rounds. It’s also raining like hell and absolutely freezing.
Anyway, I get some shots fired off from limited angles – you can’t get too close to the anglers for fear of spooking fish and ruining their chances – and wait for the weigh-in to get shots of the biggest weights; the lakes I’m covering don’t produce these so I have an easy time, although I’m soaked to the bone. I am sooooo glad to get home.

Tuesday 6th April
Droitwich, West Mids



I’m on a canal today with Shakespeare’s Paul Bick, a really nice guy who is mad-keen on exstolling the virtues of canal fishing. Again, due to crappy weather the fishing is under threat and although Paul’s had some good catches lately, despite a good effort he barely manages 5lb of bits. Have a play around with some off-camera flash to get a DPS (double page spread) opener. It isn't used in the end but I like it.
Still, I’ve just picked up my new golf clubs so on the way home I can have a blast on the range and get back into a sport I haven’t played for ages!
 
Thursay 8th April
Wykeham Lakes, Scarborough



I'm up in North Yorks for two days to get two feature's worth of stuff shot for Total Fly Fisher's northern contributor, Howard Croston from Hardy/Greys.
Howard's one of the big names within the H/G operation and is also part of the England team, so his credentials speak for themselves. He really is a good fisher and taught me loads about fluff chucking, although I have to admit I forget most of it!!!
He's brought along Ken Brewster, H/G's marketing guy (also a keen fisher) to do a two-parter about approaching new waters and how one session can teach you a lot for use in future sessions.
Anyway, it was a tale of two different days - Thursday was bright but breezy; Friday was overcast and still - so in one respect we learned loads, although taking one's day's progress through the next was made harder because of this. Still we bagged loads and Ken managed a big brownie as a potential cover shot.
I rattled off some 700+ shots over the two days; I can remember my film days when that just wouldn't have been financially viable... these days it's the norm when you can just whack them on a hard drive.
Kit is all performing flawlessly over the two days but i can feel a longing for some new additions....
 
Monday 12th April
Todber Manor, Sturminster Newton, Dorset
Driven 165 miles for two carp caught in the last 10 minutes.... this kind of sums up some days in this job. You sit around for ages drinking tea (etc...) for nothing to happen, then something happens when you least expect it. Oh well, we get the two features shot and I'm home for 7pm.... 14hr days are killing me!

Tuesday 13th April
Nothing booked so quality time with the family beckons

Wednesday 14th April
Awsworth, Nottinghamshire
If you've ever watched Sky Sports in the summer you may have heard of an event called Fish'O'Mania, probably the most famous of the major UK angling events. Basically, it's a 16-man final where the winner scoops £25,000 and today's angler, Matt Hall, has won it twice, a feat yet matched.
Anyway, Matt is backed by tackle and bait manufacturer Sensas and as part of its advertising spend with us Match Fishing magazine is running a three-part series on pellet fishing with Matt as the writer. He's a real dab hand at pellet fishing and is probably on the most highly regarded pellet anglers around because of what he's won using them.
Today's feature is all about preparing pellets so we're in Matt's kitchen to do the shots. It's a shoot-through brolly day to get some even lighting and I'm happy with the results, albeit with the odd doorframe and windowsill in shot. Still, the editorial team are happy so little things like that, which would bother picky photographers aren't a problem for me... they're just grateful they have the pics!!!
Home by 2pm and down the driving range to get some practise in for a forthcoming works golf day :)
 
Just read through all of your reports and would like to say that they are all brilliant aswell as the photos, i look forward to your next write-ups;)
 
Cheers all - really behind on this due to workload.... but will get it up-to-date ASAP with some nice summer weather shots :)
 
An excellent set of posts, and fantastic shots. Again I am a fisherman and love photography. I am always put off taking my camera kit fishing with me for a number fo reasons however, im off to catch some catfish on a 24hours session this Saturday with some friends. This is enough inspiration to make me take my camera and put some effort in, if I catch a fish, bonus!
 
I just stumbled across this thread, a great insight into your work and excellent photos to go with it.
Really looking forward to your next update!
 
Really interesting read and being a angler myself loving the great work.
 
Fantastic thread. I've just been catching up from the start after seeing the Viewing Angle thread this morning!

I have never been a fisherman myself, but recognise a lot of the locations from travels and time spent on canal boats as a kid! You shoot some amazing shots and it is really interesting to read everything that goes into these shoots (and all that driving!)
 
v16ben said:
Fantastic thread. I've just been catching up from the start after seeing the Viewing Angle thread this morning!

I have never been a fisherman myself, but recognise a lot of the locations from travels and time spent on canal boats as a kid! You shoot some amazing shots and it is really interesting to read everything that goes into these shoots (and all that driving!)
Click to expand...

Thank you very much, really kind words.
 
Brilliant thread. I've accidentally just spent quite a long time looking through it all! Great insight.

Would love to see one of your shots from Tunnel Barn Farm, I used to go there a few years ago, would have never thought it would be particularly photogenic - particularly those matches, I always thought they looked so dull!
 
Thills123 - tunnel barn and photogenic aren't two words that really go together :lol: Long lens shots always work there - I'll have a dig round to see what I've got... :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top