PLEASE NOTE: This blog is accompanied by a video clip on my Starlo Gets Reel channel on YouTube, which you’ll find by clicking here, or going to https://youtu.be/YX6sMZf1cBU. As a full-time fishing writer and presenter, a big part of my job obviously involves capturing photographic images and video to accompany my work, so cameras are important tools for me. My main work camera is a big, heavy, full-frame DSLR (currently a Nikon D610) with a bunch of different lenses, but I also like to carry a compact point-and-shoot: both as a back-up, and for those times when I simply need something smaller and lighter. Over the 40 years or so that I’ve been writing for magazines, I’ve owned lots of cameras. I’ve eventually worn most out, broken them or drowned them… The fishing world’s a pretty harsh environment for sophisticated optical equipment! Through all of that time, I’ve always been on the lookout for the “ultimate” fisherman’s camera, and I reckon I might have finally found something close to that mark with Nikon’s AW1. While it’s certainly not the perfect solution, it ticks enough boxes on my list to come very, very close. The AW1 is a reasonably compact, mirror-less camera with interchangeable lenses that’s capable of capturing 14.2 megapixel images in both RAW and JPEG formats via a reasonable-sized sensor… Those are all good things. But the best thing about this camera in my book is the fact that it’s fully waterproof! Not just “splash-proof”, but actually waterproof! Without any form of housing or additional case, it’s rated to a depth of 15 metres, or almost 50 feet… That’s pretty impressive! It’s also rated as shock-proof if dropped onto a hard surface from a height of 2 metres… Ouch! The AW1 is sealed...

I’m really proud to have had my work published in a fantastic on-line “e-zine” called “The New Fly Fisher”. While it’s based in Canada and devoted in large part to North Americanj fly fishing species and locations, “The New Fly Fisher” also carries international features (such as mine on catrching barra and saratoga), along with lots of great gear, technique and fly tying information. It’s loaded with video clips, too! But, best of all, subscription to this wonderful quarterly mag’ is completely and utterly FREE! All you have to do is register here (by clicking on the ‘subscribe now’ tab at top of their home page). Once you’ve registered, you’ll receive an e-mail notification and link each time a new issue comes out. If you’re into fly fishing, fresh or salt, I guarantee you’ll get a lot from following this electronic publication. But even if you’re not a fly fisho, I reckon you’ll really enjoy the photos and videos! Check it out… I guarantee you won’t be disappointed! Anyway, I’ll leave you with a few random spreads from my first feature for “The New Fly Fisher”…...

Last blog I talked about the classic “grip-and-grin” style of fishing photography, and offered some tips on how to improve your end results. As I explained, “grip-and-grin” is a sometimes-disparaging term used to describe the commonest style of fishing photos: images consisting of a delighted angler proudly showing off his or her catch while smiling at the camera. I’m sure you’ve seen plenty, both good and bad! As I wrote last time, there’s nothing wrong with this style of shot, especially if it’s done well. Most fellow anglers love looking at your grip-and-grins… if they’re any good! But of course, the grip-and-grin is (or should be) only a tiny part of any fishing photographer’s total bag of tricks. Those of us genuinely interested in portraying the recreational angling world that we love — be it for a private photo album, a club night, Facebook, blogs, websites or even a professional magazine feature — need to develop a talent for conveying a visual narrative of the places, people, fish and experiences that mean so much to us. In other words, we need to tell a story with our images. As the old adage goes, a picture tells a thousand words… or it should! Getting this right means thinking well beyond the grip-and-grin and picking up the camera far more often than you normally would when simply recording those occasional momentous catches. To really tell the story, you need to develop the habit of photographing the places where you fish, the tracks that lead you there, the wildlife encountered along the way, your campsite, the sunrises and sunsets, the other characters you meet on your adventures and — most important of all — the action that takes place. Nothing screams fishing excitement louder than a bending...

My continuing series of blogs on how to become a successfully published fishing writer is attracting quite a following and a fair amount of feedback, particularly regarding how to take better fishing photos. With this in mind, I figured it might be worth devoting a few additional blogs specifically to that subject. Here’s the first of them: These days, just about everyone owns a camera, even if only the one built into their mobile phone. Digital cameras (including the mobile phone variety) are getting better, easier to use and more affordable every year, so there’s really no excuse for not coming home with a few halfway decent images of your latest angling adventure. What you do with those photos is a personal choice. You might e-mail them to friends, put them on your Facebook page, show them to club-mates at a meeting night, post them on an internet forum, blog them, or even submit them to a published, hard-copy magazine. Whatever the fate of those images, the better they are, the more impact they’ll have on the people who view them… But what do I mean by “better”? Obviously, any good photo needs to be in focus and properly exposed; neither too dark nor too light. It also helps if the horizon is reasonably straight and the picture composed in such a way that the subject stands out and the viewer isn’t distracted by extraneous objects in the background. But beyond these basics, there’s a world of difference between an adequate fishing photo and a brilliant one. TO READ THIS BLOG IN FULL & ACCESS OTHER PARTS IN THE SERIES, GO TO “STARLO’S INNER CIRCLE”. NEXT TIME: In the next blog in this category, we’ll go beyond the grip-and-grin and look at some of...

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. For better or for worse, and particularly in the fishing journalism game, this is very much the case. Your photos aren’t everything when it comes to getting published, but they can sometimes seem to be very close to it! As I often used to tell budding young writers, a competent editor can work wonders with your words (the text), even re-writing if necessary. But if your photos are sub-standard, there’s not a lot they can do to improve them. This was absolutely the truth in the old days of film, when most of us shot transparencies (slides) for submission to magazines, and Kodachrome 64 was the king of the film emulsions. She was a tough task master, that old Kodachrome 64. Get it right and the results were nothing short of stunning (slightly superior, in my possibly-Luddite opinion, to even the best of modern digital images). But get it wrong and Frau Kodachrome was an unforgiving mistress. I have boxes upon boxes of crappy, un-publishable slides to prove my point… I’ll agree that things have changed a little in the era of Photoshop… but only a little. It’s now possible to tweak and enhance an image… perhaps even to save an under-exposed one (over-exposure is generally harder to fix). But it remains difficult, if not impossible to rescue a photo from poor composition or being chronically out of focus. Good, sharp, well-composed, colourful and interesting images still sell stories to fishing magazines. You’re kidding yourself if you think you’re going to “make it” as a fishing journalist if you can’t take decent photos to accompany your submissions. Certainly, you could share the job with a competent photographer (you  produce the words and...