I have now reached agreement with M Press to publish my upcoming book. The book will be titled ‘Fisheye – A Guide to Angling Photography’ and the publishing date looks like being next February. Books will be for sale via this site and through a variety of other outlets.

There are 13 chapters ranging from how to take better catch photographs through to advanced photographic techniques such as underwater, night photography and HDR. The book is written for anglers everywhere and will appeal to anyone who takes fishing pictures, be it with a camera phone, compact or DSLR.

‘Fisheye’ will also appeal to anyone who likes looking at angling photographs because there will be plenty of eye-catching images reproduced in a classy format. It looks like the book will be coffee-table style.

I regularly get e-mails and comments to this site from people whom want to make a career out of angling. This book should be like a bible to you because it sets the bar for where you neet to be if you want to make it as a professional angling photo-journalist.

You can pre-order the book by sending an e-mail to the contact us section of this site along with your address and phone number.

Thanks to all of you whom have already written in to comment on my post about television projects. Garry Craven from Leeds asked a very important question about  whether the new series featuring myself and Mick would be out on Discovery tv first or DVD. Garry would like to see a tv release before the DVD.

There are a number of issues here, Garry. The first is that Discovery have not commissioned a new angling series for three years and they show no signs of doing so. I think that they got a huge vote of support from anglers but our patience is wearing thin. They are draining the last dregs out of the ‘repeats’ barrel by occasionally re-hashing old footage to create ‘Fishing’s Funniest Moments’ or ‘Matt’s Greatest Catches’ etc., but the truth is that they are finished with angling and have been for some time. Actually, I do not see Discovery as being the future of angling broadcasting.

The main broadcasters occasionally commission angling series but they usually get it wrong – Robson Greene’s series being a prime example. Channel 4 recently took ‘Catching the Impossible’ but they paid peanuts for it and put it on at a bad time. They look more likely than Discovery to pick angling up and so too do National Geographic.

The reality is that the tv companies are not putting money into fishing unless it has some sorry of ridiculous angle like ‘world’s scariest fish’ or ‘Paris Hilton goes Fishing.’ They will buy stuff that has already been filmed but think about it –  it costs the best part of 100,000 pounds to make  series in camera fees, sound, editing, travel, graphics etc., so where does that money come from? Anglers have a very naive view of how tv comes about but the reality is that things only get made if someone pays for them and there is always a ‘payback’ angle. Bowler and Miles only got to finish ‘Catching the Impossible’ because the DVD release gave them their money back. Then they were able to put it on tv.

The DVD release followed by tv now appears to be the only model that will work for mainstream fishing shows. Celebrities will get money up front but the rest of us will have to make the shows and hope to sell them. If the public won’t pay for DVD’s then I see no hope for the future because the angling industry is one of the poorest paid, unprofessional and under-funded industries in the world.

The big problem with fishing is that all the DVD’s that have been pirated and put up on You Tube are killing the chances of new shows being made. So too are the repeats. There is so much free fishing aired now that there is no money to make any more tv shows.

Inevitably, I think that the model of releasing the DVD set before airing on tv is the only way to make it work.

Where we are now is that we have a potential sponsor to put the money up for the shows provided that they get that money back through DVD sales. I have written a proposal for the series with a breakdown of what each show will be about. I have also spoken to Mick and, like me, he is up for the project in principle. The camera crew are on board. We even have some footage in the bag but it needs additional filming.

We are now waiting for the contract that outlines what myself and the Duke will get for making the series. Inevitably there will be some horse trading but I think that everyone wants to do this. Mick and myself have not made a new series in three years and in that time no other series has come close to getting the support form the angling public that we did. We are very aware that you want us to make new shows and, trust me, if it is possible to do it we will!

People probably think that Mick and myself got rich from making the shows. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have made very little money out of making TV shows but we have enjoyed making them so much. I think that we both feel that we would like to leave all the people whom have supported us over the years with one last big ‘thank-you’ series. Let’s hope that we get the chance to do it!

I am working on a new book, having last published one around 17 years ago! The new book, around half complete, is about angling photography. The purpose of the book is to help anglers become better photographers and it is designed to appeal to anyone whom takes a fishing photograph, whether it’s with a digital SLR, a compact or a camera phone.

Along with some down-to-earth instruction about how to take better pictures, it also contains some of my favourite images and describes how I took them. With chapters such as ‘Better catch pictures’ it is a book designed to appeal to everyone and deals with all aspects of angling photography from simply taking better trophy shots to advanced stuff such as underwater photography, macro, HDR etc.,

I am pretty sure that the book is unique – I have not seen a comprehensive guide to angling photography anywhere else.

I am hoping to complete the text by the end of October and get it published by next spring.

I have been keeping it quiet but I am pleased to announce that at the end of this summer I completed a new series of eight one hour fishing tv programmes titled ‘Wild Fisherman.’ The series has been filmed in Mozambique and Norway and features, among other things, a cameo guest appearance by my friend the Duke. The series is very much about wild and wilderness fishing, travel and adventure. Shot by Lake Escapes and Rod Race cameraman, John Chappell with Mike ‘Scraper’ Palfreyman on second camera, the episodes are all one-hour long and are shot on HD.

The series will appeal most to thinking anglers whom enjoy inspiring locations. It will probably appeal a lot less to hard core coarse fishermen because it is predominantly fly fishing.

Without a doubt, Wild Fisherman is by far the best thing I have ever filmed, both technically and in quality. It has great camera work and a really nice narrative.

The current situation is that the series is being edited before we try to find broadcasters. We consider this to be a premium international series that will appeal to thinking anglers all over the world.

For those of you whom are waiting for the next coarse fishing series: there are talks under way involving a major media partner to produce a DVD set that will  ultimately be suitable for broadcast. The series we are discussing will feature myself and Mick. We are currently in negotiation but the signs are good!

Matt

My latest fishing article, entitled ‘Gifts of the Vikings’ has been published in Trout and Salmon magazine this month. The feature assembles a collection of suoerb salmon flies designed and tied in Scandinvia. The feature includes a wealth of information about the modern style of Scandinavian flies and gives dressings for each of the featured flies. The feature has been chosen as the lead feature and also enjoys the cover slot.

I have added some new galleries to the photo section of the website and I have also added some new images to the existing galleries. The new galleries include fishing big waters, aurora and winter fishing. Hope you enjoy them!

Check out the feature pages of the site to read my heads up on becoming a star of the sport. I get hundreds of enquiries every year from parents, kids and adults whom want to know what it takes to make a living out of angling. I have tried to lay it out warts and all in this feature.

I was out with my good friend the duke last week when he informed me that he has just written and published a new book. Apparently, it’s the latest in a line of releases from Fox and goes under the banner of ‘The Mick Brown Guide to Pike and predators’ or something like that. Anyhow, I got the first copy, signed and dedicated by the old buffer and despite his advancing senility he seems to have made a good fist of it!

Seriously, this is a great book for anyone who likes predator fishing. It’s packed with rigs, tips and photos that cover the full discipline of fishing for stuff with teeth in the UK. Pike are there in plenty, as you would expect, but there’s also stuff on zander, catfish and eels.

If you are interested in purchasing an advanced copy, visit the duke’s website at www.mickbrownangling.com

 

Check out the new feature I have posted about fishing for cod in Norway. This is the perfect short break for anglers looking to experience fishing that is quite unique in one of the world’s last great wildernesses. And the best news of all is that it is less than a three hour flight away!

For those of you whom are looking for a short break with the missus with some fioshing thrown in, the North of Norway is perfect: while you fish for giant cod to over fifty pounds, the wife can enjoy some snowshoe walking, armoatherapy, massage etc., and the best part of all is that if you go in the winter you can both pop out at night to gaze at the Northern lights.

Go to the feature and follow the links to Anglewrs World Holidays – you won’t regret it! 

I’ve added a new gallery to the site of HDR images. HDR stands for high dynamic range and is a special technique that captures a vast amount of detail that is impossible to achieve in regular photography. Rather than take just one picture, to create an HDR photograph you take several pictures of the same scene at different exposures. This captures lots of detail in midtone, shadow and highlight areas that would be impossible to capture with just one image exposed for, say, the midtones or highlights. The images are then put through special software that blends all of the exposure information to create a composite with an incredible dynamic range (hence the term).

The most popular software for HDR conversion is Photomatrix. This is an easy programme to use but there are no hard and fast rules – each image has to be experimented with until you get the effect that you are happy with. Tone mapping can create images that either look like regular photos or, at the other extreme, more like hybrids between illustrations and photos.

The technique is gaining popularity and looks set to become a new art form. I’ve certainly enjoyed playing with it.