Barry Ord Clarke is an Englishman living in Norway. He is a well known photographer and writer - both in Norway and internationally. We approached Barry with our usual set of fishy photographer questions, and here are his answers.
a) How did you start photographing - and what made you choose fishing related photos in particular?
As a child in industrial Lancashire in northern England, I was attracted to water like steel to a magnet, and all my free time was spent fishing with a split cane match rod, on the banks of the river Calder, Ribblel and the Leeds and Liverpool canal.
The fascination of water and fishing has been with me all my life, with the acceptation of a brief break during my teenage years when it took a back seat for the unavoidable onset of male hormones and the pursuit of the fairer sex. Later on in life my chosen career lead me to London, where, of all places - I was introduced to the world of fly fishing... It didn't take long before I was hooked again, and my passion for angling was rekindled.
I fished our local waters in central London, surrounded by skyscrapers and to the ever present sound of city life, on reservoirs made to supply Londoners with drinking water in Hammersmith and Walthamstow. After many years of chasing urban trout, I ventured further afield in pursuit of wilder sport, and over three decades later, my work as a fly fishing and fly tying photographer has taken me to over 40 different countries and four continents...
In 1977 I attended art school in Northern England on a BA in fine art. This was based on traditional arts & crafts so I was lucky to have such subjects as book binding, calligraphy along with fine art training like life drawing and painting. Fine art photography was also on the curriculum and I was encouraged to use this as an expressive art form through out my course.
After leaving school I became studio assistant to several of England's leading photographers. Working in advertising and the music business. I then became freelance and worked from my own Nottinghill based studio in London.
In April 1994 in London, when my Norwegian wife was expecting our second child we had discussed looking for a larger apartment, one afternoon a sixteen year old boy was shot through the head on our doorstep! Three days later we moved to Norway... A huge career change followed and over the past eighteen years, I have built a niche market for myself within game fishing.
b) Do you have a particular subject, region or a style of pictures that you mainly shoot or are you more all-round?
Most of my work is within fly fishing and fly tying, although I do work on commission through publishing houses and magazines to cover other types of sport fishing photography. With regard to my style of photography I guess I am best known for my Macro images, where I try and take the viewer on a journey into the world of fly fishing that is rarely seen. On first encountering these images, they are sufficiently recognizable as images of fish and fishing, but as you view them at close range, they transform into a graphic and sometimes abstract, overlapping of organic patterns and colour.
c) Where are your photos used? Books, magazines, brochures, ads, web sites, prints, gallery exhibits or other places?
Through my previous life as a advertising photographer I learned to maximize my market, so I sell photographs to all the above mentioned along with many others, i.e. T-shirts, postcards, caps, calenders, packaging for fishing tackle...
B/W with a twist
Barry Ord Clarke
d) Is photography your main source of income - if at all a source of income - and do you do other jobs as a supplement?
Yes I work full time as a photographer from my studio here in Skien, but in addition I am also employed as a consultant to O Mustad & Son the worlds largest hook manufacturer. Since 1996 I have also written and published many books on the subject of fly tying and been responsible for the photography for over 20 more. I also write fly tying and fishing articles for magazines all over the world, I deliver approximately 20 articles per month.
e) Can people buy your pictures and if so, then in which form and where?
Yes, I try and have at least one photography exhibition each year, where prints are for sale. I have made prints in exhibitions as large as 260 cm X 160 cm but normally these are too large to be accommodated at home and are intended for public buildings. But my regular size for fine art prints that are for sale is 80 X 40 these can be ordered from me barrycl@online.no
f) Where do you currently live and work?
In Skien Norway. I am situated 15 minutes from the sea to the South and 20 minutes from the mountains in the north a great base for a fishing photographer.
Bursts of colour
Barry Ord Clarke
Barry himself
Barry Ord Clarke
g) What's in your bag? Preferred cameras, bodies, lenses and other gear?
Throughout my career as a photographer I have never really been obsessively occupied with the equipment, as long as it can deliver the image I am trying to achieve!
I use various digital Canon and Lieca cameras with a large selection of lenses but in addition there are certain pieces of equipment I have with me always. Reflectors in various sizes and reflective colours to bounce natural light and add warmth or cold light to a subject. A portable light weight versatile flash system. A waist level finder, with this I can get real low without having to lie down or submerge myself in water, large tripod, cable release etc.
Evening rise
Barry Ord Clarke
Brown trout and salmon
Barry Ord Clarke
All Fishy photographers
Croatian photographer Aleksandar Vrtaric has a slightly different photographic style compared to many other fly fishing photographers. He likes to go close and often uses very tight compositions. We asked him the same questions as we usually ask out Fishy Photographers, and Aleksandar kindly relpied.
Angus Drummond is a Colorado based guide and photographer whose images have been used in magazines and books as well as on web sites. Angus' images are also available as fine art prints. We summoned Angus as a part of our Fishy Photographers rally and asked him a few questions.
Barry Ord Clarke is an Englishman living in Norway. He is a well known photographer and writer - both in Norway and internationally. We approached Barry with our usual set of fishy photographer questions, and here are his answers.
While scouting for photographers for our series on Fishy Photographers, I bumped into Corey Kruitbosch's name a couple of times, and found his beautiful images on Flickr. Corey has almost 2,000 stunning images in his stream.
Like before I approached him with our usual set of questions and he cordially replied and sent some samples of his work.
I noticed Dennis's images through his numerous contributions to our user's image galleries, where he has uploaded quite a few photos. I mailed him and asked him our usual set of photographer questions, and here are his replies.
How did you start photography - and what made you choose fishing related photos in particular?
Finnish photographer Harri Hytönen was brought to my attention through Facebook where he inquired about our Fishy Photographers series and referred me to some of his excellent work. We hooked up and I sent off my usual set of questions. Even though most of the summer passed due to busy fishing schedules and vacations, we finally got together both a set of great pictures as well as Harri's replies, which you can all enjoy in this article.
Henry Hegeman contacted me because we had a common photography background: shooting film with Minolta gear. He turned out to be an avid fly-fishing photographer, and what was more natural than to include him in our ongoing series of fishy photographers?
I sent him the usual array of questions and he kindly replied.
When I started my series on fishy photographers I was recommended to contact Isaias, who is a professional fly-fishing photographer based in Patagonia. Isaias agreed to participate, and even though we both took our time, we finally managed to put together replies and photos for this article.
This is the first article in a new series on Fishy Photographers built over the same template as our long-running Fishy Artists series.
This premier article is about Jim Klug, known by any for his participation in the DVDs Drift and Rise and the recent Connect as well as his activities in the Yellow Dog Adventures fly fishing booking company. We have summoned Jim in his capacity as a photographer specializing in fly fishing, and presented him a row of questions.
While I was researching for the series on the recently started Fishy Photographers, I simply searched the web for fly fishing photographers, and Jim Levinson's web site popped up, showing some beautiful pictures from the US north east. I contacted Jim, and he agreed to participate and answer my questions.
How did you start photographing - and what made you choose fishing related photos in particular?
One single image from the camera of Danish Jonas Høholt has burned a lasting impression on my mind: the fantastic image of a small frog swimming over the open mouth of a rising rainbow - a Jaws goes Lilliput moment captured with great skill and drama.
Researching a bit further on Jonas I found numerous great images by him, and I of course contacted him with our usual set of fishy photographers questions.
I got in contact with Swiss Lukas Bammater through his fellow countryman and colleague Daniel Luther, who contributed an article. Lukas dropped me a mail saying "I would be happy to share some of my fishing pictures and experiences with other GFF-readers too".
I stumbled over Marcel's web site and his excellent pictures while searching and browsing for potential candidates for our Fishy Photographer series. When I started investigating a little, I realized that I already "knew" Marcel, but from somewhere completely different than fly-fishing. Marcel and his wife Meher have a thriving wedding photography business, and I had browsed both their site and their blog in connection with my non-fly-fishing photo-related web browsing. I approached Marcel and asked him our usual bunch of questions.
Mark Lance is a Colorado based photographer whose beautiful and varying images can be found on his web site River Light Images, but are also used commercially in catalogs, ads and brochures. We approached Mark to have him tell about his ventures into fly fishing photography.
I have known Michael for many years. We have been working together on the staff of a large Danish fishing magazine, and Michael is an excellent fishing writer and photographer.
Michael is a very creative person who has also written children's books and short stories and not least he's an avid rock musician who is very active in his band Wildflowers.
But this is about fishing photography, and Michael agreed to answer my usual row of Fishy Photographer questions.
Nick price is another photographer whose name popped up during my recent quest for fly-fishing photographers. A professional guide with a very keen eye for fly-fishing subjects and a really nice online portfolio - not least with some beautiful B/W images and some cool bug close-ups.
I approached Nick with our usual bunch of fishy photographers questions.
Nikola Novovic sent me a mail:
"Hello, I am from the small country Montenegro, at the Mediterranean in southern Europe. My country has become a very popular destination for fly fishing in the last few years, because we have a large number of very clear mountain rivers and lakes with only wild fish, just one hour from the sea and beaches.
Finnish photographer Pasi Visakivi dropped me an e-mail. It read:
- I'm a 42 years old fly fisherman and a freelancer photographer from the southern part of Finland. I would like to share with your my fly fishing photos.
Dutch Rudy van Duijnhoven is a well known freelance writer and photographer in the northern European fishing community delivering photos and articles to many European magazines and websites. Rudy is also very active in the fly fishing and fly tying scene and appears at shows as a fly-tyer and caster as well as a working journalist, documenting and reporting.
I asked Rudy our usual row of Fishy Photographer questions.
Soren Skarby is a Danish fly-fisher and photo journalist and a good friend of mine. He takes part in the small fishing report site where we share fishing stories and images. Oddly enough, Soren doesn't contribute many images. he actually rarely brings a camera when fishing. He does take fishing photos, but as a professional for magazines.
I asked Soren the usual row of questions and he replied as follows.
Stu Hastie is a New Zealand photographer whose work first came to my attention through his images in our user's picture galleries. When I started using Facebook I also noted Stu's image posts.
The quality was top notch, and being in NZ he didn't seem to have a shortage of subjects. I dropped Stu a message on FB, and soon he was answering our usual set of Fishy Photographer questions. Here's what he replied.
Danish angler and photographer Susanne Worm has a keen eye for great images. I asked her our usual round of fishy questions.
hi barry i attended
hi barry i attended the bffi fair today where i bought one of your little booklets, proven patterns flies sor sea trout saltwater,and what an excellent little book it is, however it would have been even better if it had contained the tying instructions for all of the ten patterns featured. also could you let me know when your booklet in the same series, flies for bass mullet and other sea fish will be released, many thanks dave