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.
How did you start photographing - and what made you choose fishing related photos in particular?
I goofed around with photography in high school using my father's camera, shooting random stuff on family vacations, backpack trips, ski trips and such. In college I worked for the school paper and yearbook. I spent hours in the darkroom developing B&W. I have always spent a great deal of time outdoors in various activities and sports. Photography has always been part of that.
Things took a more serious turn years later on a fly fishing trip with my wife. She hooked and landed a spectacular rainbow, somewhere in the 25" range. I proudly grabbed a snapshot with a mediocre point-n-shoot camera from that era. I was so disappointed in the printed version of that photograph. I vowed then and there to raise the bar. The visual stories around fly fishing are worth telling.
Do you have a particular subject, region or a style of pictures that you mainly shoot or are you more all-round?
I would say that 99% of my time behind a camera is focused on capturing compelling images that tell the story of environment, travel and lifestyle surrounding fly fishing. Getting a shot of that decisive moment or of spectacular light drives me just as much as deceiving a fish with fur and feathers.
Living in Colorado and being relatively close to the rivers of Wyoming, Utah and Montana make it a natural to shoot fly fishing here in the west. Fly fishing and photography take me to some very cool places outside the US, too. I get really charged up to see new landscapes.
I can't say that I have a particular photographic style. If I do have a style, I am not able to articulate it. I am not really searching for, or setting up a photograph with a unique style in mind. When a cool shot presents itself I just try to grab it.
When a cool shot presents itself I just try to grab it.
Blue skies and mountains
Mark Lance
Where are your photos used? Books, magazines, brochures, ads, web sites, prints, gallery exhibits or other places?
My photography is typically used for commercial or editorial assignments. I am quite fortunate to work with many great companies in the fly fishing industry. and my pictures are published mostly in fly fishing magazines and in equipment manufacturer or lodge brochures and advertisements. My work is also on the cover of three fly fishing books.
Each project is different, and that continually drives me to see the fly fishing world in new and creative ways. I am very pleased to have been invited recently to display my work at the Anthology Fine Art Gallery in Denver. It is a pleasure to exhibit alongside fellow fly fishing photographers. There are many truly talented fly fishing photographers out there right now. It is a great time to be a photographer.
Is photography your main source of income - if at all a source of income - and do you do other jobs as a supplement?
Let's just say that I hope for photography to be the main source of income someday. It's not paying all the bills just yet.
Let's just say that I hope for photography to be the main source of income someday
Can people buy your pictures and if so, then in which form and where?
I invite folks to peruse the galleries on my web site, then contact me if they have an interest in purchasing publishing rights or fine art prints. Most of my work is purchased by editors and art directors. I deliver high resolution digital images in any number of file sizes and formats, and provide low-res comps on request. People can also order archive quality fine art prints, framed or unframed, in just about any size for the home or office. I prefer to work directly with a potential client rather than through an automated online fulfillment provider. This way I can customize and oversee the quality of print requests.
Where do you currently live and work?
I live in Centennial, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. You are more likely to find me knee deep in a brawling Colorado freestone, behind drift boat oars on a Montana river, hiking above timberline in search of native cutthroats, or thrashing through willows to reach beaver-pond brookies. I am the fellow with a camera dangling precariously around his neck. I travel out of the USA a couple of times a year for fly fishing and photography. The new scenery and cultures of global assignments are very inspiring.
What's in your bag? Preferred cameras, bodies, lenses and other gear?
I shoot a Nikon D3 and a Nikon D2x for a backup body. Lenses include:
50mm f1.4 prime
17-35mm f2.8
24-70mm f2.8
70-200mm f2.8
SB-800 strobes
Polarizing filter
Split neutral density filter
Depending on where I am shooting I try to keep this gear safe and dry with any of the following: Patagonia Great Divider or Patagonia Storm Front pack, Arcteryx Arrakis 50 backpack, various Pelican boxes.
I use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to manage my stock image library and for post processing.
There is a ton super camera gear out there these days. Shoot what you've got in your bag or pocket. Compelling imagery starts the guy behind the camera, not from any particular brand or piece of equipment.
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.
