Waterscapes
Michael Jensen
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.
a) How did you start photographing - and what made you choose fishing related photos in particular?
My interest in photography started out of need. I already was an outdoor writer and a fly fisherman when I bought my first real camera. For some of my first books I relied on help from my photographing friends, and I did some illustrations in pen and watercolor. I soon realized though, that I had to take up photography myself. After a short flirt with a simple pocket camera I bought my first Nikon and was truly fascinated by the many possibilities I got moving from a point-and-shot camera to SLR.
Scandinavian fishing
Michael Jensen
b) Do you have a particular subject, region or a style of pictures that you mainly shoot or are you more all-round?
Guess I'm alround. I certainly am as a fly fisherman. That being said… I love trout and grayling fishing in cold and clear streams: Especially small streams. I like the close, lush environment surrounding a mountain stream in Norway, Sweden, Finland or even in Denmark - even though the phrase mountain is a bit overkill regarding Danish streams. In these streams the order of the day typically is dry fly and nymph fishing and some flies that look a lot like real bugs - but neither the fish nor I get completely anal about it. It's satisfying and makes for a lot of wonderful images.
But…I'm a streamer fishing nerd too, and that is quite another game. To me dry fly and nymph fishing is the poetry - both as a fly fisher and photographer. The streamer side of things is… well… action, monsters, brutality, tension, hunger, misty mornings, dark nights - it's turning to the dark side:0) And I really love that too.
Being a fly fishing writer I guess my photography is very project orientated. I can use weeks hunting insects with a macro lens and after that I turn to underwater photography trying to get pictures of fish and their prey below the surface. Some years ago I traveled with nearly 20 pound of photo equipment - and felt naked, if I had to leave anything out. Mostly these days I work less structured and travel light - just bringing a single camera house and one or two lenses for a daytrip.
c) Where are your photos used? Books, magazines, brochures, ads, web sites, prints, gallery exhibits or other places?
In my own books, on my websites, in articles for magazines and adds and product catalogs for the tackle industry.
d) Is photography your main source of income - if at all a source of income - and do you do other jobs as a supplement?
Photography is not a major part of my income, nor is writing fly fishing books. It's just the fun part. My day job is being a freelance journalist and media consultant, mostly dealing with subjects far from fly fishing. A few of my clients though, are in the tackle business.
e) Can people buy your pictures and if so, then in which form and where?
Sure, I do sell pictures. But I don't have my archive online. Typically I'm contacted by mail or phone - and have a dialog with the customer. You can find samples of my work on my website: www.michaeljensens.dk
Saltwater Scandinavian style
Michael Jensen
Michael and a carp
Michael Jensen
f) Where do you currently live and work?
I live in the northern part of Jutland, Denmark - the troutiest region of this little corner of Scandinavia.
g) What's in your bag? Preferred cameras, bodies, lenses and other gear?
It depends on the assignment. But naturally it is digital SLR gear. I have used Nikon for most of my life, but most of my new equipment is actually Canon. Have a shelf full of old and outdated cameras. My favorite vintage piece is my Nikon F3 which is retired - but carries a lot of great memories.
Fishing impressions
Michael Jensen
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 is an avid fly-fishing photographer, and what was more natural than to include him in our ongoing series of fishy photographers?
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.
