Back to the Tropics

Off I go my friends, back to the tropics. It is going to be a humid and sweaty week, sounds awful yet is great, I missed it big time.

4 guys plus myself, fishing unknown waters, with not a single clue about what we can expect even though, expectations, as usual, are pretty high. Fishbase made us droll with all the sport fish available, and if only 50% of what they say is true and those species are available in decent numbers we're set.

This is an exploratory trip, probably will be mostly dedicated to jigging but we will carry popping gear too, just in case. We have 5 days to scout the waters around the island, not much time, yet enough to get an idea.

I hope I will come back with some good pictures and a decent story for the blog, keep posted !

Lightroom 2.6.

Since my Photoshop copy doesn't want to work properly, yesterday I downloaded the trial version of Lightroom 2.6. My friend Jorge, the director of the photo magazine I write for,  always insist on how good this program is for my kind of editing so I decided to give it a better try. This is my second attempt to use this software, I have already tried a couple of years ago but couldn't get used to the interface, hence I skipped it.

Yesterday I shoot some product images in the studio so I had quite some editing to do, and eventually, I found Lightroom quite improved, easier to use and probably, because it was my second try anyway, everything went smoother. I have also received some instructions from my friend so haven't had those difficult times in exporting the images, and handling them properly.

Funny enough, the biggest problem I had came when I had to resize the image you will see here. I have moved the original folder from the desk to my main disk and Lightroom couldn't find its way to it. Once I put the folder back to where it was before everything worked again.

I do have to put a lot of hours on the software to understand all its tricks and potential, but so far so good...

Good Intentions

We are very close to the end of this dreadful year, and full of hopes for the forthcoming 2010. For some funny reasons when a year ends we expect the new one to be much more favourable, like there was a net separation between December 31^st and January 1^st. A borderline. An abyss with no links whatsoever.

Amazing how the human being is. This is like believing in superstitions (I’m Italian, I do). Is like thinking that a politician is different from another. A democrat is better than a republican or vice versa. We’re like little kids, that’s what we are.

Anyway, after such philosophical introduction, and among us, absolutely out of context in a fishing, travel and photography blog, I’d like to spit my good intentions for the so much awaited 2010, and these are fishing, travelling and photography related.

Good intention for fishing: run away from the tackle fashion. Become a better fisherman, not a tackle expert. Use what I have and concentrate on the technique, not the latest lure. Develop my instinct and make good use of my experience.

Good intention for travelling: Travel less, travel better. Discover new places, take time for fishing, photography and actually know the place better. The people. The culture. Become a better traveller.

Good intention for photography: Know my camera better. Is what I got and I have to get the best out of it. Study the lights and improve my lighting, again with the tools I have. Think out of the box and vice versa, you never know. Work out “new” compositions. Move a step forward.

It IS going to be an amazing year.

Ciao

Nicola

Drew Gardner - An "Epic" photographer

I admire photographers who are good with lights. I also admire photographers who are creative. Hence, I guess, I have at least a couple of very good reasons to admire this guy, who not only knows how to light a scene, but is also able to create such an amazing image with this incredible atmosphere. His name is Drew Gardner. He's got a DVD available, check is web site www.thedarkart.com to find where is available. This video is a trailer of the above mentioned DVD, Epic Location Photography

The Dark Session

The use of artificial light is, as the followers of this blog know, very high on my list. I got absolutely hooked by the use of strobes, speed lights and studio light, especially after becoming a follower of the Strobist community myself.

The problem is to find models, I mean, patient people who don’t mind being around with an obsessed guy who take strange pictures of them. Randomly, a member of the family gets involved in the task. Poor soul, he knows when we start but never knows when it all finish. This time it was my nephew’s time. 18 years old, rock music lover and with a light beard showing in his chin, perfectly matched with a dark hooded sweater.

We did the session inside a house in construction. We started close to sunset and finished when it was dark and I had to work my way through things with a portable lamp. Three lights: two Metz and one Nikon SB800. Elinchrom Skyport triggers. Manfrotto Nano Stands, translucent umbrella and a Honlphoto grid. These are my tools, together with the Nikon D90 and the 18-200VR lens.

We worked around different kind of situations, mostly based around the idea of the dark warrior or something alike. One light was taking care of the background, both from a bare Metz 48 or through a translucent umbrella. The kicker light, that for me somehow is the main light, or at least the one that takes care of giving the image “that feeling”, is on camera left coming from a SB800 gelled blue or red with a Honlphoto grid. On camera right we have a Metz 58 through a translucent umbrella.

The result is mixed. There’s so much to learn about lights and their fine tuning that I can’t expect major improvement overnight, yet a couple of these images make me happy and proud. The most disappointing is probably the third one, where the light coming from the umbrella is too strong and kills a bit of the atmosphere.

If you need any info about the setup don’t hesitate to contact me.

Fly fishing at the Azores

Fly fishing anyone? This shot has been taken in a small island at the Azores, Flores. The small rivers are full of Rainbow Trouts, as aggressive as they get. In some rivers they are bigger, in others they are small, I mean, very small. yet they are great fun and boy, ain't the landscape amazing?


Here you got a couple of shots I took from a bridge overlooking one of those rivers, Rio Grande, well, big river... All right, is a small island so this is a big river, correct? The guy who's fishing is my friend Boris, shorts, sneakers and a too powerful of a fly rod, but we didn't exactly know what to expect

This photo is from a smaller creek with fewer trouts, yet a tad bigger. I enjoyed very much shooting Boris while he was fishing and also had a chance to take some landscape images for myself. I was carrying the tripod all over the place, playing with the flash and finally I left some room for the cameraman filming the whole thing.


I wandered a bit, looking for a spot I liked and finally found a bunch of hydrangeas overlooking the water. I took three different exposures and mixed them in PhotomatixPro3 for an HDR image, which I actually like a lot. Flores Island is an amazing place, think about visiting

Pussycaaaaaaaaaaaaat........

You can't miss this one!

Cape Cod, where the fish are bigger than the men

One day I can tell my nephews, I was there, at Steelwagon Bank, when the Bluefins were plentiful and the poppers were roaring!
I got there with my back still hurting, didn’t bring any rod with me, just my photo equipment (that already is quite a load), and a lot of layers of clothing in my suitcase. In Madrid at the beginning of November was still mild, above 15 Celsius every day, with 20º at midday, but Cape Cod seemed to have a different climate.

With me my friend Mario, the guy you nearly want to have travelling with you all the time. Great fun, good companion, good chatter, excellent fisherman and keen photographer as well. We were supposed to be there in October but a whole week of stormy weather drastically changed our plans and forced us to move our flight to November the 2nd. Lucky us. We ended up with some very nice weather, lots of sunshine and very decent sea conditions.
Domenico Petrarca, with obvious Italian ancestors, picked us up at the Logan airport and drove us to the hotel, very kind of him, he saved us a bit of hassle with the bus, something manageable but a tad tiring after 7 hours flights. On our route we stopped at the Longhorn Steak House and ate the whole thing. The red California wine helped the gastric juices and put us between the sheets at an even faster pace than planned.

Day one of fishing welcomed us with quite a nice swell. Leaving the safe and calm waters of Green harbour made me think of Dramamine kind of day and after half an hour cruise to the bank my stomach stepped into Defcon 3. We had 4 casting candidates on board, plus me and the Captain. So I decided to stay in a safe place, worrying about my stomach more than necessary. Thus, after a while of many casts to some very reluctant Bluefins I grabbed a rod and hopped to the bow. My stomach was already at Defcon 4

One warm up cast and on the second one a fish boiled some 70ft from the boat, at 12hrs. One cast between his eyes, a couple of twitches and bang! I set the hook some three or four times, tried to start a fight and when the “bad-back-bell” rang I had nothing to do but pass the rod to Tom, a very nice guy sharing the boat with us. My stomach by then was at Defcon 5, and roaring its ugly head! I was happy though, I had hooked my tuna and the guys were happy too because they could fight it. Big deal for an old man like me!
Now, the great thing about having somebody fighting a nearly 200lb Bluefin when Capt. Dom (http://coastalcharterssportfishing.com/) is at the helm is that the show that he puts together is already worth the trip. His yells and screams are unique and can be heard probably around the whole of New England, such is his passion for fishing and his great expertise in popping and jigging for Bluefins. Domenico is a great deal of fun, very motivating and always cheering up the crew. No doubt that he is among the best skippers I ever had the pleasure to fish with.
We had no more fish that day, few swirls, followers but no mo takes.

The following day we headed to Boston for a photo tour. The weather was nearly perfect, amazing blue skies, no wind, and reasonably warm. I don’t know how many photos we took but I had an absolute blast. I took my tripod with me and set it on every corner, park, building, tree that I found attractive. If cameras could melt for abuse my D90 would now be like a Dali sculpture.

Second fishing round. Nice weather, nice seas, happy me. On the boat with us a very good friend, Kil Song, who I have never met in person but talked to several times, during the last few years. It was truly like meeting a buddy from college time, and I was truly happy to finally meet him in person. With him Willie, a very nice and polite guy, very much looking forward to his first tête a tête with a Giant. Kil is a very experienced Tuna fisherman, way more than myself, and have already fished Steelwagon ban some 20+ times this season. Even though he was the eldest on board he kicked our ass big time with a magnificent 3 strikes X 2 fish caught, one on jigs and the other on a stickbait. Willie fought a fish that Dom has hooked and Mario, hooked his freight train at the very end of the day and lost it at the leader because the wire of the lure broke, but Dom has the mono in his hands so the fish was ethically caught. We did the Longhorn Steak House thing again, and boy, did we have a good time or what!

After one day of photos in Plymouth, where we had a nice lunch with my friend Peter Johnson of Roberts Lures, the last morning we left…well at night. Crazy Dom picked us up at 04:30, there was ice on the boat and I can promise you that it was freezing. Right at the mouth of the harbour we lost the sensitivity of our faces and after less than 5 miles we had no more sensitivity in our fingers or hands whatsoever. The Tunas seemed to be less active, I’m sure the cold night had something to do with their behaviour and we didn’t manage to raise a single fish to a surface lure. Thus, after a radio call from a friend’s boat, Mario first and myself 4 minutes later both hooked and lots two nice fish. Mario’s broke the braid and mine simply spit the hook. Dom had a further bite too but even though we put the lures on the head of many animals, we ended up with skunked.

The last dinner in our favourite (and only) Japanese restaurant was delicious, and packing things to return home quite sad. We had finally experienced the most amazing popping and jigging that can be done in this planet. The wildest beats, the most challenging hunt you can ever hope for. I’ve been a GT fisherman for years, loved the Cuberas, Amberjack and large Dogtooth Tunas, but none of these fish get ever close to the sheer strength and power of a Bluefin. These things are the Ferrari, IVECO and Boeing of the whole biz. Things will never be the same again.

Wind On Leaders, the way to go!

Wind On Leaders for popping, something exciting to talk about. Dom, our skipper in Cape Cod showed us how they work and boy, ain't that cool! Damn the midknots, pr knots and all that tedious crap, a triple surgeon's knot to make a short loop and then a loop to loop connection with the wind on.

Gosh! I'm getting old and all the technical stuff really becomes boring for me, I like to rig my assist hooks though and a wind on is not much different from that and when you're out there fishing it really gives you an advantage

Yesterday I tied my first one, took me a while but it looks smooth and slick. I'm going to try with different lb test now, and then back to fishing to use them.

Knots? What the hack is that?

Cape Cod Blue Devils!

Didn't have much time to post a proper report, I wrote it in spanish but a busy day didn't allow for a second one. I'll just say that we had a hell of a good time and that Steelwagon bank is a true Bluefin Tunas sanctuary, even in November. Taste this picture for the moment and as soon as possible you'll have a full report