Fly Fishing Photography

Silver Creek

Andy Ziemba and a late night bent rod.  Silver Creek

Almost midnight.  Silver Creek

After the sun goes down there is a period of time when the color blue takes over.  "Blue Hour," Silver Creek

A bend in the Creek and the "Blue Hour."

Nikon D3s, Nikon 14-24 f2.8 afs lens

Well, our summer season is getting an early start out of the gates.  Brown Drakes on Silver Creek are just getting going and it is only June 1st.  If I have it correct, drakes started last year around June 18th.  It is a hatch worth seeing and is one of my favorites to photograph.  Yeah, it gets pretty busy on the water but once the sun goes down and the bugs get ramped up you never really notice. 

Last night there were a bunch of Lesser Nighhawks making their who, who, who, who call and it was debated how the bird makes the sound.  Is it thier wings or vocal chords?  As it turns out it is their wings.  Here is a clip from Avian Web .Com:

 

"The male performs a dramatic aerial display during courtship, flying first at moderate height, then diving straight towards the ground. When he is about two meters from the ground, he will turn upward. Near the end of his steep dive a deep booming swo-o-o-onk sound that is caused by air rushing through his wingtips as he flexes his wings downward. The intensity of this sound is said to be more or less proportional to the speed attained. This dive is usually part of a courtship display, but can also be directed at rival nighthawks and intruders (including people)."

Fly Fishing Photography

Opening weekend, Silver Creek.  Brent Bernard, clouds and a bent rod.


Silver Creek & Tall Grass & Fish On.

 

Silver Creek Rainbow

Brent Bernard ecstatic after his first cast of the season on Silver Creek yields a great brown.

 

Nikon D3s, Nikon 24 pc-e lens

New York City Marathon

 

Diana Price running through the Cedar Bend Preserve.

Nikon D3s, Nikon 24 pc-e lens

My wife, Diana, will be running the New York City marathon this fall to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training in honor of her mom, Abby, who is a leukemia survivor and for all of the other families who have faced a similar diagnosis. This will be Diana's third fundraising effort for Team in Training--to date she has helped raise over $12,000 to fund the critical cancer research and support services that the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society makes possible. It's a cause that's important to our family, and I hope you'll take a minute to check out Diana's fundraising page (http://pages.teamintraining.org/vtnt/nyc12/dbprice#home).

 

"Whitefish" Ed

"Whitefish" Ed & his million dollar smile.  Ed showed up at the grand opening of the Picabo Angler on Saturday and hung out for the rainy and cold afternoon.  Having a PBR or two with Ed is a treat. 

Ed is no doubt the brightest dressed fisherman on Silver Creek and the Henry's Fork.  Many would also say the brightest fisherman on the water.  He is keen on intellectual fishing conversations.  Within moments of meeting him he offered me one of his bright pink "whitefish unlimited" hats.  I am now a proud owner.  I also had to get a few shots of him sitting in his van with a few of his fishing outfits.  Check out the sequins.

A true in-the-moment guy.

Ed putting a 1 weight to work at the Picabo Angler on Saturday. 

A Santa Barbara Landscape

Miramar Beach.  4 image pano taken using the shift function on the Nikon 24 pc-e lens.  This image is really meant to be viewed large.  I have just added it to my pano gallery where you can view it at a larger size.

On another note, I have finally upgraded my computer.  My last machine, a Mac, was a bit aged and as a result brought my editing tasks to a creep.  I am now using an iMac with 16gb's of ram and 14 terabytes of back-up storage--2 Lacie 6tb drives and 1 Lacie 2tb drive.  I am running the Lacie 6tb drives using a Thunderbolt connection which seems VERY fast.

The joy of finding a smashed penny for the first time.

Nikon D3s, Nikon 24 pc-e lens

Silver Creek, Idaho

Nature Conservancy.  Silver Creek.  3 image pano taken this afternoon.  Wind, moose, and baetis. Cool temps too; somewhere in the neighborhood of 50, not to mention the 20 plus mph wind...

Nikon D3s, Nikon 24 pc-e lens

Nature Conservancy & Moose

Nikon D3s, Nikon 24 pc-e lens

Silver Creek & Wind

Nikon D3s, Nikon 24 pc-e lens

Ling Cod & Chick

Here it is: A good friend of mine recently caught this Ling Cod near Santa Cruz, CA and soon after landing it, the Ling burped up this chick.  The question is, what kind of bird is it and how did the chick manage to get to the water and then gobbled up?  Feel free to post in the comment section any thoughts...

A Santa Barbara Barber

John Papallardo.  John was my barber when I was a kid starting around the age of 5.  I was recently back in Santa Barbara and had a chance to catch up and take some images of him.  He has been cutting my father's hair for about 35 years.  He cut my brother's hair as well and for many years had a picture of him screaming through his first haircut posted on his wall.  Born in Salerno, Italy he migrated to the States in 1949.  He is the son of a barber and his mother's father was a barber as well.  He lived through World War II in Italy and has stories about the occupation there.  He has been cutting hair in the same location for 35 years.  He is a kind and wonderful man and in my mind is a symbol of Santa Barbara. 

Nikon D3s, Nikon 35 f2 lens

To this day, John still carries a strong Italian Accent.

Nikon D3s, Nikon 35 f2 lens

At 82, he has cut back from 6 days a week to 5.

Nikon D3s, Nikon 35 f2 lens

A tool of his trade.

Nikon D3s, Nikon 35 f2 lens



 

Miramar Beach

Miramar Beach and tracks near Miramar.

Nikon D3s & Nikon 24 pc-e lens. A variable 8 stop nd filter was used for the beach image. Images were edited on an iPad using Nik Sofware's Snapseed.

Santa Barbara Mission

Having a back-up camera has proven nice as my main body, a Nikon D3s is getting worked on. This is a shot of the Santa Barbara Mission about 30 minutes after the sun went down.

Nikon D200 and Nikon 24 pc-e lens

Sun Valley Fishing Report

Last Light.  Silver Creek, Idaho.  May 2012

 

Sunset Pano.  Silver Creek, Idaho

 

An optimistic spider got this web ready prior to his buddies and is undoubtedly thinking of the immienent brown drake hatch.  Silver Creek

 

Guinness, my soon-to-be 10 year old English Setter.

Nikon D3s & Nikon 24 pc-e lens

Opening day is just around the corner on our local water--May 26th.  Given the fact we have had an early runoff our water should be in far better shape to start the season than we've had the past couple of years.  Does that mean the Big Wood should be fishable for the opener?  That's a bit contingent on our weather between now and then but it's sure looking like we should have high but fishable water.  Below is a snapshot for the flow on the Wood taken from the USGS site today.  Note the flow around April 27th:

Here's a snapshot from the USGS site for Silver Creek which is pretty low at the moment likely due to the earlier-than-normal call for irrigation water.  The flows should gradually increase over the next 3 weeks.:

And a snapshot from the USGS site for the Lower Big Lost River (Note the Lost River drainage is open all year and is fishable at the moment.  It's really hard to say when the water will increase in flow to unfishable levels, but for now it's very fishable and worth the trek.  Trail Cr. is still closed and the long circuitous route through Arco is the way to go from the Ketchum area.  I would imagine Trail Cr. should open up within the next two weeks.  Contact Blaine County Road & Bridge for more info.):

 

 

Silver Creek, Idaho

Silver Creek

The above image is a 5 frame pano taken last night on Silver Creek.  It felt like summer.  Night hawks were whooping and fish were rising and there were a few caddis and lots of midges and it was green and there were even a few mosquitoes to swat at.  Brown drakes are just around the corner.  Silver Creek opens to fishing on May 26th along with most of the rest of Idaho.

Nikon D3s & Nikon 24 pc-e lens

Into The Sun

Pacific Ocean

An image I overlooked from a trip this winter to Northern California.

Nikon D3s & Nikon 80-200 afs 2.8 lens

Nikon D3s & Nikon 105 Micro Lens

Stove-Top Espresso Long Exposure

Tulip

Above are a couple of images taken today.  I used extension tubes along with the 105mm lens.

Nikon D3s & Nikon 105 Micro