FlyLife cover

This is my photograph on the cover of Flylife magazine - really pleased with it and I reckon their choice of photo is fantastic. But then I would say that !! Taking photographs on shallow tropical flats is one of the most rewarding ways to work I know of, but it all depends on big blue skies and high sun angles to really fire it up (plus of course the fishing needs to be hot as well). Sometimes even in these stunning places the clouds roll in though, and then you really have to think on your feet to get the shots - no real chance of shooting nice and wide with a 16-35mm f2.8L lens and a polarising filter when it is overcast. Bear in mind also that you are in the water virtually all the time, carrying camera gear and water on your back for long periods. Changing lenses is not easy, in fact sometimes it is impossible.

But what fun would it be if there wasn't the odd challenge to overcome ? This bonefish was part of an epic session on the ultra-remote atoll of Providence, many hundreds of miles from the Seychelles, and caught by Gerhard Laubscher of FlyCastaway. Hungry bones everywhere, tailing fish right in front of us, but really bad light - on with the 70-200mm f4L IS lens and time to come in tight and look for different angles that do not involve too much shooting against the (grey) sky. I was really pleased to come away with a shot like this and I am pleased that such an awesome magazine chose it as their current cover.

And then when the light gets good on the flats and that sun rises high in the sky and illuminates the sand, well, I can't think of many better areas of the world to fish and photograph. It is a privilege to work in these kinds of places and most of the time I have to pinch myself to check that I can really call it work.