Outstanding black metal photo book

The cover of Peter Beste's book - "True Norwegian Black Metal"

• I have just got hold of the most awesome photo book called "True Norwegian Black Metal" that really should be part of any metal freaks' collection. Anybody with any interest in black metal will I am sure be aware of the US photographer Peter Beste - there is nobody I know of who has done what he has done. He has got right to the heart of this fascinating sub-culture and come out with a collection of incredible photos, many of which you will have seen in various music magazines etc. Check out Peter Beste's website right here, and check out some of his incredible black metal photos here. This guy has got proper talent and I am really pleased to have got hold of a copy of his new book. I know you can get it on Amazon., because that's where I got mine.

• The great thing about black metal (music aside) is that it is a highly visual, theatrical form of music that really lends itself to being properly photographed. Whatever your feelings are about what went on some years ago now, black metal has morphed into a thriving musical genre that covers the globe. Norway though is always referred to as the spiritual home of black metal, and they happen to have some awesome fishing as well. I have just heard of another monster halibut in fact, around the 400lb mark - that is some fish. See how easily I can slip between my two favourite subjects ? I am really glad that a decent photographer has dedicated proper time to covering the visual side of extreme metal.

• The photographer Peter Beste has also made a documentary on black metal, and more specifically the mighty Gorgoroth and their main guy Gaahl (listening to them as I type this, inspirational stuff !!), and you can go to his MySpace page right here and watch it. Scroll down the page, it is on the left hand side. Isn't the internet great for things like this ?

• I am getting very excited about heading over to Ireland later next week. I have got a couple of meetings in London next Wednesday, followed by the Satyricon gig that evening. Rock on !! Then on Thursday morning I will drive to Fishguard to catch the Stena Line ferry over to Rosslare, ready I hope for four days of intense fishing and photography for some cod and bass. All I can do is hope that the weather allows us to do as much as possible, but I'll take whatever comes along, especially at this time of year. It is meant to be getting properly cold down here over the weekend, so we shall see what happens.

Monday morning - back to it

• By rights I should be posting a photo of the current dire weather conditions, but I can't face that on a Monday morning. Instead, here is a shot of one of my most favourite places on earth, the Isles of Scilly. Yes, we love to talk about the weather here in the UK, indeed some would say that we are mildly obsessed with it, but come on, let's be honest here, just how bad has this "summer" been so far ? Can it get any worse ?

• I had an awesome week on the Isle of Wight with my family, taking full advantage of any sunshine we got to head to the beach and go fishing for crabs, blennies and prawns with my two young girls. Luckily they still think their dad is quite sane when he jumps into the water and comes out clutching a crab in his hands !! How long they will think I am relatively cool for is anybody's guess though. But we had a blast - on one day we would all be whacking the suncream on, and on the next my wife and I would be walking across the beach in a bracing 50mph breeze. We got the lot and I loved it.

• The week started off fairly costly though as my sheepdog Jess cut her paw really badly on a rock and we had to take her to the vet to get the wound stitched up properly - not cheap, but vets know we'll pay virtually anything to look after our pets. Jess is still not allowed to go for proper walks, it was not a nice cut at all, but hopefully soon she will be fully healed so I can take her fishing again.

• Anyway, back to work with a vengeance, and life is about to get properly hectic again. I am off over to Jersey to photograph some bass fishing later this week for a few days, flying straight out of my local airport here in Plymouth - very handy.

• Another week or so here after Jersey and I then head over to the east coast of Canada to photograph some more of this awesome Atlantic salmon fishing they have in these incredible crystal clear rivers. Sight fishing for these fish blew me away last year, and I can't wait for this trip. There are a load of photos from that trip here, and you can find a photo essay here. Like last year, I will be travelling with Pete from Aardvark McLeod. And I rather bet Pete is hoping that we will not be sharing rooms so he can get some sleep - I tend to take a while to adjust to time differences and I seriously struggle to keep quiet when I wake up at 3am all the time. All I want to do is get out there and get the pictures, and I can't stand having to wait for dawn !!

• Virtually straight after this trip to Canada, I am turning around and heading back over to south east Ireland to get a load more bass fishing photos - plus some fishing of course !! As always for this kind of trip, I will be getting the Stena Line ferry from Fishguard to Rosslare. This is such a good way of getting to Ireland as you can carry all the gear you need and not worry for one second about weight restrictions etc. Check out a load of photos from my trip there a while back, see here.

• I have been keeping in close contact with Graham over in Ireland, and when the weather has relented they have been catching some fantastic bass as always. Jealous, me ? Never.....

• I am getting back from Ireland in time for my eldest daughter's 4th birthday - where does time go ? Then a week or so here at home before heading off to South Africa for ten days to photograph some rock and surf fishing near to the Mozambique border, and then some fly fishing for yellowfish on the Vaal river. See here for some yellowfish photos that I shot a while back. I can't wait to get back to Africa, it has been too long. There is no place on earth that feels the same as Africa.

• And then in October I am trying to plan it that I will be here in the UK for a decent length of time. It's all very well shooting all this material, but I then need time here to sell it properly, and I am also rather hoping that an Indian summer might just come along to give me a few more weeks on the bass fishing around here. Not much is happening right now with near gale force onshore winds, but a friend of mine had a load of nice bass on bait early last week before the monster winds. The fish are there, but too often we can't get at them. I am hearing of a few fish to plugs as well, but again, only when the weather allows it.

• I heard last week from my mate Cato over in Norway that a friend of his had just landed a 50lb halibut on the fly !!! I am really pleased to hear of this being done in Europe, so well done to the angler concerned - to actually go out and do this far out fly fishing takes some doing, believe me. I know that big halibut on the fly are a real possibility out at Rost, where we made a fishing programme and also I shot a load of monster coalfish on the fly, see here for the photos. April, May and into June are your best times for a go at the halibut.

• Make sure to check out Nick Hart's blog here. Not only has he gone and revamped the look of it, but you should check out his post here about an open day he is holding at Exe Valley Fishery on Saturday 30th August. Get yourself along for the day, it will be a blast.

Out at sea

• Above is the intro page of the May edition of the Hardy and Greys online magazine, Fin & Fly - it is a photo of mine from Rost in Norway. I deliberately used the amazing clouds to fill the frame and allow plenty of room for this kind of use. Check my latest Fin & Fly feature out here. What a place Rost and the surrounding waters are, and the fishing is going off big time right now. I have heard that they are catching lots of big halibut, including some 200lb plus monsters, plus stacks of big cod and coalfish. Yes, this area costs more than the cheaper "package-style" pirking for cod areas further up north, but you get what you pay for - the areas around Rost in my mind offer some of the best boat fishing in Europe. Check here for the best guiding operation there is up there, and the guys come extremely highly recommended by me.

• I have actually just heard that Per Jonasson, the guide who worked with us up there last summer for the big coalfish on the fly, has put one of his clients onto a new world record halibut, see here for full details. That is some fish !! I told you these guys were good. You get what you pay for in fishing. See my photos from that trip last year here.

• My mate Malcolm Jones rang me yesterday to tell me all about the great boat fishing he has been putting his customers over out of my home port of Plymouth. The recent good weather has given them a real boost, and they have been smashing good numbers of big pollack to about 18lbs on live launce. This is one of favourite forms of fishing, for you can scale right down and really have a blast with them when they crash dive. I reckon this is one situation when the US style gear I talked about the other day would work well (scroll down the blog). I see no reason why a decent spinning reel and a good spinning rod would not work well. I have landed coalfish to 35lbs on this kind of gear over in Norway, plus big cod, so of course it will work well here. My rod of choice for this is the stunning Greys Missionary 6 30-100g spinning rod.

• Malcolm's boat is called Sea Angler II, and he is one of the best charter skippers around, plus a thoroughly nice guy into the bargain. A day's fishing with Malcolm is always a serious pleasure, so get in touch here. He also makes a blinding cup of tea or coffee !!

• I am not heading over to Norway to photograph the pike fishing, for my contact has just told me that the weather has suddenly turned and messed their fishing up, so I guess it will be next year. A real shame as I so wanted to see this fishing. My contact over there is a mad keen angler with a world of experience, and he also happens to be the drummer for one of Norway's best extreme metal bands, Enslaved. Check out some tracks here. This is one seriously awesome band, and I can't wait to hear their new album due out later this year. I would never have come across places like Rost if it was not for Cato Bekkevold - how perfect is that ? A proper mix of fishing and metal. A seriously nice guy, an awesomely talented drummer, and a complete fishing junkie. I photographed Enslaved a while ago when they were playing a gig in London, shooting for Metal Hammer magazine - they blew the other bands off the stage. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see them in action, with some photos of Cato in action as well. Now if this isn't a cool way to slip extreme metal into a fishing blog then I don't know what is !! You have to give me some credit here.......