Tossing myself to the dogs- re Fly Fishing Mags
- This topic has 10 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated Oct 31, 2008 at 5:19 pm by
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This will be long and tortuous and rambling so fair warning – click another thread if that is an issue:)))
I
My mentor.
“Soon I bought my first fly rod – a Fenwick – and my first fly reel. I now have more rods and reels – salt and fresh water, waders, flies, fly tying stuff, vests, than I can ever use. I have fished with Steve on many trips – summers – falls – springs – winters – days – nights – hatches – no hatches. We fished for trout all spring and summer, salmon in the fall, and Steelhead in the winter and spring. We’ve fished the White, PM, Fox, Two Hearted, Sturgeon, Pigeon, Black, Manistee, Muskegon, Little Manistee, Boardman, Rifle, Rogue, AuSable and so many small streams I have lost count. Steve has been my mentor and my fishing companion through all these last 20 years. Steve is 83 and is not a steady wader anymore. He still fishes from a float boat or a chair in the shallows but he can’t wade the big waters anymore. But like all fisherman, myself included, it is getting to be more fun to sit around camp and play with your gear and talk memories. Someday we will fish the streams of Heaven together.
And a few thoughts about the relationship between a mentor and his pupil as it relates to fly fishing. In times long gone by when a person grew up, lived, and died within five miles of where he was born and when nothing was written except a few scraps of paper and even those were colored with the unintelligible dialect and inconsistent phonetics of the time and place, the only way knowledge could be passed was from father to son, mother to daughter, mentor to pupil. And so it was with fly fishing.
These were the days when a rod was fashioned from tapered and bonded pieces of whatever wood was available. Long tapered rods of 16 feet or more to suit the stream. And line was woven from horse hair. Short lines they were – shorter than the rods. And they were tied to the end of the rod – no reel. Flies were tied of whatever manner of bird feather was available on whatever piece of brass or bone could be had to fashion a hook. Tied to size to represent whatever manner of insect that was hatching and died to match its color. And fished in whatever stream or river was available. All with not a written word of instruction. And all as varied as the land and people that pursued the pleasure. All peculiar to that five miles wherein someone would spend his entire life. All mentor to pupil, for nearly a thousand years before any consistent written record ever existed.
But today and especially since about 1970, there has more recorded, more written, more videoed, more photographed than ever before about every manner of fish, of stream, of river, of ocean that ever was. What happens is an overload of information that the poor mind cannot or will not sift through. I might suggest that it is now, more than ever, that you need a mentor. Someone who has sifted through the fog. Someone who can focus and localize all the information into something that can be fathomed and used. Someone who can bring a piece of the past into this information deluge. Such was Steve’s relationship to me. Since my father didn’t fish and died while I was still relatively young, he was my only teacher.
So when you learn to fly fish, in whatever proficiency you attain, you are tasked to pass on your knowledge – no– driven to pass it on. When someone asks you to teach them to fly fish, keep this in mind. This is not something that can be learned properly from a book.”
From You Can’t Make a Living Tying Flies on my website.
Godspeed,
Bob
Interesting ramble there Will.
For many years I’ve hired assistants for my photography work and they’re expected to carry the gear, organize the gear, set up the gear, get the gear repaired and drive if I’m a bit pissed, it’s a hard job that doesn’t pay well.
But it is IMHO the best way to learn the business from the ground up and a great first step to becoming a working photographer.Most of the guys that have worked for me stay from 2 -4 years and I’m pretty sure all of them are full time shooters now, a couple do shoots with me if I need extra snappers as well.
I would call all of them friends.
One problem I find lately though, a lot of the guys that make an approach for the job want a big pay check right away even though they know nothing and haven’t any track record.
Finding the last guy I hired (3 weeks ago) was hard and I tried a few casuals before making up my mind.
Maybe this is the way young people think these days ?
Maybe they want to learn everything in the time it takes to google something then move straight to a high paid job ?
Anyway, all this has made me a big fan of the whole apprentice system because it turns out good photographers who appreciate that it’s not easy, hard work and worth every bit of effort.
Like fly fishing You can’t learn this stuff online.
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
I’d give my left arm for a “Mentor” with regards to Freelance Photography. Meaning finding someone who can teach me the ropes of the industry. I’ve got a handfful of writers helping me out but everything there is from a writers perspective. Theres a sublte yet profound difference.
Theres even an “outdoor writers school” that teaches alot of what Im looking for and from what I can tell many successful writers ( credits all over the place) have taken. Nothing for Freelance “photographers” though.
Theres the Outdoor Writers Association of both North America and Canada to which Im aplying and have sponsors for. But again, they are geared more towards writers and from a photographerss PoV its slightly different.
DA Id work as your assistant in a heartbeat given the chance.
***********Can that apply to Print Media?
Dunno it is a neat concept Will. You’d need very skilled writers though as at the essence your trying to convey life experiences and give hands on expereince through the written and word and imagery.J
For many years I’ve hired assistants for my photography work and they’re expected to carry the gear, organize the gear, set up the gear, get the gear repaired and drive if I’m a bit pissed, it’s a hard job that doesn’t pay well.
LOL
Add oil up the models to that job description and I’ll take the paycut.I really believe it is a generational thing. I was just having a conversation with an older friend the other day who is a social worker. When he graduated from college 20 years ago…he took a job in the field and basically started at the bottom. He was doing tons of “direct care”. Changing Sr. citizens diapers, changing MR patients diapers, cleaning up all kinds of messes, both physical and mental.
He is now one of the most sough after, knowledgable people in his organization. He said that within the last 5 year he is completely amazed/appaled/disheartened by the college graduates they are hirinng. Not one of them wants to do “direct care”. They dont want to get “dirt under their fingernails” if you know what I mean.
Too many people plop the earbuds in, load up their iPod and retreat to their own individualistic bubble. Not saying they offer nothing….but the point Will is getting at I think to some degree…is generational.
And its not to say that this generalization applies to all…there are definatley folks in the younger crowd who see things more along the lines of what we are discussing…they just seem to be fewer than before.
I’d give a limb to have learned the timber framing techniques you did.
Will, I think your point is well made, if you mean that the magazine should be crafted in a manner resembling a mentor relationship.
I think this is why I like Gray’s so much. They put a lot soul into their publication and a lot personality, beyond just factual reporting. Its literature not journalism. And I think we can learn facts from journalism sure, but we can learn much more from people and their stories.
For instance if you asked a mentor (read old fart) what fly he would use in some certain situation, in all likely hood they might tell you about some time, on some river, where they thought they had found the perfect fly for situation X. It would be anecdotal, personal and perhaps even a bit mysterious and inconclusive. It might even ramble on about what sandwich they ate at the diner the night before or what color the lichens were on the rocks on March 24th 1982.
Often a mentor’s “teaching moment” is by example, mysterious, comedic, sad, or not even related to fishing, e.g. wax on wax off.
I have always tried to look up to somebody as a mentor, and I have learned several things on my own. I started in the cabinet buisness sweeping floors, loading cabinets etc. I managed to get a position as a helper to an installer , in which he took me under his wing and taught me a lot. I still was not satisfied. I took a few damaged cabinets home and took them completely apart . I decided I did not like the system they used and began using my own style ,
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