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Tag Archives: angler

Ashmead – a film

22 Tuesday Sep 2020

Posted by The tuesday swim in Carp, Photography and video

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angler, Ashmead, carp, cooper, fallons, fallowfield, fishing, somerset

Strange days indeed, as lockdown lifted myself and Garrett Fallon of Fallon’s Angler Magazine headed down to see Mark Walsingham the owner of Ashmead Fishery nestled somewhere in the Somerset Levels. It was my first time out of London in months and it was indeed strange. We met up with some old faces on the bank and moved around the lake hoping to snare a huge carp. Looking back I don’t think we had our hearts fully immersed in the fishing but we were certainly entranced by the time spent amongst the overgrown islands and hidden bays, the fishing was incidental but the location was magnificent. Once I returned to London and started to edit the film most of the footage was left  on the virtual cutting room floor, we thought about calling this film ‘Timed Slowed – A Film about Ashmead‘, in a way this would have made sense but we left it simply named ‘Ashmead.‘

We will be returning soon for issue 20 of Fallon’s Angler, this time we are looking to film the Dorset Stour in Autumn, if the doors stay open long enough, time will tell.

Letters from Lough Derg

01 Friday May 2020

Posted by The tuesday swim in General

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angler, del, Derg, fisherman, harding, Irish, letter, lough, pike, traditional, writing

One year on and who would have thought I’d be writing these words? Week six of lockdown, the weather has finally broken and we retreat back indoors. As a family we are lucky, we have a garden and the local marshes are close to our house in East London. For our daily interpretation of exercise I  run to break the cabin fever or walk with my daughter using a pair of binoculars to seek out birds and other flora or fauna. Often I get pangs of guilt as others are not so fortunate, key workers, single parents, while we sit it out. At the start of the pandemic I decided I was going to offer my services to deliver food, medicines and other essentials but then it appeared I also have fallen victim to the covid 19 virus, although not confirmed my lungs even now are running at reduced capacity, a timely reminder that this whole ordeal is far from over.

This time last year I was in Ireland on the shores of Lough Derg with self isolated recluse – Del Harding, in truth he is not a recluse, although wary of people he  loves the company of others and during our brief three day visit Del was very keen to share his stories once we had gained Dels trust. Our daily routine began in the woods with a fire to make tea,  by late morning Del would rise and join us, drink coffee and share his life through  memories, time had no business here, he talked and I filmed. I managed to get the shots before the sun fell so low that the camera could no longer record a clear image.  As night closed in, Del would light a candle and talk some more, ghost stories, tales of pike, monsters from the deep, and re-living heart stopping moments of the lives of other anglers who once fished Lough Derg.

Photo: Romy Rae

Del lives on his own terms, he has the luxury of space, space for himself and away from others, Del’s routine before lockdown involved a daily trip to the local village to buy a sandwich, a coffee and perhaps replenish his tobacco pouch, I know these little trips were important to Del.  Three months after we left Ireland Del was involved in an accident when a friend managed to fell a tree, unbeknown to Del who was standing too close, the tree came crashing down without warning, missing him by an inch, caught his arm and broke it in two. After several days in hospital Del returned to his wood, thankfully his daughter lives a twenty minute drive away and through his hospital care, family and neighbours Del recovered throughout the rest of 2019 but he was restricted to his own land, no more independent trips to the shops were made in 2019.

During the winter of 2019/2020 Del started to write to me on a more regular basis and I began to write back. I cheated though, my reliance on the computer is habitual, letters were typed and mistakes edited. Del on the other hand would capture thoughts, and talk about the woods and the Lough, then systematically write it all down on the page, Del composed page after page, no words crossed out, just beautifully written letters.  One letter which arrived in November explained he has moved into one of the cob houses where he could have an open fire burning at all times, November, christ! 

As the pandemic established itself Del wrote on the topic in his own pragmatic, often blunt manner, dismissing the coronavirus as a ‘storm in a tea cup’ but soon retracting this thought and reestablishing the situation as a ‘hurricane in a swimming pool,’ soon after he mirrored the updated situation with a  Sci-Fi book he read in the 1960’s, this time the outcome was more sobering, but like many of us he swallowed the current bitter pill with the hope of a new season,  the force of nature is strong, Del would write about the rebirth in his woods and reemergence of wildlife out on the lough.

Every few weeks a new letter arrived, I left it un-opened, got the home-schooling and other chores out of the way and then settled on the sofa in the kitchen with a coffee and loose myself in Del’s words away from the internet, the TV,  and transport myself to that fire pit next to Lough Derg, words flowing like the small stream that crosses his land.

From the gloaming – a film

10 Friday Jan 2020

Posted by The tuesday swim in Photography and video

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angler, centerpin, chalstream, dace, fallon's, perch, reel, river, roach, test, traditional

Towards the end of last year myself and Kev Parr had to produce a film for issue 18 of Fallon’s Angler. The two previous films we had worked on  (one about winter fishing at Aldermaston on the Kennet, the other catching tench on the Sussex Levels) showed that Kev could clearly deliver both informative and engaged narration. So on this occasion I suggested he once again narrated over the film after I had completed the edit. “Keep it poetic” I said, but aside from that it was left to his own devices. A few days later Kev emailed me an mp3 file, I clicked play on the laptop, sat back and listened. Kev had recreated the day in words, words that would have been far from my own reach, subtle, sensitive and certainly brought back the feeling that I had that day on the River Test. So here is the result – a day on the river catching dace, roach and a lovely big perch, caught from the gloaming.

Mr Green’s Rod – coming soon with Chris Yates

01 Saturday Jun 2019

Posted by The tuesday swim in Photography and video

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Tags

angler, chris, cooper, fallons, fallowfield, film, nick, traditional, yates

On June the 16th 2018 Fallon’s Angler returned with Chris Yates to the Sussex Levels to celebrate the start of the coarse season. I shot the film  from dawn until dusk, as Chris tells the tale of Mr Green’s rod – a story that has taken fifty-nine years to be told.
The Sussex landscape evokes fond memories for Chris as he recalls an era of club match men, coach parties, large bream, and a particular young girl who he saw fishing almost six decades ago.
This film highlights what a day can bring when immersed in thought, the landscape and fishing, it is as Izaak Walton famously once wrote ‘the contemplatives man’s recreation.’

 

It’s been quite a journey…

01 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by The tuesday swim in Photography and video

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Tags

angler, angling, cooper, fallons, fallowfield, filmmakers, films, fishing, nick

 

Travelling with my camera for Fallon’s Angler has been a real adventure,  often a challenge and always an education. Every trip was met with its rewards, this year I will bring two new stories that I’m very keen to share plus a few more that have yet to be un-covered.

 

Sturgeon Hunter – a film

05 Saturday Jan 2019

Posted by The tuesday swim in Photography and video

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Tags

angler, british, canada, columbia, cooper, fallon's, fallowfield, fishing, fraser, nick, river, sturgeon

Last May I flew over to British Columbia to meet Garrett from Fallon’s Angler. After a conversation with his father over twenty years ago he made a promise to himself to fish the Fraser river for sturgeon. Sadly his father never made it but now the challenge was on and the chance to catch a fish the size of a man was a potential reality. My film captures that journey through the Canadian wilderness and eventually  connecting to something quite extraordinary.

 

A sense of time and place – Solent Hounds – a film

26 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by The tuesday swim in Photography and video

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Tags

aisle, angler, angling, art, cooper, fallon's, fallowfield, film, fishing, glass, smoothounds, sturgeon

The more places I visit and the more I fish, I find myself transfixed in a state, a place imagined from the past, people passing through as their lives ebb and flow, then fade as they dissolve into the soil. When I stand with my video camera this sense is enduring as I piece together a narrative. I relish the past, with it I see the present and look into the future,  it is apparent my films have taken on this tone over the last year. These films are not sentimental nor nostalgic, The Glass Aisle was an engagement into a poets world.  Paul Henry unlocked the souls from the past through the landscape of the Brecon and Monmouthshire canal, the experience was a total immersion, five months on and  the Glass Aisle haunts me every day.

I have shot two more films this summer, one was shot in Canada with Garrett from Fallon’s Angler, this is not finished but once again I was surprised on what we discovered in British Columbia,  kindred spirits? I still not sure but we witnessed a connection with the flora and fauna  at the end of our trip when I caught a sturgeon and landed it on a first nation reservation. There we met a lady who connected us with her spirit world, a world apart from the macho hunting and fishing scene that seems prevalent in modern Canada. The passion of angling had once again blessed us with another soulful experience.

Back in the UK we shot a short film – Solent Hounds – fishing for smoothounds in the Solent. Escaping from London one afternoon just at the start of the hot summer, we fished for several hours with anglers Adam and Ollie. We stayed until dark, what came from the shoreline through our marriage of words and images was once again echoed from the past through the landscape. I thought we were simply shark fishing, instead Garrett and myself found more. There are many angling films out there showing how and where, but I hope these Fallon’s Angler film offer something else? As anglers we have the privilege to stay put, to step away from time, to focus on a spot, transfixed in a meditative state, personally  I dream,  I honour and remember those lost souls that once walked and now lay as dust beneath my feet, while remembering that I  too will one day join them.

Watch Solent Hounds here…

 

Green and gold – seeking winter perch

03 Saturday Mar 2018

Posted by The tuesday swim in General, Photography and video

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

aldermaston, angler, chub, cooper, fallons, fallowfield, film, fishing, kennet, mill, perch, river

The last tench of summer – a film

01 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by The tuesday swim in Photography and video

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

angler, cooper, fallons, fallowfield, film, fishing, haven, kevin, nick, parr, sussex, tench, wallers

It was an absolute pleasure to spend time with Kevin Parr while he fished and talked about the landscape of Wallers Haven in Sussex. Kevin spent the day building up his swim confident in his choice which resulted in a wonderful tench. This film celebrates the camaraderie between friends, the banter, the early mornings, the landscape and the fishing. It coincides with the launch of Fallon’s Angler issue 11 which goes to press today. Sadly we delivered this one a little late but issue twelve is already under way and we aim to be back on track bringing issue twelve in the new year.

Fallon’s Angler YouTube channel

19 Thursday Oct 2017

Posted by The tuesday swim in Photography and video

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Tags

angler, channel, cooper, fallon's, fallowfield, films, fishing, youtube

Fallon’s Angler has now launched a YouTube channel featuring all of our previous films plus a new one featuring Kevin Parr, The Last Tench of Summer. Kev has been a bit of a star, aside from being a very talented angler his knowledge of the flora and fauna is clearly shown and beautifully delivered  in this film, so we are off again soon in search of an autumn species, please subscribe to the Fallons YouTube channel to keep up with our new films, better still buy the publication.

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TBH we’ve spent most of the day by the fire
Part of my cultural apprenticeship, thank you #ripchickcorea
Just when you turn a corner...#saveleamarshes
Thinking about the merits of moving to a derelict house in Sussex #littletollerbooks #greenmanofhoram
I’ve been aware of this kit bag all of my life, it went on family camping trips in the seventies but I only understood what it was about ten years ago. It’s a great thing #raf
Good to be out filming today. Covid compliant
Pleasingly grey today
You know 2020...
Sanctum #hackneymarshes
Keep it in the family- Back cover for the forthcoming issue of Fallon’s Angler by Lucy Merriman
Been looking inwards recently and found this in an old tin.
Marsh Harrier, peregrine, kestrel and pylon.
Cooling Marsh #greatexpectationscountry

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