Oh, they are clever indeed. In truth, they make great, but largely overlooked, contributions in artistic expression and philosophical insight. They are the bloody-minded, fish-beslimed, fly-rod-waving bloggers.
Two come to mind. Tom Chandler of The TroutUnderground has a wry but penetrating wit which he plies with wisdom against enemies of the environment, great and small. It is a delight to watch him dance about his adversaries, pinking them with his foil (a 4wt, IIRC) as they lumber and dam(n) along - unheeding now perhaps, but losing momentum with each reading.
Tom provides me, and thousands of others, with our daily burden of environmental woe; but does it with such a blend of satire and compassion that we can move through the day assured that the earth's advocate has not stressed or dissed us without due cause.
Another blogger brings something entirely different to the morning mix. Nathan Kennedy of TVAngler sent me a package of his superb photos. Nathan (a.k.a., Hawgdaddy) is coming into his own as a photographer of the sporting life, while also contributing, along with his congenial and talented associates, some pleasant prose about the joys of fishing, the outdoors, tobacco, and food. Today's prints of his photos were remarkable in many respects and I realize now that their digital representation on his website did not do them justice, much as I enjoy those. In the printing the nuances of one of the photos, "Early Spring on Little River", changed markedly. The water of the pool had almost a Winslow Homer oil effect, and the scene overall shifted from the realism of photography to something other. Trying to analyze the cause from a digital (ex-computer graphics software engineer) perspective, I noted that certain browns had appeared as solids rather than as shaded areas. This, a failing of CMYK printing technology, introduced a wonderful transformation. I suggest to anyone who appreciates sporting art to keep an eye on Nathan - or buy what you can now.
Comments
Wed, 13.08.2008 06:28
God, I could use one of those for crossing streams, if nothing else! Nice find.
Fri, 01.08.2008 22:47
Even though I have no association with the link I am about to provide it has significantly [...]
Mon, 30.06.2008 11:20
kbarton, I'm certainly glad to hear that. Of course, I was shocked to read about inbred [...]
Thu, 26.06.2008 09:47
hawgdaddy, While Kevin's recommendations have merit in the brownlining streams he [...]
Wed, 25.06.2008 17:23
He's teasing you HawgDaddy, all you need is an Iron Blue Dun, or a "Rusty" dun neck and [...]