Upstream: Fly Fishing in the American West

by Thomas McGuane, Charles Lindsay (Photographer)

Charles Lindsay's grandfather taught him to fly-fish when he was nine years old. Ever since, in pursuit of trout and solitude, he has immersed himself in the clear, rushing waters of the American West. Fly rod in hand, he participates in the ancient rituals between predator and prey. At times photographing beneath the surface of the water, Lindsay literally enters the world of the trout. In this close observance of the cosmos within the river, he explores the fundamental relationship of all life to water. The photographs in Upstream illuminate a primitive world of elemental beauty and fractured light--abstract and utterly in motion. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, with wilderness under siege and humanity increasingly removed from nature, Lindsay uses his camera to express the enduring vitality of the natural world. Thomas McGuane, avid fly-fisherman, author, and frequent contributor to Sports Illustrated and Riverwatch , brilliantly explores these themes in his accompanying text.

96 pages, Hardcover

First published May 15, 2000

About the author

Thomas Francis McGuane III is an American writer. His work includes ten novels, short fiction and screenplays, as well as three collections of essays devoted to his life in the outdoors. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, National Cutting Horse Association Members Hall of Fame and the Fly-Fishing Hall of Fame.

McGuane's early novels were noted for a comic appreciation for the irrational core of many human endeavors, multiple takes on the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s. His later writing reflected an increasing devotion to family relationships and relationships with the natural world in the changing American West, primarily Montana, where he has made his home since 1968, and where his last five novels and many of his essays are set. He has three children, Annie, Maggie and Thomas.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

The University of Minnesota's Bell Museum had an exhibit with this photographer and his work, along with this book, a goodly number of years ago. I've never had the gumption to pony up the fifty-odd dollars for the coffee table edition, but then I've never had the gumption to carry a good camera anywhere near water. These photos are amazing- a true study of water and animal, their interaction and the struggle of taking one from the other.