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Richard Gibson
By BRANDON DANE
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Richard Gibson brings a gritty
realism to his photography
that stems from the eight years
he spent as a staff photographer for the
Virgin Island Daily News in St. Thomas,
U.S. Virgin Islands. Gibson returned to St.
Thomas last August, as he does annually,
to fish for and take pictures of blue marlin
because he says “it is the only place to be
in the world during the August full moon
phase.” He will spend almost $1,000 per
day to fish because “this is what you have
to do to get good photos.” He approaches
photography, fishing, and conservation in a
pragmatic manner and that has kept him in
the business of freelance photography for
20 years.
Gibson has produced more than 100
major magazine covers and thousands of
inside pictures. Only in the last few years
has he switched to digital photography.
“Everything about this sport is high dollar,”
he said. “But offshore fishing is in my
blood. [With the equipment] salt water
always wins and one big wave [can be an]
expensive mistake.” Likewise, he takes
pride in the fact that he does not use the
auto-focus feature on his digital camera
even though he says his eyes aren’t
getting any better. Gibson counts
artist Guy Harvey among his close
friends in the marine art community.
In fact, he was the managing editor
at Tournament Digest who put one of
Harvey’s drawings on the cover. The
piece for the magazine was Harvey’s
first time in print. But Gibson
conceded that, “photography does not
garner the same respect [as a] Guy
Harvey watercolor.”
Although he said his photography
has taken him “everywhere that
billfish swim,” including Costa Rica,
Venezuela and the Bahamas, it was
his involvement in sport fishing
tournaments, not his photography,
which led him to a conservationist
attitude. Gibson says he remembers
vividly when the Miami Billfish
Tournament was an “all kill” event,
but he has not seen a dead fish on
the docks of St. Thomas in more
than a decade. “Tournament fishing
is alive and well,” he said, due to
conservation. Gibson got into the
tournament business in Venezuela
and ran the Venezuela International
Grand Slam Billfish Tournament
for seven years until Hugo Chavez
came to power as president. It was
there that some of the first lessons
in conservation were taught, but not
necessarily retained.
“[Capt.] Ronnie Hamlin
pioneered circle hooks in Costa Rica.
He came to Venezuela to give a talk
about circle hooks and everybody
blew him off. I’ve seen what Jhooks
can do, but I’ve never seen
that with circle hooks,” Gibson said.
“[Conservation is important because]
when my son grows up I hope he can
see some of this stuff.”
Whether in fishing, photography
or the business side of tournament
sport fishing, he concluded, “I do not
intend to slow down.”
To view Richard Gibson's amazing body of work please visit his website @ hiseasphotography.com
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