Stockland Martel

Are beautiful photos of nature enough to market a sportswear brand? Neil Fiske, president and CEO of Eddie Bauer, doesn’t think so. A few years ago, not long after he joined the company, Fiske spoke with a reporter about his plans to return Eddie Bauer to its core values—and changing the company’s choice of photography was part of it.

“Pictures like that are too passive,” he told Craig Harris of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 2007, gesturing to a landscape image hanging in the Eddie Bauer shop where the interview took place. “A store has to have energy, especially an Eddie Bauer store. While it’s a nice shot, it doesn’t have that person in action with an everyday love of the outdoors.”

After all, companies like Eddie Bauer, Patagonia, Columbia, Orvis, and others pride themselves on their connection with their customers, right down to hiring employees who share the active sports-and-recreation lifestyle of their target audience. And they believe their photography needs to reflect that bond.

“We get out into the field as much as we can at L.L.Bean and do the same things that our customers are doing,” L.L. Bean president Chris McCormick once noted. “We use our own products so that we have a better idea of how they’re performing. This practice helps us identify better with our customers’ experiences and needs.”

Actually, if you’re a photographer, that practice also makes for great images. Tom Rafalovich, for example, is a life-long sportsman, and that affinity shines through in his work. He recently went on a fly-fishing trip that he documented for his portfolio, and I do not doubt that avid fly-fishing folks would give him their stamp of approval for authenticity and veracity.

Plus, to echo the point made by Eddie Bauer’s CEO, these aren’t just pretty images—they’re photos that capture the action of enjoying the outdoors.

For example:

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All photos by Tom Rafalovich.

"If fishing is like religion, then fly-fishing is high church." —Tom Brokaw

“It is not how abundant nor how considerable our catch be, but rather to the sport, and the manner in which our quarry, the noble trout, is angled.” – J.B. Martin

"I fish because I love to." —Robert Traver, from "The Testament of a Fisherman"

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Tom’s based on the West Coast, and he makes a habit of taking clients out on sporting adventures. I’m going to see if I can rustle up photos from some of those excursions. In the meantime, click on the image below to view a gallery of 24 freshly caught fly-fishing photos by Tom.

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Click on image to view Tom Rafalovich's fly-fishing gallery.

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Related:

• “CEO taking Eddie Bauer back to its rugged men’s store roots”

• Patagonia fishing catalog goes paperless

• Tom Rafalovich’s great outdoors

• Fly-fishing quotes courtesy of Kodiak Legends Lodge

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