Did you notice that there was a hand in the picture?

Ahh, the humble hand. Often overlooked, mostly ignored and certainly not given any credit. Even  though it is in most of our pictures. I certainly never gave it any second glance when I looked at a fishing picture until my wife mentioned a while back when I showed her some pictures of me holding a fish.

She told me that every picture I showed her has only a hand and a fish  in it. You almost never see the face of the person who caught the fish. It is always THE HAND. She also asked me if I can recognise who caught the fish by looking at THE HAND.

I suspect she said the above with a slight bit of sarcasm.

It did make me think though. When looking at a picture of a fish I never looked at THE HAND. It was like it was blocked out of my vision. Almost like those pictures that someone emails you with a half naked girl with a stunning sunset in the background. The caption would be “Beautiful picture of a sunset” and the the standard comment is “ What sunset?”

Come on, you all know what I am talking about.

So now that my wife brought this missing piece of the picture to my attention I cannot help but look at THE HAND. My vision is now tuned on THE HAND. The fish first gets a glance and then the hand gets studied before I look at the fish again. In a single blow she pretty much ruined my enjoyment at looking at a picture with a stunning fish in it.

I often fish alone and we all know how awkward it is to take a picture of a fish that you caught when you are alone with your camera. THE HAND was never considered when lining up the shot. It is not an important piece of the picture.

Well that is also now ruined for me. Every time I take a picture I wonder how THE HAND will look. Did I clean and cut my nails? Is THE HAND cradling the fish properly? Is THE HAND in focus? It is driving me nuts, and I suspect I am alone in this.

Well no more. Below is some pictures of THE HAND from some of the people reading this blog. I hope that most of you will now also look at THE HAND when looking at a picture, and will consider how THE HAND will show up in the pictures that you take.

BTW. At the start of this obsession it is normal to go back and look at ALL of your pictures that you ever took to see how THE HAND features.

 

 

My left hand

 

 

 

 

And an extremely rare picture of my right hand

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Average Joe’s hand

Simon’s (Pike fly-fishing articles) hand

Troutrageous’s hand (Notice the little finger)

 

Smalliestalker’s hand uncovered……

 

 

 

 

 

…..and covered

 

 

 

Brk Trt’s hand

 

Send me some pictures of your hands and I will introduce them to the rest of the world. (Or to at least to all four of my readers)

 

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

 

I think I am now cured after seeing the below picture of the Outdooress with this awesome fish. I did not even look at THE HAND when I saw this picture. I hope that I don't “Get 10 Lashes With an 8 weight Line” for stealing this pic.

“What fish?” I hear you ask :-)