F&S Features the Flies of Graham Owen
By Alex • Apr 8th, 2008 • Category: Fly Tying
Photo courtesy of www.filmflies.com
It’s always nice to see a deserving artist getting the attention they deserve.
Yesterday Field & Stream published a photo gallery featuring 32 pictures of Graham’s work titled, “The Most Realistic Flies You’ve Ever Seen“. I have Graham’s first Hex Mayfly above my tying desk, and on a fishing trip with Graham and some other friends last Fall I got to see many of the flies in the F&S article first hand. The photos don’t do them justice. One of the things I was the most impressed with was the texture of his mayfly wings, which he makes individually, by hand. It would be tough to tell a real wing apart from one of his synthetic versions. To see more results of Graham’s time at his tying bench, check out his website, Graham Owen Gallery.
Or…
Check out his newest website, www.filmflies.com. Fly collectors have a little competition now- Hollywood. Due out in December of ‘08, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” starring Brad Pitt will feature one of Graham’s realistic house flies getting spooned out of a honey pot and placed on his breakfast plate. In another upcoming movie starring Adam Sandler,(I can’t remember the title off the top of my head, I’ll update later), one of Graham’s realistic Honey Bees will land in Sandler’s ice cream cone.
In it’s short existence, Film Flies already has a client list including: Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Disney, Relativity Media, and HBO.
How cool is that?
Alex got to play chess with an 18" Brown Trout
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Hey Alex,
Thank you for such a kind and warm write-up. 2008 is starting off with a bang, looks like I’ll be accepting an offer this week and will be selling my 25 year old Los Angeles based solar energy installation business, which should provide the funds to allow me to do whatever I want, but not enough to do nothing at all. The exciting thing for me is that I will finally be able to do what I envisioned becoming as a kid, a successful artist. The path has been long, challenging at times, and I never would have arrived at these crossroads without the inspiration of others who inspired my fly tying, such as Oliver Edwards, David Martin and Dale Beamish. I have to admit that living in Burbank, home to numerous production houses has enabled the sales and rentals of bugs to studios much easier. Sometimes studio people come to my house to pick up orders, other times I’m on the set, such as two weeks ago for a Disney movie, and numerous other times I ship bugs to filming locations across the country, and occasionally to other countries. BTW, the flies in the scene with Brad Pitt are spooned out of a honey pot and placed on the side of his breakfast plate, not in his beer…lol.. I actually need to remain relatively quiet about these things until the movies are on the big screen. Yesterday I rented wasps for a comedy show; last Friday shipped scorpions to Puerto Rico which will be filmed at the bottom of glasses of tequila, in an upcoming movie. I really enjoy helping producers and directors find solutions to their challenges, such as making bees that can fly, cockroaches that are hollow and squirt mustard when stepped upon, etc. Surprising, the part I struggle with the most is making bugs that need to appear dead, such as dead flies in honey, flat shriveled dead scorpions, etc. Durability of my products is a key to my success so far, for numerous reasons, which benefits those positioning and filming them, as well as for my rental inventory. Lately I’ve been tying full time, building inventory, and at times until the wee hours of the morning to meet production deadlines. Using thread to tye pieces together, as opposed to using glue allows for much more control while creating, and also is the key to product durability and longevity. I use a lot of foam for body parts and various brush bristles for legs, antennas and tails: basically, mostly synthetic materials to help the movie studios remain compliant that “no animals were harmed” in their productions. That said, I am developing a keen interest in studying the physical attributes of natural materials, which adorn my fishing flies. I guess I could ramble on and on, instead I’ll again say thank you, for being a friend, and hope to fish with you again next fall.
Cheers,
Graham
Thanks for the correction, you gotta admit it would be cool to have a fly land in the head of a beer though…
Congrats on selling your business, not too many people can say they’re getting to do what they love.
Hey Alex, Last year I supplied a housefly for a scene where it was placed on the rim of a martini glass, and a small bulb-blower was used to blow it into the drink. A realistic bar fly…lol..
Congratulations Graham on the selling of your solar business and the start of your new one. Good Luck.
Jay
Congrats Graham, now, more than ever, i have to find those few flies you gave me last year! I know they are somewhere, unless, my kids found out how famous you’ll be and stole them so they can sell them and then afford to go to college!
If you’re that desperate Oatka, I lost a few of Graham’s glass bead buggers in the Pere Marquette. Bring you scuba gear
I don’t have any scuba gear, but I am certified! um……..what section of the PM?
the loggy looking one
Thanks Twofingerz, I really enjoyed meeting and tying with you last fall in NY, and look forward to doing it again later this year.
Thanks Oatka!
Alex, The houseflies on the orange were all sent away to be in the movie Cirque du Freak, to be fed to a spider, and next time I photograph something similar, I’ll put lots of maggots in the shot as well.
Maggots would be a nice touch
Hollow maggots filled with mayo look cool when squished….
Hey, if you know anyone that needs a Limited Edition PW fly, let me know