How a commercial fisherman became a documentary and wildlife photographer, and advocate of the natural world

I’ve just watched the second episode of AdoramaTV's Picture America series, which follows commercial fisherman and photographer, Corey Arnold (@arni_coraldo), as he recounts his life at sea from his home within the Columbia River Gorge in Washington State. This episode’s outdoorsy vibe is completely different from last week’s equally exciting premiere, with talented visual storyteller Tony Shepard.

Corey credits his father for getting him into both photography and fishing, even buying him a Pentax K1000 for his 10th birthday. He first worked the sea as a commercial fisherman in Alaska, a summer job used to supplement his time at art school. By 2003, he was working on a boat in the Bering Sea and weathering some of the “roughest waters in the world.” A few years later, Corey had his own boat and fishing business, but he never stopped taking photos.

ABOVE: Watch the full episode right now

“Taking photos of my life fishing is what kind of launched my career,” he says. “I was a person that had a unique perspective on the environmental fishing story, because I came from a fishing background but I really care about sustainability and the health of the oceans.”

The fisherman’s photography career really took off when he launched fine-art photography project Aleutian Dreams, a documentation of commercial fishing from Dutch Harbor and the Bering Sea where he “photographed the contrast between industry and wildness in the Aleutian Islands.” This interest took Corey further inland, where his urban wildlife photography landed him covers for National Geographic.

Corey reveals that he primarily uses Canon mirrorless cameras, but still uses his Canon 5D Mark IV DSLRs as camera traps. But that’s just the beginning of the video. Make sure you watch it in full (above) to join Corey on a tour of his home in the Columbia River Gorge, and to find out how he sets up his camera traps.

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