Occhio. Where the fine art of fishing meets fishing fine art.
As every fisherman knows, sometimes you’re just in the right place at the right time.The Occhio story began at the 2009 North Carolina Ducks Unlimited Band the Billfish Tournament when two lifelong friends, Ven Poole and Todd Saieed, met professional photographer Marc Montocchio and saw his incredible photos for the first time.
Not satisfied with printing his photographs on canvas using traditional ink jet methods, Marc had recently begun using a brand new printing technology that uses a dye sublimation process to print photographs directly onto aluminum. The result was stunning—as crisp and vivid as high definition television—bringing the viewer as close
as possible to the fish and turning his already amazing photographs into exquisite artwork—authentic, breathtaking pictures transformed into a high end, luxury product.
Ven and Todd were blown away by what they saw. “The fishing art you usually see is in the form of a painting or sculpture,” says Ven. “It’s always an artist’s interpretation
of a fish. And most fishing photographs are of a fish with a hook in its mouth or lying on a deck after it’s already been caught. What struck us about Marc’s work was that
it’s so real.”
There’s a good reason it’s real. An accomplished, internationally known underwater photographer, Marc spends much of his professional life in the ocean, getting up
close and personal with predatory fish, capturing natural behaviors that have rarely been seen.
“When you’re hunting these big fish, you only see them from one perspective—from the boat,” says Ven. “You always wonder what the fish are doing down there under the surface. Here was this guy taking these fantastic underwater action shots of the exact fish we like to hunt for and showing us how they behave in their natural environment. His pictures take you right into the fish’s world. To see that with such clarity was thrilling.”
Ven and Todd spent the next day fishing, but couldn’t get Marc’s unforgettable images out of their minds. They soon realized that they’d stumbled upon a chance to create something new and exciting.
“We love fishing so much, that every time we’re out there we’re always asking ourselves, how can we do this every day?” says Todd. “Marc’s pictures really got us thinking more seriously about that. And so we came up with the idea for Occhio. We wanted to combine our passion for the whole fishing lifestyle with this amazing photographic fishing art, focusing on Marc’s photography, but also taking it further by developing a line of complementary, luxury products—functional fishing gear, dockside gear, the works.”
Ven and Todd floated their idea with Marc and Occhio was born. Why call it Occhio? Besides being part of Marc Montocchio’s name, the word “occhio” means “eye” in
Italian. Marc has an incredible eye for getting the shot. His pictures bring you eye-to-eye with the fish and catch the eye of everyone who sees them. So Occhio it is.
“Marc goes on some unbelievable adventures to get these images,” says Todd. “He sees places and does things that most people will only ever dream about. As he
travels the world photographing the big fish and writing his blog, it’s very exciting to watch.”
Keep watching Occhio and see for yourself.
As every fisherman knows, sometimes you’re just in the right place at the right time.The Occhio story began at the 2009 North Carolina Ducks Unlimited Band the Billfish Tournament when two lifelong friends, Ven Poole and Todd Saieed, met professional photographer Marc Montocchio and saw his incredible photos for the first time.
Not satisfied with printing his photographs on canvas using traditional ink jet methods, Marc had recently begun using a brand new printing technology that uses a dye sublimation process to print photographs directly onto aluminum. The result was stunning—as crisp and vivid as high definition television—bringing the viewer as close
as possible to the fish and turning his already amazing photographs into exquisite artwork—authentic, breathtaking pictures transformed into a high end, luxury product.
Ven and Todd were blown away by what they saw. “The fishing art you usually see is in the form of a painting or sculpture,” says Ven. “It’s always an artist’s interpretation
of a fish. And most fishing photographs are of a fish with a hook in its mouth or lying on a deck after it’s already been caught. What struck us about Marc’s work was that
it’s so real.”
There’s a good reason it’s real. An accomplished, internationally known underwater photographer, Marc spends much of his professional life in the ocean, getting up
close and personal with predatory fish, capturing natural behaviors that have rarely been seen.
“When you’re hunting these big fish, you only see them from one perspective—from the boat,” says Ven. “You always wonder what the fish are doing down there under the surface. Here was this guy taking these fantastic underwater action shots of the exact fish we like to hunt for and showing us how they behave in their natural environment. His pictures take you right into the fish’s world. To see that with such clarity was thrilling.”
Ven and Todd spent the next day fishing, but couldn’t get Marc’s unforgettable images out of their minds. They soon realized that they’d stumbled upon a chance to create something new and exciting.
“We love fishing so much, that every time we’re out there we’re always asking ourselves, how can we do this every day?” says Todd. “Marc’s pictures really got us thinking more seriously about that. And so we came up with the idea for Occhio. We wanted to combine our passion for the whole fishing lifestyle with this amazing photographic fishing art, focusing on Marc’s photography, but also taking it further by developing a line of complementary, luxury products—functional fishing gear, dockside gear, the works.”
Ven and Todd floated their idea with Marc and Occhio was born. Why call it Occhio? Besides being part of Marc Montocchio’s name, the word “occhio” means “eye” in
Italian. Marc has an incredible eye for getting the shot. His pictures bring you eye-to-eye with the fish and catch the eye of everyone who sees them. So Occhio it is.
“Marc goes on some unbelievable adventures to get these images,” says Todd. “He sees places and does things that most people will only ever dream about. As he
travels the world photographing the big fish and writing his blog, it’s very exciting to watch.”
Keep watching Occhio and see for yourself.
