Thomas Ames Jr. is a commercial photographer whose studio is located in an old woolen mill in Lebanon, New Hampshire. He lives with his wife and three children just across the Connecticut River in Norwich, Vermont. The Mascoma River forms a mill pond outside the windows of his studio to provide habitat for burrowing mayflies and early winter stoneflies. The nearby Ottaquechee and White rivers on the Vermont side are home to just about every other kind of aquatic insect and to more than a few brown and rainbow trout.

Mr. Ames makes photographs for a variety of advertising and editorial clients, including furniture companies, heavy equipment manufacturers, engineering firms, ski equipment importers, educational institutions, specialty food distributors, medical journals and many others. He brings the same attention to clarity and detail to his widely acclaimed fly fishing insect photographs that he applies on behalf of his commercial clients.

In addition to his book, Hatch Guide To New England Streams, Mr. Ames is a regular contributor to Fly Fishing and Tying Journal. His articles and photographs have also appeared in Fly Rod & Reel and Fly Fisherman. He gives numerous slide lectures throughout the year to fly fishing clubs in New England and New York state. His spring entomology outings on Norwich's Bloody Brook have become an annual rite at the town's Marion Cross elementary school, where his wife is a teacher.

Although his wife steadfastly refuses to fish, his children are often willing to join him on the pond or stream, either with fly rod in hand or to search for insects, minnows and crayfish among the weeds and stones.