PetaPixel Pictures is proud to present No Guarantees, a documentary film featuring Chris Niccolls. The movie explores the relationship between fly fishing, photography, and fatherhood.
The movie, which was shot in the Tongas National Forest in Alaska, is an introspective film where Niccolls, usually seen as a gregarious photographer and camera reviewer, reveals more about himself through fly fishing and memories of his father.
“My earliest memories of fishing were with my father on a train bridge in Ladner BC. My dad would sneak me out on this very dangerous wooden bridge and we would sit out on the end of the wood piling, the smell of old wood and tar all around and catch bullheads and chub with boraxed balls of salmon roe that we got at the gas station on the way there. They say early fishing memories are something you never forget and I remember everything so vividly,” Niccolls says.
From that description, it would sound as though Niccolls’ relationship with his father was a good one filled with happy memories.
“No, not at all, he was an absolute piece of [redacted].”
No Guarantees explores Niccolls’ relationship with his father and how that impacted his own relationship with his children.
“I don’t know why I started fishing. When I had my oldest son Kai at 25, and I was a father for the first time, something in me compelled me to try something that I had never even given a second thought to as a young man. I have this brand new baby boy and I’m working my ass off harder than I ever have before and trying to make ends meet and at the same time I just needed to learn how to fish. The idea that I had these early memories with my own father wasn’t lost on me,” he says.
“It was the same with photography too. I failed all my photo classes in university. Just didn’t have a desire and then out of nowhere I bought a vintage film camera and taught myself. What I love about fishing is that it’s always so unknown. Even if I do everything perfectly it’s not just up to me, it’s up to the fish as well. It is is about experiencing that unknown and being grateful for those experiences even when you don’t catch anything.”
In fatherhood, photography, and fishing, there is one thing in common: there are no guarantees.
No Guarantees is coming in early 2026.