This Photo Changed My Life

Perfect Timing

Little did I know that this image taken in Carrizozo, New Mexico in July 1983 would change my life.  I had just embarked on a world tour with the international educational and musical program, Up With People, and after a six-week staging period in Tucson, AZ, this small South-Western American town was the first stop of our tour.  We were billeted out with host families wherever we went, and on the first morning after breakfast on this family's ranch, I noticed their family cat casually perched atop a birdhouse up in a backyard tree.  One shot with the camera was all the time I had to capture this humorous scene.  I moved on not thinking anything more of it, and continued to document my travels with my camera like I thought anyone might.  I certainly did not think of myself as a photographer.

Wins Award!

Upon my return to Saskatchewan in 1984, I returned to the University of Saskatchewan to continue my Bachelor of Commerce Degree.  With the encouragement of family of friends who were enamored with my images from my travels, I entered the Kodak International Newspaper Snapshot Awards.   I recall the image was debated amongst the judges if I somehow faked the cat's wink.  But in 1988 - long before Photoshop - it was concluded it was a skillful capture perfectly timed.  What were the odds of staging a cat to be so smugly winking atop a birdhouse painted with "Home Sweet Home"?   All the elements of a great image - timing, composition, color balance, story  - were all there in this image.  The image took the Grand Prize. 

I recall the prize package was like putting the cart before the horse.  I was awarded a medium-format Pentax 645 camera system.  I didn't understand what this camera was, and it sat in the dark of a closet for almost a year.  I didn't even know where to get the 120mm film it required.  The other part of the prize package was a week-long photography school in the Canadian Rockies ( Invermere, BC) with some of Canada's leading professional photographers of the day.

My eyes were opened.  Photography became a passion.  My career path and future changed.  I moved provinces.

A Career Launched

In 1990, together with my wife, Shannon, we officially opened the doors of COATES PORTRAIT DESIGN in Vancouver, BC, which eventually evolved into creating on-location child and family portraiture for home decor.  Along the way, through involvement with professional associations, we garnered provincial, national, and international recognition and awards for our wedding, portrait, and landscape photography.

In hindsight, maybe that cat was wiser than I at the time, ... thus the wink ... because that cat launched a photographic career spanning over thirty years I didn't see coming.