I have a pile of credentials, but my partner Mike is getting all the glory.
I have been writing and editing for newspapers, magazines and businesses since 1974. I studied literature and writing at university and a polytechnical institute. Heck, I taught literature and writing courses at two community colleges for eight years.
And what do I have to show for it? Nothing like what Mike has, without even trying.
He’s only been photographing for magazines since 2006. And he was invited to photograph for his first magazine; he didn’t even have to make an effort to do that. In 2014 he was nominated for and won an award for his photography from Conservation Halton.
After he happened to be taking photos when a wedding party had to get off the tracks in front of the train he was on, one of his photos was paid for and published in all kinds of community newspapers and then was picked up by The Toronto Star for the front page.
I repeat, the front page.
And now, after his startling photo of a Skirted Stinkhorn was published in the Autumn 2018 issue of the magazine, two of his fungi photos are being carried in an art gallery: The Gallery Upstairs at Mill and Bronte in Milton!
This is a gallery that carries works by Robert Bateman!
Let me emphasize: he didn’t try to win an award from Conservation Halton. He didn’t try to sell his photo to The Toronto Star. His first photo there was on the front page. He’s now “represented” by a gallery and that happened without him even trying.
Good luck has just been falling into his lap.
How unfair is that?
By Gloria Hildebrandt, co-publisher and editor of Niagara Escarpment Views.
