‘Sure
Shots: Howe Sim’
published in Downhome Life,
January 2008
Howe Sim is a medical consultant living in
Acton, Ontario. He’s well traveled, having been born in Malaysia, immigrated to
Canada at age four, and studied in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto. During his
years of medical training, he picked up a hobby that many of those who practice
it consider to be therapeutic. “I found that photography provided a wonderful
outlet for my creativity and self-expression, and a great escape from the
everyday world of clinical medicine,” Howe says.
It was during his postgraduate medical
training that Howe acquired his first digital camera. He says, “As technology
grew, so did my interest in photography.” Currently he has three digital SLR
cameras, all by Nikon: a D100, a D70, and a D200. Howe, who operates out of his
home as a part-time photographer, particularly enjoys taking portraits of
people’s cats and dogs. “Quite simply because I love animals and enjoy
capturing their unique personalities with my camera,” he explains.
But his interests extend beyond pet
photography to subjects encountered in nature and through his travels. It was
during a trip down east with his wife that Howe took some of his most cherished
photos. “Of the ones I took this year, my personal favorites are my ‘people’
shots from Newfoundland,” he says, “such as the retired fisherman showing us
how he casts out his net, the Ferryland resident who took us out on his boat for
a tour of the nearby islands, and the Brigus carpenter who invited us into his
home simply because we had asked where we could get a cup of coffee. Pictures
such as those remind me of the main reason we loved our trip here … the amazing
people.”
In fact, his experience in this province
was such that it has now become high on his list of preferred places to shoot.
“I love its back-to-basics approach to life, and the unparalleled friendliness
and generosity of its residents, particularly those in rural Newfoundland,”
Howe says.
During another trip he and his wife took,
this time to Albert’s Elk Island National Park, he learned that sometimes you
have to wait for the “inspiration” to come to you. The park is famous for its
herds of free-roaming bison, which Howe was eager to capture with his lens. “We
spent 10 hours hiking its various trails, looking for bison to photograph. We
failed to come across any,” Howe says. “Exhausted and dejected, we returned to
our car in the parking lot – only to find a large male bison standing mere feet
from our vehicle.” In the end, he got his shot – and a great story to tell
about the one that almost got away.
