Acton
doctor/photographer takes purr-fect calendar shot
By Frances
Niblock
published in The New Tanner, 20 Jul 2006
From probable death in a dumpster to Canadian calendar
kitty – so has been the first of Dusty the kitten’s nine lives. Dusty, now a
two-month old ball of inquisitive fur, has been selected as one of the cutest
Canadian kittens in a coast-to-coast photo contest search, sponsored by Whiskas
cat food.
Whiskas’ spokesperson Melanie Slade said Dusty is
perfect for the Only Kittens Can Be Kittens contest. “The (contest)
qualifications called for authenticity, and some sign of typical kitten
activity – does it look mischievous, does it have a lot of energy – kind of the
personality of the kitten coming through in the picture,” Slade said, adding
eight winners will appear on a 2007 Whiskas calendar.
The photo of Dusty – ears and tail up, one paw poised
to pounce – was taken by Acton’s Howe Sim, a doctor and part-time photographer,
a friend of Dusty’s Mississauga owner, Ina Belu.
Sim, 37, said Belu adopted Dusty after hearing that he
and three of his littermates who were less than a month old, had been rescued
from a garbage bag that was found in a Mississauga dumpster. Sim said through
much love and care – and early concern from a vet who wondered if the runt
kitten would survive – Dusty grew to be the healthy, energetic and much-loved
kitty that Sim captured with his lens in early June.
Sim said he’d heard about the Whiskas contest and
asked Belu if he could photograph Dusty. Although he ended up with a winning
photo, Sim said it wasn’t the easiest of shoots in Belu’s backyard. “Cats are
tough – kittens are impossible, they are so difficult to work with because they
are so active,” he said on Friday, adding Dusty is a very active kitten who
didn’t so much run around, but pounce and leap all over the yard. Sim said he
does a lot of portrait work, mostly kids and babies, but also is shooting a
growing number of pets for loving owners.
When not armed with his camera, Sim is a doctor,
specializing in internal medicine at Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga.
“Ultimately, I think I’d like to do this (photography) full time – I absolutely
love photography – it’s my passion and clearly, if I had stumbled across it
years ago before I started medicine, I would definitely not be doing medicine
now,” Sim said.
For his winning photo, Sim earned $500
worth of Whiskas cat food that Dusty will enjoy and $500 for the charity of his
choice – the Toronto Humane Society. All of the cutest kittens, including
Dusty, can be viewed at www.onlykittenscanbekittens.ca. Howe Sim’s work can be seen at www.howesim.com.