(Continued from Part 1) 

I had less than a week to go before my assignment was completed. I had narrowed my choice down to photographing one particularly large fountain, night after night. On the last Wednesday before I left St. Cloud, about seven minutes after eight, on a partly cloudy evening, for a brief moment, the sun broke through the clouds and side lit the fountain so the water turned a golden color. That beautiful golden light lasted for less than a minute, but in that fraction of time, with one push of a shutter button, that photo changed my life.

Later, back home, when I showed the photo to the show manager, she turned away from me, held the large print up, and studied it at length. Not a word was spoken. I wanted to shout out: “please tell me you like it!” (You have no idea how hard it was to get this one photo!)

Over six years later, after that fortuitous meeting at Gamble Garden, I have been so fortunate to have photographed the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show consecutively from 2003 – 2008 and also have had the honor to photograph the 2004 Northwest Flower & Garden Show (Seattle, WA) and, for the last two years, the Yard, Garden & Patio Show (Portland, OR).

My life has always been filled with a series of seemingly random occurrences that looking back, all seem to fit together. Friends swear I have some sort of an “angel” who hovers around me. For instance, my interest in photography started about ten years ago after I attended a wedding of my friend’s niece in Trinidad, CO (about a half-hour’s drive north of La Veta, home of The Quilt Show). I bought a camera after that wedding and then several years later, I was attending the 2002 San Francisco Flower & Garden Show. How could I have possibly known a year later, that I would be photographing that same show? Or how would I have known standing there in front of that banner, that while my friend told me she met some person named Freddy Moran at the show, that four years later almost to the month, I would be the photographer for Freddy and Gwen Marston’s Collaborative Quilting book? And how would I have known looking at the banner, that about five years later I would be back in Colorado, this time not attending a wedding, but being the photographer (“Photo Man”) for The Quilt Show? And, most incredibly, how would I have ever dreamt that seven years from that fleeting thought of photographing the Flower Show, with no professional photography experience, I would receive in the mail yesterday a copy of my 20th book that features my photography?

Often, people will ask me what I attribute this luck and success to: it’s not me. I didn’t see what these women saw. They believed in me until I could. Therefore, in these last six years, numerous women (you will meet the others in later blogs) had faith in my fledging photography ability, wisdom to ignore my utter disbelief in what they saw, and the patience to watch me mature. Today, I’m proud to say, that my day job is that of being a full-time photographer.

I proudly and humbly thank these four outstanding women in my life: Leslie Lucas, the 2003 San Francisco Flower & Garden Show Producer for giving a guy who had just a camera--and not much more to go on--such a huge break. To Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston who took a firm stand (unbeknownst to me at the time) that they would not write their Collaborative Quilting book if I wasn’t their photographer. Finally, to Elena Morera, my friend, referenced above, partner and wife, who had the foresight to encourage me to attend that Flower & Garden Show so many years ago and who had the wonderful fortune to have such a great niece who was getting serendipitous married. Moreover, if it were not for Elena’s presence, I would not have the fortitude to venture forth each day with camera in hand. These four women (and the others yet unspoken for) have through their gracious efforts, transformed my photography title and life from “photo boy” to “Photo Man.”