Cath Simard - Artist - Throwback Episode from 9-15-21

What if you could turn your love for landscapes and mountains into a life-changing artistic journey? Get ready to be introduced to Cath Simard, a Canadian photographer and digital artist who did just that! Cath's passion for the Canadian Rockies and Patagonia has fueled her transformation from a model to a farmer, and finally, to a globally acclaimed photographer. Her story is an inspiring tale of finding her true artistic calling and capturing the magnificent beauty of nature in her unique composites.

Prepare to delve into an enlightening conversation about NFTs with Cath, a central figure in the NFT community. She shares her initial thoughts, experiences, and the lessons she learned in the NFT space. Cath's dedication to her art is unparalleled, demonstrated by the fact that she only creates and releases 5-7 images a year and has walked as much as 250 kilometers to capture a single image. With Cath, we learn that the journey is indeed just as important as the destination.

But it's not all about the journey. Cath also shares her plans for the future, which include a dreamy three-month return trip to Patagonia. Through her, we get a taste of the exciting life of a travel photographer and learn how she masterfully balances her online presence with her deep immersion in her photography. This is an episode brimming with inspiration, determination, and a deep love for the grandeur of mountains. So, buckle up, put on your headphones, and join us in this special episode with Cath Simard, as she takes us along on her extraordinary artistic journey.

Transcript

NorCal Guy: 0:32

Hey everyone, welcome to this next episode of Noor Cal and Chill Today, the throwback episode. This episode originally aired September 15 of 2021. Kath Simar is a Canadian born photographer, digital artist and a central figure in the NFT community. One of the most prominent artists in NFT photography, she's now almost entirely focused on NFTs. Kath blends reality and imagination in her landscape composites. Collectors instantly recognize her aesthetic surreal cold blue mountain heights. Her innovative style and willingness to take bold risks are a result of her desire to be unique in the freedom she enjoys in the backcountry. A self-professed introvert, Kath feels she produces her best work when she's alone in the mountains. To create a single image, she's walked as much as 250 kilometers, about 186 miles. Due to her lengthy creative process, Kath only creates and releases 5-7 images a year. In her words, I don't capture what my eyes see. I capture what my mind imagines.

NorCal Guy: 2:04

In this episode, Kath takes us on a journey through her artistic path and shares her experiences as a photographer and composite artist. Kath's passion for the mountains shines through as she describes her love for landscape photography and the inspiration she finds in the Canadian Rockies and Patagonia. Join us as we delve into her transition from modeling to farming to photography and how she discovered her true artistic calling. Kath also opens up about her exploration of the NFT space and the valuable lessons she has learned along the way. So grab your headphones and get ready to be inspired by Kath's incredible story and insightful advice. Everybody, please, welcome Kath Samal. Hey, Kath, welcome to the show. How are you doing today?

Cath Simard: 3:01

Hey, I'm super good and you.

NorCal Guy: 3:03

I'm doing well, I can't complain. You know, it's a nice morning here, not too hot yet.

Cath Simard: 3:10

Yeah, well, I would probably die in the heat where you are now.

NorCal Guy: 3:15

It does get pretty warm. I mean I think it's it might be 80 degrees outside now.

Cath Simard: 3:22

Yeah, no, I think I would probably have a personality change. When I'm in the heat, I literally become a couch and I can't move.

NorCal Guy: 3:30

I become a couch Nice.

Cath Simard: 3:35

Yeah, so I'm good in the mountains and a little colder, colder weather with fresh air and, yeah, I'm not complaining too Well nice.

NorCal Guy: 3:45

I mean it looks. I mean I know it looks nice up there. I saw someone post some pictures of Banff Park earlier today and it wasn't you, but it looked really nice.

Cath Simard: 3:58

Yeah, yeah, it's been good Basically. The smoke cleared in the last few days so it's been really nice to see the mountains finally, I think when the smoke cleared, I just went out and I screamed in the street and I was just like freaking aesthetic. So, yeah, I'm just so so to be able to get out and hike again and start shooting again after maybe like two months of being stuck inside and not really able to hike. So, yeah, I'm really really excited. That sounds not good. Yeah, no, no, I, you know you always have the gym, but it's not the same as the mountains.

NorCal Guy: 4:38

That's yeah, not the same no. So I have a question for you. Yeah, Do you use a hardware wallet?

Cath Simard: 4:49

I do. I actually got one, I think about a month ago. I have the Ledger Nano X, I believe, the one that connects to your app, and yeah, so I've been using it. But also, you know, I'm an artist, I'm pretty messy in everything I do except my business, but all the rest I feel that I'm pretty messy, so I just sometimes forget to transfer. Yeah, it's not the best to leave everything on a minimask.

NorCal Guy: 5:22

Right, I mean, but I mean, at least you are doing it here and there.

Cath Simard: 5:26

Yes, yes.

NorCal Guy: 5:28

It's not.

Cath Simard: 5:29

I think it's definitely something that you have to get. You know you can't leave everything on a minimask and it's just like. You know it's a learning curve, definitely. Just the setup was a little bit nerve-wracking.

NorCal Guy: 5:42

I remember Right, yeah.

Cath Simard: 5:43

Yeah, a bit complicated, but I think it's really worth it. I know a few of my friends. They still leave everything on their minimask. But, you know, these days there's just so many hackers. I feel that it's just like a matter of picking on one link you know by Right, yeah, your inbox or your DMs, and then you know you can get in trouble.

NorCal Guy: 6:03

So, yeah, yeah, I mean I think it's pretty easy to use this. Yeah, it is good. Once you have it set up, it's pretty easy to use after that. I mean it is a little bit nerve-wracking when you're trying to set it up.

Cath Simard: 6:16

Yeah, especially if you don't have any experience in that.

NorCal Guy: 6:20

So I think it's good to have someone to help you. This is everything I have right here. Yeah, I can't lose this?

Cath Simard: 6:29

No, exactly, and it's like you're responsible of your own money. So it's definitely. You can't take this lightly, even if I think for some people it just feels like fake money. So the urgency is maybe not there as much as you know USD or whatever Canadian Right, but yeah, I think it's definitely. For me, it's the number one that I recommend, with my friends Get into crypto or NFTs. I'm like you have to order ledger or any sort of hardware wallet when you start.

NorCal Guy: 7:06

Yeah, definitely.

Cath Simard: 7:07

Yeah, yeah.

NorCal Guy: 7:10

So, speaking of NFTs, what were your first thoughts when you heard about NFTs?

Cath Simard: 7:18

So when I first heard about NFTs actually I was just scrolling on TikTok back in COVID time when we had nothing to do, and I heard about NFTs first on TikTok and then I reached out to a few of my friends photographers who I saw that were slowly getting into NFTs and they kind of like got me to spend more time in clubhouse to understand NFTs and I became obsessed pretty quickly, mostly because I had a lot of free time back in the days. But I first learned about it I think back in January, january or February, and then I was just spending over six to 12 hours on clubhouse every day. It was insane. I was really, really obsessed about it. But I think it was good because I learned really quickly and then I was able to draft like a very specific sort of strategy for my first NFTs.

Cath Simard: 8:20

But it took me about four months to jump into this because I wanted to do something that really reflects my personality and my creative vision that I have for my work and when I started it was so abstract but I got it.

Cath Simard: 8:39

I think I got it pretty quickly and there was no hesitation really about the fact that no, is this going to work, is this going to be worth putting in the time. I just decided to go all in into that and really dive in fully, and I think four months later than I put for the first time my Genesis collection but definitely interesting. I was trying to explain NFTs to my friends and family and they were asking me what are you doing during your days? Oh well, I'm just spending a ridiculous amount of time on clubhouse just trying to understand that thing and then starting to share a bit more about my work. But yeah, I definitely don't regret and I also like things that are a little bit different or outside of the mainstream and I thought that NFTs were so interesting. So yeah, I just I became obsessed pretty quickly.

NorCal Guy: 9:42

Nice. Well, I mean, that's early bird gets the warm. I guess it's awesome that you jumped in so hard, so deliberately.

Cath Simard: 9:54

Yeah, I think perhaps if COVID would not have happened, I would have probably been hiking and doing my workshops and not being able to put the same amount of time and energy in that. So, in a way, I think COVID was perfect for me because it allowed me to develop online business like not only with NFTs, but also doing some online classes and getting my shit together with some paperwork and stuff like that. So I think it was a good, necessary break into my career, just to kind of like pull out of this together and create some different ways to set up different streams of income online. So yeah, so it's been really, really great and I don't regret doing that.

NorCal Guy: 10:47

Nice. Well, that's really good to hear. Yeah, so I'm curious. Yeah, I mean I know you've had some different things in your background what prompted you to get into art?

Cath Simard: 11:00

What prompted me to get into art? This is actually a difficult question, because I think that I don't think that you choose art or I don't think that you choose a path in art. I think that art chooses you and when I look back into my childhoods, I was actually thinking about that the other day and I think that I've always been a very creative kid, but I was so focused on sciences and sports that I did not really allow myself to fully develop my creativity. But I remember back in the days when we had art classes, I would spend hours after classes just finishing an art project and, yeah, I never fully went into this direction.

Cath Simard: 11:52

But I would say that my first introduction to arts was back perhaps when I was 16. So it was when I started to do modeling, which is not art itself, but it was like a first introduction to something that is a little bit more artistic and I really really liked it when I started. So just like the fashion shoots, the clothing, the art direction behind the shoots, anything visual, I really really enjoyed it. But at the time I was also studying in sciences because I wanted to become a doctor or a dentist, so once again, I did not really allow myself to have this as a potential career.

NorCal Guy: 12:40

Oh yeah.

Cath Simard: 12:41

Yeah, but up until I went to university and then I studied biomedical sciences and I just realized that it was not for me and that the artistic side of, yeah, the artistic side of me, was a little bit more important for me and for my happiness than the science part of it. So then I decided to drop biomedical sciences and I decided to go study fashion design in Montreal. So basically I dropped sciences to kind of like go back into something that was a little bit more artistic and that I was a bit more passionate about. Yeah, and then. So basically I was doing both modeling and fashion styling at the same time and I decided to go full on for the fashion styling. So I basically just kind of like booked a ticket to New York for two weeks with one makeup artist and one fashion slash commercial photographer.

Cath Simard: 13:46

And we were pretty young, I think we were like 21 or 22. So three girls in New York city. We rented an apartment and the goal was to build or a portfolio in order to start getting bigger jobs with different brands. So we were just contacting like different, like students, fashion students fresh out of university. So we would like get some of their collections and also some work with some new face models from New York and we build a really really good portfolio within two weeks, and it was so stressful but so fun. It was so fun and I just really really enjoyed the creative aspect of it, which gave me also a lot of drive. Like when you do something that you're passionate about, you don't count the hours, you're just like going full on, yeah.

NorCal Guy: 14:40

Just do it.

Cath Simard: 14:41

Exactly and love it. Yes, you just you know it doesn't really feel like work. So basically, I built my portfolio and then I came back to Montreal and then right away I got recruited by a big artist agency. So they started to represent me as a fashion stylist and then I started to get some jobs almost immediately.

Cath Simard: 15:05

So, because I was studying, still, fashion design at the same time, I decided to drop fashion design because I was like, well, you know, I've always, I'm already getting jobs and I don't really like, I don't really need this degree. Yeah, so I think that the art part of it really comes from, perhaps, my modeling background, but then for the photography, that's in entirely, entirely out of story, yeah, it's. So basically, I kept doing the fashion things, so fashion styling and fashion modeling but I realized that at some point it was not super fulfilling. There was just something perhaps that did not really align with my values or I was not fully happy in this world. So I decided to drop everything and completely start over. So I decided to sell all my designer clothing. I made a huge sale back in the days, sold everything, broke the lease of my apartment and then with that money I bought a one-way ticket to Australia.

NorCal Guy: 16:13

Oh, wow.

Cath Simard: 16:15

Yeah, where I basically I did some farm work for two years. Complete change of job and of life, I guess. Yeah, it was really interesting. But I think that this specific decision brought me to photography. So when I was doing the farming in Australia, I was also taking some photos with my phone, just posting on Instagram. So that was back, I think, in 2015. So Instagram, I think, started back in 2007, if I remember correctly Not sure, okay, so I was pretty late in the game, but I was still posting photos of my side trips, my hiking. And then there's a company, an Australian company, who contacted me and they were like hey, kat, we love your work. I was like my work, yeah, we love your photos, we love your work. I'm like, oh, thank you so much. And they were like would you like to take photos of our products? And they were like bandanas that you put on your head or like you know kind of like cover your mouth.

NorCal Guy: 17:32

Yeah.

Cath Simard: 17:33

And it's called it's kind of like Buff, but it's an Australian brand and they gave me their budget and I said yes. So with that money then I bought my first camera and then I started learning photography like that, just taking photos of people wearing the product and, you know, doing some cool stuff, hiking, whatever. And yeah, that's how I learned photography. And after my two years of farm work I decided to take a solo trip. Just, you know, I have to to to reward myself after the hard work at the banana farm, getting dirty every day and fighting snakes, and you know it was pretty insane. It was pretty insane. Most of the backpackers they only stay for two months because it's such horrible work, like you're literally, you know, 40, you're working in 40 degrees Celsius, like you know, you're seeing snakes and spiders every day, like just getting really dirty. So I really wanted to reward myself and take a solo trip.

Cath Simard: 18:38

So I went to Hawaii, indonesia, and then I ended up in the Canadian Markies and for me it was the first time to see like mountains, that big, like yeah, there's no big mountains back in Quebec, where I live, and even in Australia and even in Indonesia, and I was like, what the hell is this? I was like this is the most beautiful I have ever seen in my life, and then I started to take photos. Like I rented a car. I just slept in the passenger seat on the car, just like totally like you know, just like a homeless person. I loved it and it was just it was. It was amazing.

Cath Simard: 19:14

It was just kind of like very freeing to explore the mountains and go on hikes and I met a lot of incredible people and that's how I started to take more photos of the landscape and that's how I kind of discovered my passion for the mountains. Yeah, so I think that, just like to sum up, I think that art has always been there, but under different forms, and I think that the form, that kind of like, aligns the most with me and my personality, and what I love to do is definitely landscape photography. So, yeah, so I think that it's mostly art. Art found me, but also has always been part of me. So, yeah, that's, that's the story.

NorCal Guy: 19:55

Yeah Well, I mean it's pretty, it's amazing, it's a good story. I like it. I mean it's so varied, so much transition and steps to get to where you were today.

Cath Simard: 20:11

Yeah, I did get a lot of trial, trial and errors.

NorCal Guy: 20:15

But it seemed like every step kind of helped you along the way.

Cath Simard: 20:20

Yeah, I think so. I think that all the changes somehow just brought me where I'm the happiest. So that's why I think it's like well, I don't think you have to follow a straight line in life. You just kind of like have to follow your instinct and then follow what you're passionate about and just trust the process, because if you're trying to always project and plan everything, that maybe you might miss some opportunities.

NorCal Guy: 20:48

Oh yeah, I agree with that a lot.

Cath Simard: 20:53

Yeah.

NorCal Guy: 20:56

So if you were an animal, what would you be and why?

Cath Simard: 21:03

If I was an animal, I'm going to say a snow leopard, because they don't tolerate hot weather and snow leopards are rare and you don't really see them. And I'm very, you know, if I'm in a group or whatever, usually in the back or trying to escape, I'm very solitary. Yeah, I do enjoy the company of people, but to a certain extent because I'm very introverted. I'm not like introverted in the sense that I'm not social, but introverted in the sense that I get tired very quickly from being with people. It's just like an energy thing for me.

NorCal Guy: 21:51

Yeah.

Cath Simard: 21:54

So yeah, I think a snow leopard. You know, I think snow leopards, they live in the mountains too. So, yeah, I think it's great. Yeah, I love snow leopards.

NorCal Guy: 22:03

It's fitting.

Cath Simard: 22:04

I'm going to do snow leopard collectible NFT collections.

NorCal Guy: 22:09

Oh perfect, I'm buying Perfect. So I'm curious if you could chill someone else's work, who would it be?

Cath Simard: 22:27

I want to chill everybody's work. I think that everybody has so much to bring to the table, but I think I'm going to. I'm going to chill my friend's work. So I have my good friend, matt. He helped me with my promo video. He's just a really, really talented photographer and videographer and he's also right now working on a 3D animation piece. So, yeah, I really like I like that he's being very particular and very creative in his approach when it comes to NFTs and, yeah, I'm really excited to see his next finalized piece. And also, well, I wanted to chill my friend's Monica, but you did place a bid on it, I did, I did.

Cath Simard: 23:20

Yes, yes, I love Monica. I think she's just I don't know, she's just very free spirited and also she's a nurse and she's just so happy being able to finally get some sort of compensation for her photography work. And you know, I think that I think that being in direct contact with you know my friend's work, I just know how much time and energy and effort that they put in there. So for me it's I connect a little bit more with with that, if that makes sense, because I know that they're working hard. Yeah, and I do value I value that people who work hard for their art.

NorCal Guy: 24:07

Right, I mean I like them both. I like Matt a lot. I've talked to him a few times. He's always got something interesting he's working on and I mean it's just fascinating what he does. And I've talked to your friend a couple of times as well. Yeah, and it just, yeah, just happened to be that she posted some new work and it was time for time to make a bid.

Cath Simard: 24:36

Yeah, let's go. I'm so happy and and it's a spot from the Canadian Arakees and Monica and I will bring you there exactly for sunrise.

NorCal Guy: 24:49

That sounds early.

Cath Simard: 24:55

Well, you have to be ready to wake up early and put in the work if you want to see, because all right, all right, that's fair enough, fair enough. You know you can sacrifice a little, a little bit of hours of sleeping. We're probably going to need to wake up around like two in the morning, but whatever.

NorCal Guy: 25:14

What is? Just one night just some energy drinks.

Cath Simard: 25:17

Yes, a lot, a lot of energy drinks. You know, when you go hiking and the water bladder and instead of putting water in there, just put energy drinks Problem solved. Yeah, this is problem solved Exactly. And then you're going to be so, so excited to go up and you know you're going to be flying in front of us, so I think this is a great idea.

NorCal Guy: 25:44

All right, We'll have to. We'll have to make it happen.

Cath Simard: 25:49

Yes, that sounds good.

NorCal Guy: 25:51

So I'm curious if you have some advice to give to someone else or if you have a piece of advice that has been given to you that has been very helpful.

Cath Simard: 26:05

Yeah. So I think I'm gonna pick my dad's advice. I receive a lot of advice from a lot of really interesting people, but my dad, his philosophy has always been do whatever you want to do that makes you happy, but be the best at what you do. I think that this has always been a sort of like driving water for me, not for competition or perfection, but just to push myself to be good at what I'm doing. And I think that being the best can be also defined in many different possibilities, like being the best can just be well, I'm the best because I'm able to make a living out of my art and I'm happy. And for other people, being the best could be just being completely at the top. So I think that that's why, also, I've always been comfortable changing directions, from science to fashion, to farm working, to photography, to NFTs, because I feel that when you're truly putting in the work and time and energy into something, there's no reason why you would not succeed. So there's that I think that really pushing yourself to be good at what you're doing is something. I think that there are some people they just kind of do half-assed work and they expect to get 100% of the result.

Cath Simard: 27:49

I think, for me, really putting in the work and the time and energy is this is what will make you successful. And also take your time. I think that it's really interesting because, for example, nfts are so like you know, there's a huge hype, you got to jump on something right away and I like that. I like that. But at the same time, at the same time, sometimes it's making me just want to run in the other direction and kind of leave things unfold and really take my time. And if I think about my past, I've always had more success taking my time and not necessarily following the trends. So this is something I'm trying to remember myself, especially in the NFT space, where it's so intense and hype. There's just so much hype that sometimes it's even hard to know what is hype and what is true success and yeah, so take your time.

Cath Simard: 28:47

And the last thing I would say is so this is kind of like my life mantra, and it's life is an echo what you send will come back. So it's a little less than about karma. I guess that you know the more positive energy that you put out in the world, the more positive will come back to you. So I really like that, because sometimes you know it's, it's for me, I know, if I'm in a negative place and I'm just putting out, you know, just ranting whatever constantly, well, sometimes bad shit happens to me after and I'm like, well, I kind of, you know, this is, this is just the echo. So I like to remind myself like, even if I'm not in a good place or you know, even if you know I don't feel like it, I just I got to stay positive and I really think that this mindset has a huge impact in my life and personal and business-wise. Yeah, so, you know, be a good person and people will be nice people to you.

NorCal Guy: 29:51

And, yeah, completely agree with that. I am 100% like you got to be nice to everyone. I mean, they can be adjudged to you, but just try and make the best of it. And you know, you never know, and maybe they're just having a bad day.

Cath Simard: 30:07

So yeah, exactly, and I think that sometimes, even if, if, if I see people who are like being a jerk to me or negative comments like, instead of like responding like super defensively or you know just like kind of like being super angry about it, sometimes when you're able to shift the conversation from like anger to like hey, I don't know, like if, if you send positivity and like you're actually kind with that person, it's just shift the energy, yeah, and it resolves by itself most of the time.

NorCal Guy: 30:42

Oh yeah, definitely does. It's yeah being kind definitely. It opens doors and solves problems a lot of the time.

Cath Simard: 30:53

Yeah, so yeah, we have to be kind to jerks.

NorCal Guy: 30:59

Right, right, right, yeah. So I feel like I know the answer to this. But if you could live, live or move anywhere, where would you live and why?

Cath Simard: 31:15

Well, I've kind of already moved where I wanted to live, yeah, but I'm going to say another incident after. So so back in December I moved from Quebec to the Canadian Rockies because, like, since the first time I went to the Canadian Rockies I just, you know, there's some places it just feels like home and it was so weird because it was a real feeling of feeling where I belong and it's in the Canadian Rockies. There's just so much to do here, like so much hike, so much to shoot. The people are nice, it's just like really good vibes and it's amazing like summer, like all season, there's something really cool to do all season. So I've kind of accomplished this last December and I'm really really happy I've done that.

Cath Simard: 32:08

But there's a second place I really like and it's called El Chalten and it's on the Argentinian side of Patagonia and it's a small mountain village, right at the foot of the mountains and there's not like you can only get Wi-Fi, like from time to time, and there's so many treks and hikes, like starting right from the village and it's just like the playground around.

Cath Simard: 32:36

It is absolutely insane. And actually one of the photo that you got is from El Chalten, it's from Patagonia, so the one with the waterfall. Yeah, so this is just like, yeah, it's a really cool spot where you hike for maybe four or five k in the mountains and then you can reach that waterfall. It's like a secret waterfall that you go down and go a little bit off trail. But yeah, I just left Chalten because I feel that if I could combine this with the Canadian Rockies, then it would be the perfect balance of, you know, being in the being with some internet and being able to be in the real world and also disconnecting by going to El Chalten and, like, fully concentrate on the shooting and get off social media a little bit. So that would be my ideal balance, I guess as a base camp, and I'm going back to Patagonia in March and April and maybe May as well, yeah, yeah, so I'm planning on staying about three months there, so I'm really excited.

NorCal Guy: 33:40

Oh wow, that's a good trip.

Cath Simard: 33:43

Yeah, I think it's the maximum that you can stay under a visa, so I'm just pushing it. Yeah, I'm trying.

NorCal Guy: 33:55

Well, kath, I just want to thank you so much for your time and taking the time to answer these questions and just come on the show and be my, be a guest of mine. Thank you so much for that.

Cath Simard: 34:10

Well, thank you so much for for having me. That was super fun and, yeah, I'm excited to hear that other people on the podcast.

NorCal Guy: 34:19

So thank you and hey, we'll talk soon.

Cath Simard: 34:41

Talk soon.

NorCal Guy: 34:46

It's showtime. Norcal and SHIELD. Put the shoo, the shoo. Norcal and SHIELD. It's showtime, norcal and SHIELD. Put the shoo, the shoo.