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Catherine Gonçalves
@catherineegoncalves
Best of the week 22 at #nomadict 2020
The winning shot was taken in Madeira, Portugal, where both my grandparents grew up before moving to Canada. I was longing to visit the island and get to know their roots, so the moment had arrived and I hopped on a plane. I had planned a hike and the night before I was reading a few reviews of people’s past experiences. One of them wrote: “The silence is enormous here”, which sounded odd to me at the time – Those are now the exact words I would use to describe how I felt it.
WINNING PHOTOGRAPH
BEST OF THE WEEK 22
I took the photo in Fanal Forest where some of the trees are said to be more than 1000 years old. When I look at this image and see the fallen tree which gives birth to another tree, I can’t help but think of my grandparents and what their sacrifices gave birth to in my own life. I often think about the courage it must have taken to leave everything behind. How scared I would be to do the same right now. I never told my grandparents how truly grateful I am for their sacrifice which has allowed me to live the way I live in Canada, before they passed away. I never got to ask what their favourite spot on the island was to hang out, or how they met each other.
I have always been drawn to exploring big and epic places. While I was still in high school I got the opportunity to spend two of my summers abroad while taking classes, and I would come back from those summers feeling incredibly fulfilled. It gives me equal parts of comfort knowing how small I am in the grand schemes of things, and childlike wonder. I am constantly navigating my life by asking myself what is worth knowing? What is worth experiencing? What is worth doing? The path to get to where I am today has been anything but linear. If you were to have asked me five years ago where I thought I would be, I would have said applying to med school. Definitely not having graduated with a business degree and working in the creative industry. A lot of times we get caught up in the narrative of what our life “should” look like instead of what it could look like if we prioritize our dreams, and actively put in the work to make them work.
"Failing will always be scary, but I also believe that the bigger disservice to ourselves and a true rejection of ourselves, is when we never share nor pursue who we are and what we desire."
The summer before I started my Health Science degree in university I was working as a bartender, on a car assembly line and an assistant wedding photographer. In one week, I broke my ankle, ended up getting robbed while bartending and got fired from being an assistant wedding photographer for not having an up to date passport to shoot a destination wedding. With the free time I suddenly had, I decided to use it honing in on some photography skills and ended up applying to host an Airbnb photography experience on my own. I would take tourists through an iconic part of Toronto called graffiti alley, and give them the history of the area as well as take photos of them. I met so many incredible people over the two summers I ran the experience. I worked hard to be remembered as kind on these tours, often going the extra mile – because when we give unconditional kindness, we invite it into our own lives.
"I wanted to have created a safe space where questions to be met with thoughtful answers and empowerment. "
After these two summers I applied to a photography workshop grant on the west coast last summer. When I got it, it ended up dramatically changing my life. The network I was introduced to has become such an important part of my life. If I could name another pivotal moment of my journey going into photography it would be getting to know @triplit. A while back I attended the TripLit conference on the west coast that was run by some content creators I’ve always looked up to and left with a sense of direction and clarity. I told myself I was going to give photography an honest shot at pursuing it for one year.
"That was about eight months ago, and the doors that have opened up to me constantly surprised me."
But more than that, TripLit introduced me to a community. The people that I have met through my travels have inspired me to step out of my comfort zone and taught me that I can go faster alone, but much further together. We are meant to be collaborators not competitors when it comes to creativity. Today I consider the people I met at that conference not only some amazing friends but also massive inspirations, supporters & mentors. The little community we have is one of the things I am most grateful for. I absolutely see us bringing out the best in one another every day and I am so proud of the progress we’ve each made since we first met but more importantly, that we are able to push one another out of our comfort zones, continue to learn from each other and do it all with the biggest smiles on our faces.
"I do landscape photography for about a year now and since, I really felt like I found what not just consumed my energy, but also fed it."
As a travel photographer, I have a love for storytelling and adventures. I’m drawn to exploring beautiful places, and capturing how they made me feel both with words and through images. Throughout the years, photography has taught me not to only love the art that I do, but to take risks, live boldly, and appreciate the beauty in the mundane. It takes a specific kind of person to commit to waking up at 3 AM to begin a 4 hour hike to catch an epic sunrise at the summit, hang out of an open door helicopter in Hawaii, or live in a campervan for a week in Iceland and brave the cold. A very special place in my hearts belongs to the people who share the same slightly insane drive that I do.
"For the people who choose to pursue satisfying their curiosity over their comfort."
"I think my favourite country I’ve ever been to was Iceland hands down."
I know I haven’t seen the last of that beautiful country that looks like another planet entirely, but I think my favourite moment ever was the first time I ever traveled on my own. I was in Cozumel and decided to book a last minute swimming with whale sharks adventure. The weather ended up being pretty rough and a lot of the other tours cancelled for the day, but not ours. We ended up being the only boat in the area, and got to see 5 whale sharks. It was one of the most powerful and exhillerting moments of my life. It felt like I had stepped out of my own life and straight into the discovery channel. That day that left me bone-deep happy for a dozen other reasons than the views
"Later that night, I set the intention to play an active part in creating and spreading that feeling wherever possible."
"Now, I tend to gravitate towards things that inspire, empower and feed my curiosity and so my social media is really just an extension of who I am as a person."
I will spend hours shooting, editing, and re-editing images and the goal there is for me to evoke a sense of how the place felt to me rather than how it necessarily looked in camera. I know a well curated Instagram feed looks pretty awesome, but I would rather be remembered for who I am behind the lenses more than what I produce with it. People aren’t drawn to perfection; at the end, they’re drawn to shared interests and problems. Humans connect with other humans, and more than anything I want to ensure the words behind my work are an invitation to be our best self, and provide a medium to do just that. By expressing my true self, I hope to be able to inspire others – and to keep being inspired by others.
"Whether our paths have crossed once, many times, or even just digitally, I am endlessly grateful for the company and inspiration each and every person brings to my life."
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