PERSÉVÉRANCE is part of Cath Simard’s genesis NFT collection “Lumière du Noir” - A metaphor for being stuck in a very dark place, a place of comfort and apathy, but finally discovering the possibilities of the world outside of your comfort zone, a world of light and potential. This image represents the perseverance required to get outside of my physical comfort zone. I originally discovered this cave in Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park, British Columbia, during an extremely difficult 70KM solo backcountry trip. During this trek, I spent the night near the cave by myself, barely sleeping and exhausted. When the weather would get rough, I would hide in the tight space to relieve my body from the rain and the wind. Because of the bad conditions, I didn’t take a single photo, but was determined to come back again the following year to fulfill my creative vision of this place. Twelve months passed by, slowly drafting the final composition in my mind and obsessing over this unique cave. On my next attempt, I hiked in again through this bear-prone area and waited three days for the clouds to clear up and reveal the scene. On the third day, I photographed the cave and foreground at blue hour and waited at the summit until night to capture the stars. I felt physically exhausted, but relieved and at peace to finally fulfill my creative vision, after two years of pushing myself. But this was just the beginning. Assembling the pieces and creating something that mirrored my imagination took another fourty hours. Fourty hours of losing myself in the image, deleting the file, starting over, adjusting the mood and experimenting with difficult techniques. I wanted the effort that went into the edit to match the physical effort required to capture the pieces. This image reminds me of the physical strength and perseverance needed to capture and create something that perfectly matches my vision without compromise. To this day, this is the longest I have ever hiked to create a single composite. - The first collector will receive an 8X10 HD sublimated metal print, framed, signed with a certificate of authenticity.
