Kat Craats - Work It Podcast Episode 1_mixdown
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[00:00:00] Let's work it.

Let's Work It.

Katy: Hello, everybody. Welcome to Work It, a UVic career exploration podcast. My name is Katie. I'm a writer and communications professional. I recently earned my MA in English from UVic.

Emma: And joined by Emma, I'm a recent co op graduate from UVic as well.

Katy: Today we're recording at the University of Victoria. I would like to acknowledge, with respect, the Lekwungen peoples on whose traditional territory the University of Victoria stands, [00:01:00] and the Songhees, Esquimalt, and WSANEC peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.

I feel truly privileged and honored to be able to work and learn on this territory. We're super excited today to be joined by Kat Craats. Kat is a photographer, an outdoor enthusiast, and adrenaline junkie currently living in Squamish, B. C. UVic's BCom program inspired her love of marketing, which set her on the path to becoming the marketing manager at Wildplay Element parks. I was super excited to talk to Kat today about balancing her freelance business with her nine to five and what got her so excited about the marketing space. Welcome Kat. It's so good to have you here.

Kat: Thanks. So glad to be here.

Katy: So I feel like we should start at the very beginning. You graduated a couple of years ago from UVic from the BCom program through Gustavson, which means that like every business student, you had to do mandatory [00:02:00] co op as part of your degree program.

I would love to hear about your first co op job and a little bit about your journey from that role to what you're doing now.

Kat: My first co op job was with Sitka, which has now been rebranded to Ecologist. They're a surf and sustainability focused lifestyle brand based out of Victoria, BC. And my first co op with them was the digital marketing coordinator.

And that one came about. so randomly because I was walking downtown. I'd loved Sitka for years. I'm from the Island. And I was like, with my partner at the time, I was like, I'm going to work for that company one day, somehow I'm going to work for them. And he was like, you should just go in and like, tell them that.

And so like the week after something like that, I went in and I was like. Hey, can I talk to the manager here? Like, I want a job here. And I was like 19 at the time and then yeah, they kind of just made a position for me for the summer semester and it went great. It was a good [00:03:00] experience and here we are.

That's amazing. Barge through the door like you own the place and tell them to give you a job, I guess, is the takeaway from that. I

Katy: love that energy. I feel like it's always that story you hear from like everyone's mom. Like, oh, you can't just pound the pavement anymore. You can't just walk into a business.

But I guess it does sometimes still work. I love that.

Kat: I mean, that was like 2017 now, so maybe the times have changed, I don't know. Ancient history 2017.

Emma: Oh man. That is awesome. So then where did you go from there?

Kat: For my next co op? Mm hmm. My next one was with a tech company in Victoria, it was called Freshworks, it's now been acquired by EY.

I was the digital marketing coordinator, I think, as well. It's always, it's always marketing with me.

Katy: Every communications job title is the same and yet so different. It's like Mad Libs.

Kat: Yeah. I think it made me realize that tech [00:04:00] is totally some people's jam and totally not some other people's jam. And I think I'm one of those people who doesn't get the most excited about like apps and software and stuff.

But. It was a good experience, nonetheless, and that's what co op is for.

Emma: Yeah. Nice to get a sense of, uh, what you like and what you don't before you actually commit to a long term position.

Kat: Yeah, exactly. But no, they're a great company and, and like, just so awesome team was amazing and the work was cool. So. No complaints.

Katy: What was that experience like of having that realization of, you know, it's a co op job, you're excited to be there and it's a great company, and realizing that that wasn't the industry for you? I would love to hear a little bit about that.

Kat: I think that realization totally came later. You know, I never went to work being like, Oh, I don't want to work in tech.

It was way later. That I was like, you know, now that I work at wild play, I think outdoor recreation and tourism is, is way more my jam. So exactly what co ops for like try different industries figured out. You know, make the most of [00:05:00] it while you're in it and then reflect on it after.

Emma: Yeah, that's really neat.

Katy: That's amazing. I would love to hear a little bit more about how you got started with Wildplay and what you do for them now and what excites you about working with them. Like, what do you love about your job?

Kat: Oh my God, everything. So many things. So I work now as the marketing manager for Wildplay. I've been with the company for two and a half years.

I started with them because my last semester of BComm, I specialized in entrepreneurship. The project of entrepreneurship is to come up with a business with a team, whether that business is real or just imaginary. It's, you kind of see it out from start to finish. And our team decided to do a bouldering gym in Whistler, which is just so ambitious, like obviously would never happen.

Katy: You really went in and you're like, I'm making my dream job happen.

Kat: Yeah. We were invested nonetheless. And we were like, we're totally going to open this thing. Obviously never did. But part of that was, uh, like looking at like liability [00:06:00] insurance and guest safety and all that stuff. So our professor Maya Mackey was like, I'm going to connect you with this guy, Tom.

He's the CEO of Wildplay. He knows a thing or two about liability. So we talked to Tom. He's like the most amazing person ever. just totally inspirational, you know, used to be a mountain guide, like just the coolest guy ever. And then when I graduated, I hit him up like, Hey, I want to work in tourism. What do you recommend?

What are my next steps? What should I do? We had a meeting and he was like, you should work for wild play is what you should do. And I was like, great. Cause I went to wild play as a kid all the time, season pass holder birthdays, the whole nine yards. Um, so it came really full circle and. I got to work for a company that I love and has been a part of my life for, like, ever.

Emma: Wow, that sounds so rewarding, too, given that you had such an investment in that company from a young age.

Kat: Yeah.

Emma: What would you say you do on, like, a day to day with Wild Play?

Kat: Wild Play has six locations [00:07:00] across North America, three in British Columbia, one in Niagara Falls, and two in New York. And so I just, And try to make them all money by doing various things, such as print ads, out of home, you know, billboards, buses, digital advertising, getting editorial content with travel writers.

National Geographic was out last year coordinating with DMOs, destination marketing organizations in each area. That's kind of my day to day.

Emma: That's amazing. I love it.

Katy: Comes with being the manager, I guess, doing all of the things.

Kat: Yeah, and then obviously working with the team as well. We have like the most incredible team of creators and experienced specialists and so on.

Katy: So you mentioned that after you graduated, you reached out to someone you admired. who worked at a company that you loved, that you wanted to work for. I know that a lot of students, including myself, really have this feeling that they should do that [00:08:00] kind of thing. They should be networking. They should be putting themselves out there.

But it's scary. It's really nerve wracking. Can you share a little bit about what that experience was like for you? Were you nervous? How did you approach it?

Kat: It was effing hard. Yeah. Because I graduated during COVID. The job market was like, there was nothing. It was not a good time to be entering a labor market.

So I was pretty desperate. I kind of felt like I didn't really have a choice, but to reach out to people like anyone and everyone. So I probably reached out to like 10 or 15 people who I knew. And, you know, some of them went nowhere. Some of them kind of went somewhere. And then Wild Play panned out. To answer your question, like absolutely.

Do it, even if it's scary. For every 10 no's, if you get one yes, that's a good number to keep in mind. Don't feel like beat down if things, if you don't even get a reply. It's never personal. That's such good advice.

Emma: Yeah, it can be challenging when you feel like you're putting all this effort into reaching out to [00:09:00] people, sending all these applications, and you're not hearing anything back.

I think that a lot of students get discouraged that maybe they're not doing something right with their resume or their cover letter or their messaging. When you were reaching out to everybody, did you do that through email? Did you do that through LinkedIn? How did you choose to reach out to everyone?

Kat: I did it through email.

Another thing I did that I'd recommend to students is reaching out to my professors and saying the same thing like, hey, I want to work in tourism. I want to work in recreation. Like, do you know anyone in this space who would be good to talk to?

Emma: That's fabulous advice. You've been doing work right from the beginning in marketing.

When did you know that marketing was a strength that you had or that it was something you wanted to pursue? What kind of started that path for you?

Kat: It came about pretty gradually. I was set on the course of marketing from my very first co op and just realized I was good at it because of my skills in photography, videography, like all these things that I'd been doing on the side for years.

They really lent [00:10:00] themselves well to the field of marketing. So there wasn't any turning point or any particular moment. It was just sort of all the things compiled on top of each other. UVic's BCom program doesn't have a marketing specialization or a marketing specific degree. So that was something I always felt like a little bit limited by, but when I did my semester abroad in Reykjavik, Iceland, I kind of zeroed in on of tourism marketing classes, which

Emma: Oh, that's really interesting. And to take it a step further, you also have a photography business. What's it like starting up as a freelancer while you're also working a full time job?

Kat: I have been freelancing since I was 13, so it's just been this, like, monster that has built on itself. I can't imagine, like, starting it now because a lot of those leads are inbound, like, I get emails here and emails there, and so it's kind of, in a [00:11:00] way, self sustaining.

It doesn't require any outreach on my part, which is nice, because that would just be impossible. Yeah, it's a lot even still, like I go through waves of putting a lot of time and energy into it and waves of like completely ignoring it for a month or two, so.

Katy: No, but I think that's something that's so valuable about working for yourself, whether it's full time or supplementary, is you have that flexibility.

Kat: Yeah. I mean, you can't do that with your day job, right? Yeah. Yeah. But it's so nice to be able to say yes to things and then say no to things. Exactly. You know, dive head first into one thing and then just dip your toes into another. So yeah.

Katy: And really focus on projects that really get you excited creatively.

Kat: Yeah, totally.

Katy: You've been freelancing since you were 13, which is just so awesome. I would love to hear the story of that. Like what got you started at that age?

Kat: I got my first camera when I was 12. I was using my parents. crappy old camera before then and just did photos for like my mom's friends who had [00:12:00] jewelry businesses and Interior design businesses and took photos for them and they would pay me like twenty dollars And I would think that was the craziest thing ever.

You're like i've never had twenty dollars before this is crazy Like rolling in it.

Katy: I hope you value your time at a higher cost now.

Kat: It took a while. Actually. I I just like loved it so much I probably charged like 20 bucks until I was like way too deep into it To be charging those rates. I was like, it's amazing people even want to pay me.

So yeah, that's where it started. And then it bloomed into like weddings and corporate stuff and lifestyle stuff, brands and so on. But it started with 20 jewelry gigs.

Emma: That is actually really inspiring. And we will definitely link all of your work on your website in the description of this podcast. So do check out Kat's work.

It is absolutely gorgeous.

Kat: Thank you.

Katy: Like, I'm not saying there are beautiful pictures of Iceland on Kat's website, but there are beautiful pictures of Iceland on Kat's website. It looks absolutely [00:13:00] gorgeous.

Kat: Yeah. It was a photographer's paradise for sure.

Katy: And I mean, like, we joke, of course, like when we're kids and we're just getting started,

Oh, I've started my business.

And like, I was doing it for such a low amount, but it's such an important conversation to have, I think, especially for women creatives and people who historically have not been paid what they're worth. Have you found it hard to advocate for yourself in that way as a freelancer or had to overcome any imposter syndrome at all?

Kat: People have a tendency to, I don't want to say undervalue photographers, but, but not understand like all the things that go into photography. They don't understand like how expensive the gear is. They don't understand how much time it takes to cull through all your photos and edit all your photos. Like it's way more than the four hours that I'm there present shooting for you.

It's a whole lot more than that. So I think it's only been maybe recently and It's maybe only in my world, but people are actually starting to understand that now, so that's been really nice. Yeah.

Katy: I think that's true for so many [00:14:00] creatives. Yeah. There's not an in depth understanding, and not, not just of the time you spend on each project, but the number of years of experience and learning and skill that it's taken to get to the point where you can deliver the product that you're delivering.

Kat: For sure. Yeah, that too. And you know, with weddings, for example, you put 10, 12 hour days in, people are like, whoa, you're making 000 a day. It's like, no way. It's so much more. The editing alone takes like two or three full days. All the gear, all the lighting, all the experience that has gone into it.

It's exactly that. Yeah, absolutely.

Katy: And I mean, freelancing, you're like saving away that percentage for your taxes at the end of the year.

Kat: So don't even go there. It's like that season right now. I'm in denial for now. It's okay. Oh yeah. It's funny.

Emma: Well, let's change gears a little bit, because one of the things that I noticed about you is that you're really passionate about sustainability, about low impact living, about the outdoors, and how do [00:15:00] those parts of your passion come into your everyday work?

Kat: Wild Play is, is all of those things and so much more, you know, we're 1 percent for the planet, which means that 1 percent of all of our revenue, or in our case, our extreme course revenue, which is one product line, goes towards a non profit. So this year we're supporting the Ancient Forest Alliance, which is...

It's something that I'm personally really passionate about and our whole team voted on. You know, another interesting part about Wild Play is that all of our platforms, our zip lines, everything are fastened to the trees in a way that can easily be removed and not leave any impact on the forest itself.

So we can just take it all down and it's like we've never been there.

Emma: Oh, that is cool.

Kat: And in my freelance work with photography, I really won't work with organizations unless it's kind of got more of a purpose or has a sustainability focus. So.

Emma: Yeah, that's fantastic.

I feel like there's so many people, especially when they're just starting out or they're new to the workforce, they have these passions and they don't know how to find something that fits with those passions.

So they're [00:16:00] doing work fit for their skills, but they don't necessarily include that passion piece that drives them to get up and enjoy their work every day. And I love that you knew that about yourself and you went and found a place that really encompasses those values that you have.

Kat: Yeah, and don't get me wrong, something I, I struggle with in marketing is feeling like it is wasteful at times.

We'll print a thousand brochures that are distributed at hotels and airports and then probably wind up in the recycling at some point down the road, and that's something that I like really struggle with.

Emma: Oh, for sure. And I mean, with the move to digital being greater than it was, you know, 10, 20 years ago, at least it feels like maybe we're moving in the right direction.

Kat: A good chunk, yeah, a good chunk of it. And like, our marketing budget itself has really shifted towards digital, like, year over year over year just really going that direction. So.

Emma: Oh, that's really cool.

Kat: Hopefully that reduces waste as well.

Emma: Yeah, definitely I know that social media has become a [00:17:00] really huge part of the marketing game now because as we were kind of talking about how we're kind of moving away from more print and physical copies of things.

Would you say that social media's been a big part of your work?

Kat: It is a big part of what we do at Wild Play in marketing. Our biggest win has been with TikTok, hilariously.

Emma: Really?

Kat: Um, check us out on TikTok, everybody. Wild Play Element Parks.

Katy: That's where the kids are.

Kat: That's where the kids are. We just put stuff up of our elements.

Like, we have our giant swing in Nanaimo. It's called the Primal Swing. Bungee jump in Nanaimo, 150 feet. It's just begging for content. Like it's so outrageous and it just goes pretty viral on social. We've had a couple like million hit views. I think in total we're at like eight million views. That was a big win for us last year.

Organic too, like unpaid, which was always amazing for marketing.

Katy: Yeah, that's amazing.

Kat: There's a certain look and feel that you want to kind of get on social media that [00:18:00] resonates with people and We're still massaging that and figuring out what it looks like for us, but I would say, yeah, those newer platforms, TikTok and so on, are pretty important for us in marketing.

Emma: Yeah, I bet that's something that a lot of students interested in marketing should probably brush up on. If you're not a social media user, become one. So that you have a sense of what you could bring to the table in your company.

Kat: Even this new app Be Real. It's like I jumped on there with my marketer hat on being like, how can we use this, how can we use this for marketing and in wild play?

So yeah, a lot of like management is maybe less acquainted with. Things like TikTok and so on. So you bring a lot of value to the table if you're familiar with how people interact on those platforms.

Katy: Yeah, especially because in the digital world and social media more than anywhere else, things move so fast and the look and feel of content that resonates is always evolving and changing.

So just being a [00:19:00] person that is able to Have their finger on the pulse of that and who has a lot of experience in the digital space Even just as a user is so so valuable

Kat: 100 percent because I think the thing I hear a lot is like, you know, our company wants to get on tik tok But no one is versed in how the platform works.

No one's got the Language, the look and feel, we're all like too old for that, you know, quotation marks, like we're too old for TikTok, but

Katy: Yeah, and they're like 30.

Kat: Yeah, if you come in as a young person, like you totally have value to contribute there. You know, you see car dealerships going viral on TikTok, you see tech companies like, um, Duolingo going viral on TikTok, like it works for any space.

And it's essentially free marketing if you can get enough eyes on it. So.

Emma: Yeah. And it's funny too, because you kind of have to have a, a delicate balance between the humorous aspect of your content and the professional aspect of your content. So if you're making content for a [00:20:00] company and you want to jump on a trend, you have to really think about what repercussions this could bring for my company.

Don't eat the Tide Pods.

Kat: Yeah, don't do it.

Katy: Marketing has such a big creative component to it, you know, when you're developing your messaging, how you want to get that across, bringing your photo and video skills into your nine to five. Yeah. I would love to hear how your love of the outdoors, your passion for adventuring inspires you in the marketing work that you do, the photography that you do, like, what really gets you going?

Kat: Well, in my freelance stuff, like, everything is, is outdoor focused. All the brands that I work with, all of the clients that I have, it's all outdoors. Yeah, I would say it influences my work, like, a huge amount. Even when I'm outside for various things, I'm thinking about a creative way to factor it in, so.

Emma: Do you have a favorite project or photo or photo shoot that you've [00:21:00] done?

Kat: Okay, starting with Wild Play, when I first started, I was like, this photo library is outdated. It has been years. And they were like, fire away. So I invited like, ten of my closest friends to the park, and we did the most epic photo shoot.

The conditions were amazing. I told all my friends to wear like, Yellow, red, blue, like bright colors. And we just had so much fun and the photos like totally reflect that. So I shot them in 2020. It's now 2023. We use them for everything. Still. That was my favorite like work photo shoot that I've ever done for Wild Play.

My favorite personal photo shoot would definitely be on this hike that we did in the Bugaboos. I was shooting for a couple of different brands at that time. The conditions were just insane. The landscape was insane. Lighting was amazing. I have this photo of Cobalt Lake with the Bugaboo Spire in the background and there's this like crazy storm clouds and lighting and that photo is probably my favorite photo I've ever taken and then I have some [00:22:00] like product shots for different brands that were in that same location and all the brands were like Whoa, okay.

What are these? These are insane. Um, which always feels good to hear, so that'd probably be my favorite one.

Emma: Oh, that is so cool.

Katy: Yeah, I felt like I could envision that place just as you were describing it. It's so vivid.

Emma: It sounds like, based on your description, that you've had a lot of autonomy in your work.

Like, when you were saying that you voted on your project with the ancient forest, and even that you told WildPlay, Oh, these photos are outdated, let me take new ones. It sounds like they've really given you a lot of autonomy.

Kat: Absolutely. Our head office culture is just autonomy at its finest.

Emma: What would you say to a student who wants to propose something to a supervisor in their work?

Kat: I did have to propose stuff, maybe not as formal of a process as other organizations, but something more like an email kind of explaining your rationale. [00:23:00] My tips, my advice would be to explain, like, the monetary benefit. You know, we're business students, man.

Emma: Right.

Kat: We're focused on the money, so if you can pull out some sort of return on investment, then that's great.

And then also sort of laying out the steps. And keep it short. Don't ramble about stuff. I think when I started, I was like, I need to write paragraphs on paragraphs about how I feel about this thing, and nobody cares.

Katy: And nobody has time, it sounds like.

Kat: Nobody got time for that, so like, think about your receiver, what's important to them, and then cut it down to just that, so.

Emma: Ooh, that's fabulous advice.

Katy: We've touched a little bit on you know, the culture at Wildplay and what you love about it. I would love to hear a little bit more about what you love about the workplace culture at Wildplay, like why it works for you. And if you've ever had any experiences with other types of cultures, just navigating that and being able to get a sense of a workplace culture throughout the [00:24:00] application process, the onboarding, and being able to find something that's a good fit.

Kat: Before I get into Wild Play, I'll get into some of my past work experience without naming names. Yeah, there's cultures that I loved and cultures that I didn't love. And one of the ones I loved the key value was humility. And I think that nailed it. You know, if you're driven by ego, maybe not admitting mistakes because of ego or you're wanting to propose something, but you're scared of being shut down again because of ego.

It's like having a humble workplace or one that's driven by humility is really important to me. One of the things that I love about Wild Play is just the amount of care that is given to our team. One of our core values is nurture the pride. And what that means to us is treating each other like a family, like you care about them.

You are invested in their success. And you're there to support them when they're not thriving. One of our core values is share the fruit, which is kind of gives back to that [00:25:00] sustainability, the community, the giving back and honestly, just like silliness and lightheartedness. This is why I could never work in like finance.

I would just get eaten alive by the sharks because I'm, I'm like such a softy and real goofy and not very serious. So it's nice to be in a culture where it's just a little bit more laid back and just people who like, love their jobs. It's like, so energizing to be surrounded by people who want to be there.

The onboarding process, to go back to that part of the question, I think you get a sense right away what the company's culture is like based on the amount of care and attention put into onboarding. If it's clear to you that you're a priority to them, and they value you and they're so glad that you're there.

I think that will carry on if it's a little bit more like haphazard, not much care is put into it. There might be other cracks that you're not seeing. And also I think if you're not receiving the care that you deserve as a new hire, say something. [00:26:00] Does that answer the question?

Emma: Yeah, definitely.

Katy: It absolutely does, and I think it is such good advice in the workplace.

I think especially people that are early in their career often have more intuition than they realize they have.

Kat: Intuition, yeah. Good word.

Emma: Looking ahead in the future, do you have any interesting goals or project ideas that you're really excited about trying?

Kat: Work wise? Personal life wise?

Emma: Yeah, any creatively, non creatively, doesn't matter.

Kat: Yeah, I mean, creatively, I'd love to work with some bigger outdoor brands that I've admired for a long time in, in any capacity. Destination British Columbia, doing some sort of like photo journalism project with them would be a dream, personal dreams, just climbing like all over the world. A personal goal before I'm 30 is to do the Island qualifiers, which are the highest mountains on Vancouver Island.

Lots of [00:27:00] surfing goals. Like I definitely want to get barreled before I'm 35. We'll add five years onto that because that's pretty freaking hard to do.

Katy: Those are your buffer years.

Kat: Yeah, exactly. Um, yeah, lots of goals. Always lots of goals.

Emma: Do you surf in

Tofino?

Kat: Yeah.

Emma: Nice.

Kat: Yeah, all over the coast of Vancouver Island and I was just down in Nicaragua in the fall surfing.

Emma: Oh, that's amazing.

Kat: Yeah.

Katy: And you're gonna open that bouldering gym in Whistler, obviously, that's on the list.

Kat: One day. I have to become a better boulderer first, bouldering scares me.

Katy: That is so fair. You're really, it's just you and the rocks.

Emma: Alright so now we want to do a little fun segment that we call rapid fire questions and Kat this just means that we're going to ask you some questions and you just answer with the first thing that comes to your mind. It doesn't have to be fast as an explanation, but just whatever first pops into your head, go with that [00:28:00] answer.

Kat: Okay. It feels like family feud. Let's do it.

Emma: Yeah. It's kind of like family feud. I love that.

Katy: Except there's no wrong answers and Steve Harvey will not yell at you.

Kat: Okay. Nice.

Katy: Okay. You mentioned wanting to climb the island qualifiers. Is there any other climb that you would love to do? around the world, anywhere.

Kat: Yeah, Pigeon Spire in the Bugaboos. And the Fitzroy Traverse in Patagonia.

Katy: Nice. Amazing.

Emma: What's your number one interview tip?

Kat: Show your personality. Show that you're a human. That's so important.

Katy: Okay. Picture this. You're on a deadline. You don't know if you're going to make it. What's your fuel? What gets you through?

Kat: Red Bull.

Katy: Love it. I'm a monster ultra person myself, but I respect the Red Bull.

Kat: Nasty, but I appreciate it.

Katy: You know, I'm being myself.

Kat: I embrace it. I accept you.

Katy: Thank you.

Emma: Okay, imagine you have to do something else. So it can't be marketing, can't be photography. What would you want to do instead?

Kat: [00:29:00] Environmental conservation.

Emma: Amazing. Any specific type? Marine, uh, forestry, something else.

Kat: Marine. Love it.

Katy: We really have it all on Vancouver Island. I feel like if you were on the island, you can really take your pick of environments to conserve.

Kat: Ain't that the truth.

Katy: What is your favorite type of thing to photograph?

Kat: Mountains. At sunrise.

Katy: People love mountain pictures.

Kat: Yeah, they do.

Emma: If you could travel anywhere to take photos, where would you want to go?

Kat: Patagonia, Argentina.

Emma: Why?

Kat: Mountains. Big ones.

Emma: That's awesome. What is the most difficult photo you've ever taken?

Kat: I was in a glacier shooting for this travel company in Iceland and the glacier was dripping water and it kept hitting my camera and my camera actually, like, got wrecked.

Emma: No way.

Kat: And totally, like, totally stopped working and we were, like, deep in this glacier, like, in this ice cave [00:30:00] and my camera just, it was beautiful.

The worst part about it is how freaking beautiful it was and my camera like would not turn on. It kept saying like, error 11 or something. Um, and I looked it up after and it basically just means that your camera's pooched.

Emma: No way!

Kat: That was a tough one.

Emma: Ooh, that is unfortunate. So did they reimburse you at all for that?

Kat: No, I, I mean my camera was in rough shape before that. Iceland is not, uh, kind to your gear.

Emma: Ooh, I bet.

Kat: Just in general. It's like rain, wind, snow. Black sand, like, everything is, it's just rough.

Emma: Oh, that's tough.

Katy: I guess it's an occupational hazard of doing a lot of landscape photography.

Kat: I've never heard that term, but that's actually so accurate.

Another difficult photo I took was also in Iceland, Occupational Hazards in Iceland, Not Being Kind to Your Gear, Part 2. I was in the highlands doing some work for this, like, 4x4. company that make like big Land Rover Defenders. And we were way up in this area called Kaerlingufal, which [00:31:00] has a lot of geothermal activity.

It's like big rolling expansive Highland hills. And it was so cold. It was like minus 30 and the wind was just howling. The snow was like this little ice crystals that would just sting so much when they hit you and I could like hardly feel my fingers but we had to get these shots and we were totally just suffering for these photos but we got them done.

They turned out pretty nice. I would say that was the hardest physically to pull off.

Emma: Right, because you can't really Help the weather you just show up and you do it.

Kat: And you take what you get because it was a long drive It took us like six hours to get there.

Emma: That's wild.

Katy: Yeah turns out it is in fact an endurance sport.

Kat: I know people photographers who will get out at 4 a. m. Set up their tripod like wait for the sunrise for hours. It's freezing cold wildlife photographers waiting for like a moose to come by maybe they wait all day and then the thing doesn't even come like. It's totally endurance.

Katy: Yeah.

Emma: [00:32:00] So, we've touched a lot on your photography, we've touched on your career with Wild Play, and what you did leading up to that.

If you could give one piece of advice to a student who's really interested in photography, marketing, anything in that vein, what would you tell them?

Kat: If it's photography or video, volunteer your time in the start with organizations in the school. You know, join some of the different groups, whether it's the formula team in engineering, or it's the UVic, Gustafsson, BCom, CSS, or if it's different award ceremonies, like put yourself on people's radar as being the photographer or videographer.

And if it's kind of a passion in marketing, yeah, again, like volunteer your time with those other organizations in a marketing capacity. So maybe that's like doing the social media or making a poster and then getting that poster printed and then distributing that poster. Like all of those things will put you on the path, [00:33:00] say yes to stuff.

And if you're sitting at home, 20 minutes before the thing and you're like, oh my gosh, I don't want to do this thing. That's like all the more reason to do it. So push, push, push, keep pushing.

Katy: That's also advice I need. Like as I'm in my winter hermitage nest, I'm like, yes, go to the event, meet the humans, be a, be a person.

Kat: Be a person. Like everyone else is sitting at home in the exact same headspace. So like, just do the thing and be a human. That's what Red Bull is for. Or in Katie's case, a big old monster.

Katy: Yeah, okay, it's my toxic trait.

Kat: We're allowed to have a vice, a guilty

Katy: pleasure. Exactly.

Kat: Oh man.

Katy: Kat, I would love to know where people can find and connect with your work.

Kat: Oh man, shameless plug time. Where Instagram at KatCraats.

I'm on Facebook the same. [00:34:00] I've got my website where I have all my photos and some of them have been made into prints that are for sale. Ooh, shameless plug. Times two. Those are the big ones.

Katy: Amazing. And all those links will be in the episode notes.

Emma: Thank you so much, Kat, for joining us. Thank you for sharing your experience.

We're really happy that you could come and join us today.

Katy: Work it is developed dis by co-op and career services at the University of Victoria.

The podcast is hosted by Katy DeCoste and Emma Ulveland, and produced by Katy, Emma and Joy Poliquin. Today's guest was Katt Craats. Our theme music and art were created by Emma Ulveland with audio editing by Emma Ulveland.

To learn more about career possibilities and resources from UVic, visit uvic.ca/career-services.[00:35:00]