The Vancouver Polar Bear Swim is amazing to watch and document. There are regulars each year, fantastic costumes, wonderful characters, and so many personal stories and rituals. And the chaotic joy of it is delightfully infectious. Everyone rushing into (and out of) the water, yelling, shouting, screaming, hollering and hooting… I can only describe it as ‘joyous mayhem’. And amidst this joyous mayhem, private and beautiful rituals unfold. It was a privilege to witness and capture on film. And at the end, there was such calm. And a cat, in a hat, on a well trampled beach.