Ottawa photographer Camille West is one of few studio dog photographers in the city, and her unique style of photography that captures all the excitement, movement, and personality of each pet has caught the eyes of almost 4,000 followers on Instagram.
Camille has a Diploma in Photographic Arts & Production and has been offering studio sessions for dogs for less than a year. “It all started by taking paw pictures of my own dog.” She remembers. “When I posted the paws on social media, people went nuts for it. That led to photographing portraits of dogs in a studio setting. I also felt that Ottawa didn’t have many studio dog photographers, especially ones that capture more of the fun and silly photos.”
Camille emphasizes the importance of ‘letting dogs be dogs’ during her sessions, and notes that she does use a lot of treats to help keep the dogs focused. “Clients are sometimes concerned that their dogs don’t listen or stay still, but I just let the dogs be dogs! The more fun they have, the more they’ll stay interested in what I’m doing, and that makes for great shots.”
Though the talented photographer has not yet reached the one-year milestone, her client base is rapidly expanding into Toronto, where she has planned a full weekend in June to travel and shoot dogs in the GTA. At home, Camille offers sessions from her own commercial studio space.
