Ottawa & Gatineau Portrait Photographer
Your work deserves a first impression that earns it.
I make portraits for creatives, professionals, and entrepreneurs who are done being invisible — and ready to be seen the way they actually are.
Sound familiar?
You've outgrown
the photo you're
still using.
You open your website, your LinkedIn, your booking page — and that photo catches your eye. It doesn't quite look like you anymore. You've tried the quick fix: the friend with a camera, the fast-turnaround studio. Each time, something technically okay that felt completely wrong. What was missing wasn't better gear. It was someone willing to ask the right question first: what do you want people to feel when they see this?
Hey there
I'm Shawn. I make portraits that mean something.
I'm an award-winning portrait and headshot photographer based in the Gatineau Hills, working across Ottawa and Gatineau. Over 17 years I've shot for editorial publications, galleries, and brands — and the work I care most about is the portrait session where someone walks out looking exactly like the person they actually are.
Every session starts with a conversation about you: your work, your audience, the impression you want to make. Then we build something around that. Bold, cinematic, human. Nothing generic. Nothing forgettable.
The right photo won't just represent you — it'll work for you.
I'm proud to create a welcoming, inclusive space for everyone — including queer and trans clients.
Book a SessionThe Experience
Why book with me?
A premium experience, built around you, start to finish.
A session with me isn’t a fifteen-minute slot on a list. It starts with a real conversation about what these images need to do for you, and I guide you through every step personally, from booking to delivery. Most clients don’t know how to pose, and that’s exactly what my job is for: real direction the whole time, from sculpting the light to shaping the image around you.
Most people arrive a little nervous and leave surprised by how easy it was.
You choose in-studio or on location, and I’ll help you pick the right studio for the look you’re after. Every image is retouched by me personally, never outsourced. Seventeen years, international recognition, and 40+ five-star reviews back the eye behind the camera.
Someone paid attention the whole way through.
That’s what you’re paying for. Not just a photo. The whole process behind it.
What I do
How much story
do you need to tell?
A quick, polished headshot is its own kind of finished. In and out in an hour. But if you’ve got more to say, through your brand, your art, or the way you want to be seen, a longer Portraits & Branding session gives us room to actually explore: multiple looks, real range, and a set of images built around you. Either way, every session starts with a conversation, not a formula.
Portraits &
Branding
Two hours or more, built around your story.
A longer, more collaborative session with multiple looks and real range, for actors, musicians, artists, and entrepreneurs, including financial advisors and real estate agents building a personal brand, who need images that carry the weight of their work, not just a corporate photo.
Learn more
Signature
Headshots
One hour, in and out, no wasted time.
One or two focused looks, fast: for lawyers, physicians, and other professionals who need a polished headshot for their bio or LinkedIn, and for actors and writers who need a few strong images, not a full shoot.
Learn moreServing creatives — actors, musicians, artists, makers — and the professionals and entrepreneurs who are done with ordinary. Ottawa & Gatineau.
Need something that doesn’t fit either box, a team shoot, a brand campaign, ongoing work? I build custom packages for exactly that.
Client Reviews
Five-star reviews on Google
When you book with Shawn, you are not only booking his amazing eye and vision, you are also getting a very professional and comprehensive process. From booking a session time, to viewing the finished product, each step was easy and painless — and Shawn was available every step of the way. — Gavin P.
Recognition
The work
has been noticed.
- Hold True: Additions to the City of Ottawa Art Collection — 2025
- New York Photography Awards Winner — 2022
- Gold Prize, Architecture — PX3 Prix de la Photographie de Paris, 2022
- National Museum in Kraków — Gallery of Polish Architecture, Permanent Collection
- What Women Create Magazine — Summer 2024
- Analog Forever Magazine — 2023
- APEX Exhibition — SPAO Ottawa — 2022, 2023, 2024
And counting.
Let's make something
If you're thinking 'yes' —
that's the sign.
Stand out from the crowd.
You know your work deserves better. Let's figure out exactly what that looks like, together.
Book a Session