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. We start with a real conversation about your work and what these images need to do for you. From there, I guide you through every step personally, from booking to the day your images land in your inbox, so nothing about the process feels uncertain. During the session, my job is to make you comfortable and give you real direction the whole time. Most clients show up without knowing how to pose, and that’s exactly what years of experience in posing and direction are for: what to do with your hands, how to stand, when to relax. From sculpting the light to directing every moment, I work with you to shape the image around the style and vibe you’re looking for. Most people arrive a little nervous and leave surprised by how easy it was.
You choose in-studio or on location, whichever suits what you need. If it’s in-studio, I’ll help you pick from several professional studios based on the look and feel you’re going for, not just whichever one happens to be free. Every image is retouched by me personally afterward, not sent off to an editing service. Seventeen years, international recognition, and 30+ five-star reviews back the eye behind the camera. But clients come back for something simpler: 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
Two ways in.
One standard.
Whether you need a headshot that opens doors or a portrait that stops the scroll — every session starts with a conversation, not a formula.
Portraits &
Branding
Two hours or more, built around your story.
For artists, actors, musicians, and professionals who need images as distinctive as the work they create.
Learn more
Signature
Headshots
One hour, in and out, no wasted time.
For entrepreneurs, professionals, creatives, and teams who want to be taken seriously without looking like everyone else in the room.
Learn moreServing creatives — actors, musicians, artists, makers — and the professionals and entrepreneurs who are done with ordinary. Ottawa & Gatineau.
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