Justin, Camille & Freya

WalkThe_TalkPhotographygraphic designCraftWoodwork

Dec 14

In this instalment of WalkThe_Talk we spoke with visual storyteller Camille Santiago and her partner Justin Becker, a woodworker to learn more about their creative practice, life in the Rockies and of course their adorable four-legged side-kick Freya.

Camille and her camera are inseparable—she credits it as teaching her how to see. Camille splits her creative practice between photography and graphic design (Rocky Mountain Soap Co), she is also an incredible writer and takes her followers on honest, candid and compelling journeys.

Justin finds joy in the art of working with his hands. Humbled by the honesty of traditional woodworking and quality craftsmanship, Justin puts great care and energy into creating things that are unique, full of character and will stand the test of time.

Photo by Brittany Esther — *Photo by* *Brittany Esther*

What were the key creative/career milestones that lead to what you're doing today?

Justin: Growing up on a farm, from a young age I learnt how to build many things and was pretty mechanically inclined. When I finished high school, I began to pursue a career in music and winter sports which led me to move halfway across the country to Canmore. I persevered with music and audio engineering for a while, but ultimately I began to yearn for something more fulfilling, and more tangible, and was drawn back to building things with my hands. I’ve been woodworking solidly for the last couple years now.

Camille: I wanted to be an artist from a young age. I started dabbling in photography & graphic design when I was 13, and I never looked back! I finished a bachelor’s degree majoring in Graphic Design at the Queensland College of Art in 2010. I now work as a portrait photographer for myself, as well as working full-time as a photographer & graphic designer for leading natural Canadian skincare brand, Rocky Mountain Soap, made by hand right here where we live in Canmore, Alberta.

What drew you to Canmore and what do you love most about living there?

Justin: Having so many different things I could do outside was a major draw for me. I was very athletic from a young age and excelled at many different sports, so moving to Canmore and finding this outdoor “mecca” in my early 20s was exciting. I also pursued professional snowboarding for a while, until I fell 40 ft. onto my back and fractured my lumbar vertebrae. I’ve lived here for 12 years and I still find more and more ways to enjoy the outdoors.

Camille: I moved to Canada from Brisbane, Australia in early 2017. I didn’t know exactly why at the time (I had never skied in my life, and my experience of winter in Brisbane is not even remotely comparable to a true Canadian winter), but I just knew I wanted to live in the mountains.

I initially moved with the intention of only staying for the duration of my 2 year working holiday visa, but like many people who come here, I ended up never wanting to leave. After spending most of my life living in urban jungles, living in such close proximity to the mountains means I am able to reconnect to nature and a sense of play in many different ways. This winter is just beginning, but on our weekends we have found ourselves ice skating (or as it’s known in Canada—skating), dog sledding & skijoring (cross-country skiing with dogs) with Freya. The beautiful scenery and the myriad of activities definitely makes the long, snowy winters more bearable.

Justin, where does your love for craft (or craftsmanship) come from?

I’m not sure I know exactly where it comes from, but I love learning all kinds of traditional techniques that have been passed down for many generations in many cultures—there’s something about keeping that stuff alive that is important to me.

Do you have a favourite wood to work with and if so what is it about that material you enjoy?

It kind of changes all the time. It really depends on what the job is asking for—if it’s for aesthetics, or for function… really the purpose of what I’m using it for will dictate what I end up using. That being said, I love the look and colour of cherry; I love the functionality and versatility of oak; and I love the way that walnut comes to life when finished—it has this rich, dark look to it which I find very classy.

You make custom wooden furniture, framing, wooden bowls and more… what is your favourite object to craft?

I love making things that I know are going to be used—it doesn’t even have to be fancy, it just has to serve a purpose.

We love the sustainable mop you designed and built. Can you share a little about your process for this piece?

When we tore up our carpet and replaced it with laminate wood floors, Camille asked if I would be able to build a wooden mop. We don’t love buying items made out of plastic that we know we are going to use long-term, and so the idea was that the mop should be as sustainable as possible, and would be something we would keep for life.

I chose the wood first—I had some beautifully figured maple that I had set aside for a special project, and I didn’t know what I was going to use it for at the time, all I knew is that I wanted to use it for something unique. I planned on building the mop head first. I made some sketches and experimented with a few different designs for the joints before I settled on this one. I built the joint next, and then the handle—at 4.5 ft. (1.2 m) long, the handle is the longest object I’ve turned on my medium-sized lathe, which is only designed to turn items up to 1.5 ft! I had to mount the tail on a separate table to complete the job.

Doing a job only once takes a long time—it takes time to experiment and build the setups, tools and jigs you need to do the job. If I had built two of these mops on the same day, the second one would have only taken me a fraction of the time.

What are you working on (or toward) right now?

I have a few contracts to finish right now, including a rather large, custom mantle for a local couple; picture frames; and I do want to get started on a second version of the dog sled I built for Freya. I built the original version like a carpenter—it’s rigid and strong, but sleds are actually designed to have flexibility which I failed to factor into my first design. There’s also a list of about 50 items Camille wants me to make, including a folding clothes-drying rack, a coat rack and a coffee table for our home.

Camille, what were your early creative influences?

I read, drew and painted a lot from a young age. My mother was also keen on photography, and she was the one who taught me how to use a camera. The work of surrealist painters as well as artists like Frida Kahlo who used their art to be honest and vulnerable about their personal stories really stuck with me. I am always drawn to the work of documentary and portrait photographers.

How does your design practice shape your photography OR how does your photography shape your design work?

I love this question as this is something I observe often in my work. In photography I find my compositions to be heavily influenced by how I design—my shots are generally somewhat minimal, and I try to achieve a certain balance in my compositions. There’s an element of emotion or softness in there. My personal design style is quite simple and subtle, and I love including elements that are hand-drawn or illustrated to add softness in an otherwise clean, contemporary design.

You shoot, portraits, landscapes, events, products – so many different genres. What is your favourite subject to photograph?
I consider myself predominantly a portrait photographer. Working with people and capturing them & their story is what fills my cup, time and again. As for the landscapes—I don’t consider myself a landscape photographer, but it’s impossible not to photograph the landscapes when you live in the Rockies. One of my favourite ways to compose an image is to include tiny people at the foot of a mountain, to give people a frame of reference for the sheer size of the mountains.

Born in The Philippines and raised in New Zealand you have lived in Australia and traveled extensively before moving onto beautiful Canmore. How does the environment & culture of a place inform your work?

This question really got me thinking. I’m not really sure this answers the question, but I think my cultural background, my upbringing and having lived in so many different places allowed me to grow up having great empathy and compassion for others. I have always been very curious about other people and their stories. So I think there’s definitely a connection between my love for documenting people and places and being a three-time migrant. Having been uprooted so many times, I would never have felt grounded in where I lived if not for being able to connect with others—and many times, photography has played a key role in how I build relationships in my community. I need those connections to have a sense of belonging.

I also never had the opportunity to grow up around my grandparents or my extended family, and part of me feels a sense of loss around not knowing my heritage or my ancestors. Perhaps that is why I feel so deeply committed to photography and documenting the everyday—it is a way for me to leave something behind for future generations.

Documenting people and places is my way of not only honouring someone or something for who and what they are—it is a way in which I appreciate aspects of a place or a moment that others often take for granted. Having come from a country where people are less fortunate, I developed a deep sense of appreciation for where I am and what I have in my life. It is my way of preserving it all, and knowing that what I am looking at will never be the exact way it is at this very moment is very precious to me—and this is the driving force behind what I create.

What project professional or personal are you most proud of? OR What does your dream project look like?

Earlier this year (pre-COVID), I organized and hosted a fundraising exhibition, Art for Australia, to raise funds for the Australian bushfires right here in Canmore. I got a group of local artists involved, and together we raised over $2,000 to donate to the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife. Justin & I also had the opportunity to collaborate on this project, not only by way of putting it all together, but Justin framed the print I made available for auction—a photograph of a farm in Byron Bay, NSW. I am also really proud of having organized and hosted Jungle Heart, a fundraising exhibition to raise money for the orangutans in Borneo and the World Wildlife Fund in 2014—I love bringing local, emerging artists together for a good cause. A couple of months later, I trekked in Borneo for 2 weeks with a group of other fundraisers from around Australia. It was one of the best experiences of my life, and it is what fuelled my love for hiking.

My dream project is actually one I started in 2017 and have yet to pick up again (mostly due to COVID)—I had been in the process of interviewing and photographing female artists & entrepreneurs for a portraiture series. I would like to restart this project when COVID restrictions ease in Canada once more.

Please introduce Freya:

Freya is a 14-month-old Heeler/Husky mix. Being a rescue, she’s a bit of a mix of everything, but we know her mother was an Australian Cattle Dog/Red Heeler. We suspect Husky, Labrador and other working breeds are also in her genes.

She is playful, curious, intelligent, headstrong and very food-motivated which has made her very easy to train.

When and how did Freya come to live with you - what is her origin story?

We adopted Freya when she was just 10 weeks old on December 8th, 2019. Before we adopted her, all we knew about her is that she was found with her mother and sister in Northern Saskatchewan before she was rescued and transported to Cochrane, an hour away from where we live in Canmore.

Tell us about a typical day in the life of Freya?

Freya will usually come into our room at around 6:30am which is our wake-up call. We’ll all have breakfast before we head out the door at 7:45am for our morning walk, then she’ll either go to work with Justin at the wood shop, or stay home with me. She used to go to work with Justin full-time, but now that I work from home, we get to take turns. We usually take her for a lunch-time walk, and she also gets an evening walk. After everyone gets dinner, Justin and Freya will usually play on the floor for a little while before she finally passes out at 7:30pm. :)

There is lots of evidence that animals are associated with physiological, psychological and social benefits for humans. How does your relationship with Freya improve your wellbeing?

Justin: Whenever I look at her, she always cheers me up if I’m not feeling great. She gets me out of my own head and forces me to go for walks.
Camille: Freya has been such a positive influence on our lives. I can’t imagine life without her now, and I am especially grateful to have adopted her right before COVID. We definitely wouldn’t have as many reasons to go outside, and life is just so much more delightful, light-hearted and fun with her in it. She is a great reminder to stay present; she teaches us how to live in the moment and be right there with her, no matter what else is going on in our lives or in the world.

What is the biggest benefit to sharing your creative/work space with canines?

Justin: Balance.
Camille: Mid-day walks and cuddles :)

Where is her favourite spot to hang out while you are working?

If Freya is at work with Justin, her favourite spot to sit (snow, hail or shine) is right outside the door where she can observe birds and ground squirrels and other things I’m sure she’d love to chase. If she’s at home with me, she’s usually sleeping on her bed, on the couch or on our deck.

What does quality Freya time look like?

In the summer, our weekend activities usually involved hiking, and Freya would swim in any body of water she passed by. We still go hiking with her in the winter, but now that this is her first winter as an adult, we were keen to try new activities that the three of us could learn together. So Justin built Freya a dog-sled, and for my 30th recently, we invested in our cross-country ski set-up so that we could go skijoring, too. Freya also loves chasing snowballs, playing tug-of-war, and we also do tracking with her, which is where she is trained to find people or objects using her sense of smell.

What is the most mischievous (or funny) thing Freya has ever done?

We took her to visit Justin’s family’s farm across the country this summer, and Freya chased the cows, bit a chicken on the butt (the chicken is fine, although traumatised, I’m sure), feasted on cow poop and then, as a result of not feeling great after eating the cow poop, left dozens of loose poops all over the living room rug.

Honourable Mention: Is there another special animal in your life that did have - or continues to have a profound effect on your life?

Justin: I love animals and was lucky enough to grow up around so many on the farm. Bert & Ernie, our donkeys, were two of my favourites when I was growing up. My Dad’s dog, Lexi, was also a Red Heeler like Freya, and Freya often reminds us of Lexi. Lexi was 13 years old when she passed away in 2018.

Camille: My parents have our family dog, Cookie, a 15-year-old maltese shi tsu who they got as a surprise for us. She’s much older now, but still enjoys listening to my brother and mother play the piano at home.