About Alexa
Ottawa Family Portrait Artist
Alexa Mazzarello is a Canadian photographer and artist based in Ottawa, specializing in portrait, documentary, and fine art photography. With a background in gender equality and a Master’s in Public Health, her work has always been deeply rooted in sharing the voices and experiences of women and underrepresented communities.
As an artist and mother, Alexa understands the profound, fast-changing nature of family life. In 2021 she began photographing families, children, and parents in a way that is both artful and enduring. Her approach blends documentary photography with an editorial refinement to create portraits that are both personal and enduring.
Alexa’s newly launched studio offers an elevated but down to earth experience. Clients are invited into a beautifully designed space crafted with care and intention. Following the portrait session, Alexa guides families through an intimate reveal and selection process, ensuring your most treasured images are transformed into heirloom products for your home. In partnership with a fine art printer, she offers museum-quality pieces that elevate photography from digital keepsakes to timeless works of art.
Beyond her client work, Alexa is an active member of the 44.4 Mother/Artist Collective and Women Photograph. She has a busy commercial, editorial and fine art photography practice. Her work has been exhibited in Canada and the UK. For more on her personal and editorial work, visit www.alexamazzarello.com.
For commercial and editorial inquiries, please contact hello@alexamazzarello.com.
“The photos we received are absolutely stunning—timeless images that we’ll cherish for generations. They make our hearts sing, beautifully showcase our baby’s lovely, budding personality, and are true works of art we’re proud to display at home.”
— Sabrina
Artist’s Statement
Photography is my way of making sense of time—of holding onto something fleeting and transforming it into something lasting. Before I ever photographed families, I was an artist drawn to portraiture, human connection, and fleeting moments. My background in commercial and editorial photography gave me the tools to craft refined, intentional images, but it was becoming a mother that truly shaped my perspective.
When I began photographing families, I knew I wanted to create more than just digital images—I wanted to make something tangible, something that could live in a home, not on a hard drive. I see photography as an art form that should be experienced, held, and revisited, which is why I’ve built my studio around the idea of creating heirloom-quality work. Every portrait is designed not only to capture a moment but to become a meaningful object—a piece of art that stands the test of time.
In my work, I seek to balance artistry and authenticity, refinement and ease. My process is calm, intuitive, and child-led, allowing for natural interactions while ensuring every session results in down to earth but editorial-style portraits. Whether in the quiet details of a mother’s embrace or the uninhibited laughter of a child, my goal is to create images that feel honest, beautiful, and enduring.
Personal Work
FAILURE TO PROGRESS
"What if birth, long shrouded and parodied by popular culture, was made visible?" -Carmen Winant
In 2021 I gave birth to my son alone in an operating room full of caped doctors, metal equipment, and fluorescent lights. I was immobile on a table on my back, arms out, unable to see what was happening to me, the birth of my son. From another room down the hall my husband watched my unplanned, emergency C-section from his phone screen.
The name of this body of work is Failure to Progress, and it comes directly from my hospital birth report. Failure to progress is a medical term that means labour has taken too long.
Two and a half years after my son was born I welcomed a baby girl, via VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). The birth experience was extraordinary. I have never felt so powerful. This second birth experience, totally opposite to my first, has given me a unique view into the culture of birth in our medicalized world. The images included here are a mix of found family photographs, self portraits, and iPhone screenshots, chronicling a difficult, painful, joyous, and redemptive four years of matrescence.
To see more of Alexa’s personal work visit www.alexamazzarello.com.
