Our Values

Henshaw Photography is built upon three core values:

  1. Authenticity

  2. Integrity

  3. Compassion

These values drive the goal to provide a calm presence and a safe space that allows for the emergence and capture of significant, sentimental moments for non-profits, community groups, businesses, and individuals.

Henshaw Photography is a neurodivergent-owned and operated business and proudly 2SLGBTQIA+ friendly, welcoming clients from all backgrounds.

Man taking a photo in a mirror, wearing a red and white plaid shirt, with a bald head and beard.
Man taking a photo in a mirror, wearing a red and white plaid shirt, with a bald head and beard.

My story

A man with a bald head and a beard sitting indoors, wearing a black and gray striped sweater, with a dark background and a lamp visible behind him.
A man with a bald head and a beard sitting indoors, wearing a black and gray striped sweater, with a dark background and a lamp visible behind him.

My name is Alex Henshaw. I am the owner and operator of Henshaw Photography. I consider myself to be more of a listener than a talker.

I have always been a creative person. One of the first career choices I thought of after high school was to work in animation, but things don’t always work out. Through the years since, I have continued to paint abstract art, write stories, and take the occasional photo. I am sentimental and reflective. I frequently journal and look back through past entries to remember what my life was like at that time. I remember during my mental health struggles, pulling out the family photo albums to look at past moments of happiness, and moments that activated a dormant grief. I came to understand that photos can hold so much weight for a person.  

In 2018, I was able to attend the Social Services Program at NSCC, thanks to community organizations that sponsored me. In school, I learned more about myself and how to support others. It ignited a passion in me to help people in my community, to try to make things better.  

When my grandmother passed away, I realized we had few photos of her in her last few years. There were memories that had not been captured. As the sentimental and reflective type, this was difficult, but the thought of pursuing photography didn’t enter my mind as I was still focused on school.

I graduated in early 2020, just as COVID-19 became a pandemic. The community I wanted to help, and the world, shut down. Once the world started to open again, I struggled, I realized that as a person on the autism spectrum, some types of front line work would be a significant challenge. I felt lost, I wanted to help people, but did not know how.

During a job placement with a local non-profit, I disclosed my interest in podcasting which led to me to not just being the Peer Mentor Developer, but also the developer of an inter-generational podcast project. Hearing people's stories interested me, and I wanted to, as I describe, “learn along with the listener”. Unfortunately, the podcast project was not completed during my time in the placement. Although, the interest in a podcast never faded, and the project introduced  me to peers that I still work with today. After the placement, there was still an issue, I found the doors to social service jobs remained mostly closed. I grew frustrated,  I thought, “if the community will not give me a place, I will try to make one for myself”. The thought of self-employment had come into my mind several times during the pandemic, but I never pursued it. 

In mid 2024, I bought a DSLR camera, I can’t remember why I chose to buy it at the time, something just felt right about it. The camera stayed in my bedroom, barely used, for over a year. In late 2025, I began volunteering at The Space and Company. A co-working space founded by Julianne Misner and Jessica Ward. I was holding space and working in an environment to support local non-profits, I quickly understood that this is an environment where I can thrive. If I struggle with front line work, then “helping the helpers” is where I need to be. 

Knowing that I had a good camera that was sitting at home, and wanting to do more, I offered to take photos of the things going on at The Space and I revisited the possibility of a podcast project. It did not take long to see photography and podcasting helped me to communicate, to be at the table with the change makers, but not have my autism be a barrier. I use the medium of photography and podcasting as a method of connecting and capturing significant moments in the histories of organizations, businesses, and individuals in the community. 

My ultimate goal with photography and podcasting is to leave a history. I want to look back on the photos and listen to the podcasts and say to the world, “I existed. I was there to capture that moment”.