Inspired Magazine

Alex Cearns had recently started volunteering
to photograph abused RSPCA animals
when she realised her life calling. She’d been
asked to photograph a severely neglected dog,
found with one of her starving puppies dead in the
food bowl beside her, to help with the prosecution
of the dog’s owners. But where others saw horror,
Alex looked past the protruding ribs and the sad
eyes and saw beauty. Instead of highlighting the
dog’s desperate state, Alex sought to portray her
loveliness. “I didn’t want people to look at her and
not see her as beautiful,” she says. “She was so
kind. It just broke my heart that she’d been treated
so terribly but she was still so trusting.”
While she would never have dreamed it at the
time, the job of photographing the abused dog
ignited a flame that would eventually see Alex
leave her long-standing police and government
jobs for a career as a professional animal
portrait photographer. It would spark a volunteer
arrangement with RSPCA and other charities that
sees Alex donate 40 percent of her time to animal
charities, rescue and welfare organisations. And
it would launch a globally recognised role as an
animal photographer who has now published
several coffee-table photography books. A
photographer who travels the world promoting
and photographing rescued animals and raising
thousands of dollars for animal shelters. A
photographer who uses her growing recognition to
speak out for animal rights, to advocate for animal
rescue, to urge others to follow their passions to
create meaningful and fulfilling lives.
In Alex’s words ...
Who inspires me
Those who work tirelessly in animal rescue organisations – the selfless
people who devote their lives to making a difference to animals. It can be
a thankless task, a hard, relentless slog, but they persist. Their generosity
towards, kindness to, and endless tenacity for creatures in need makes them
living angels. They are people I respect immensely and aspire to be like.
Best advice
A quote by Ellen DeGeneres along the lines of “Ignore the lovers, ignore
the haters – just do what you do”. To me it means just get on with it and
get on with it well and don’t let your ego overtake you.
ANIMAL-LOVING KID
Not that Alex would have guessed what life
had in store for her when she was a teenage only
child growing up in the remote Western Australian
mining town of Tom Price. While she’d long
been an animal lover – one of her first memories
is of dressing up Chirpy the pet chicken and
pushing him in a pram – she’d never considered
photography.
She received her first camera at age 16 and took a
couple of bad photos and forgot all about it. After
finishing school she entered the police service. But,
after a good friend and fellow police officer died on
the job Alex needed a career change. She became
a crime analyst, helping source information to aid
homicide, armed robbery, child abuse and major
fraud squad investigations. While she loved the
challenge, after working in the child abuse unit
and witnessing its horrors, she again sought out
a career change. So, in 2005 she started working
with the federal government, auditing airports for
their counter terrorist security measures.
PASSION UNCOVERED
In the meantime, Alex had also started searching
for an interest outside work. She tried writing a
book, thought about playing soccer, and then
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ALEX CEARNS