Meet a Creative: Meet a Creative: Cam McLeod

photographer & director

Home Base / Eden, Utah.

Activities / Skiing, mountain biking, trail running.

Why Cam

Born and raised in western Michigan, Cam McLeod attended a small liberal arts college where he studied health sciences with a focus on exercise science and human movement. In 2009, he moved to Utah to pursue graduate school as a physician assistant. But Utah’s mountains lured him in another direction. As a self-taught photographer, he began shooting local skiers, mostly friends. By 2013, his photos were appearing in catalogs for Kühl, the clothing company. That year, he left health care to pursue photography full time.

In 2015, a photo he took of a relatively unknown skier making a deep powder turn under a tree in Myoko, Japan landed on the cover of Powder magazine, and it earned a nomination for the magazine’s photo of the year. “That really helped my career take off,” he says. “More athletes wanted to work with me. That’s how I got introduced to the people at Warren Miller and it’s how I started shooting for Helly Hansen.”

On location in Iceland during a year long campaign across the globe with Columbia Sportswear.

A decade later, Cam has traveled the world shooting skiing and adventure sports for commercial and editorial clients, including Columbia Sportswear, Rossignol, Atomic, and Ortovox, to name a few. Known for his cinematic style and an authentic perspective, Cam is sought after by companies and magazines who are looking to build complex storylines from a single frame. “I’m constantly looking for layers and depths in images that feel genuine,” he says. “Images that have a lot of emotion.”

Cam with a mustache and a still camera.

Cam without a mustache and video camera.

Cam’s the rare collaborator who does the work to understand brand goals while bringing the creativity and versatility to elevate each project. He holds himself and every project to the highest standard and clearly communicates to the brand and to the talent to ensure we yield great results every time.

Nick Castagnoli Brand Marketing Director, Rossignol Group North America.

Leading lines, depth, perspective, and action; this image has it all

Whether I’m in the backcountry or on set, good communication is what makes things go smoothly. I feel like I excel at good communication.

What's Next:

Cam recently opened a production studio in Ogden, Utah, where he shoots some of the same products that he takes pictures of in the field. “If we shoot a campaign for a ski or jacket line, now we can do both action shots and studio shoots of those products,” he says.

I love getting close. Not with a long lens from afar, creating an illusion of closeness but in there tight, with the subject. I want you to feel like you were there, like you were a part of the moment.

Meet a Creative: Meet a Creative: Cam McLeod

photographer & director

Why Cam

Related Articles

Tara Kerzhner

Meet a Creative: Bodie Johnson

Meet a Creative: Dan Oko

Meet a Creative: Ming Poon

Endorse