Caitlin Cronenberg is best known for her beautiful portrait photography of the movie-star set that has graced the pages of many a glossy magazine. But the young Toronto artist is expanding her repertoire to include quadrupeds. Cronenberg has teamed up with Natalie Frenkel and Jordan Eady to launch the doggie glamour website Beastly — a collection of photos and videos that showcase celebrities and their beloved furry friends. The project is currently online with the goal of releasing a coffee table book soon(ish). Post City spoke with Cronenberg about her new project.

What inspired Beastly?
Beastly was inspired by a love of many things. My love of photography and taking photos of fun and creative people, and my love of animals really started the idea. Then working with my team Natalie and Jordan, we came up with the format and everything else fell into place. As a team we love animals and we love the way pets bring out a person's true personality. It's something that really connects us all.

What is your timeline for releasing the book?
We took a hiatus from Beastly because I was too pregnant to travel, so now we are finally able to get back into it and meet a lot more pets! So I can't say yet, but it will be amazing!

How do you find subjects and deem them Beastly worthy?
Some celebrities are well known for their love of animals and their relationships with their pets. We have a list a mile long of amazing potential subjects! Anyone who loves their pet and is comfortable enough to let us into their world is a worthy subject.

I love the Carrie Fisher photos. Tell me about her and her dog.
Carrie and Gary had a really special relationship. You can see it when you watch their episode. Carrie was an amazing person with a true heart and a wonderful spirit. You can tell that the love she had for Gary was pure and real, and she was his whole world. Gary is really a character. He's one of the funniest dogs I've ever met.

Why no love for cats, or is that book two?
Cats, birds, llamas and all other animals are going to be part of Beastly as well. We've just barely scratched the surface! 

You are best known for your beautiful portraits. What unique challenges do dogs pose?
Animals move really fast. That is definitely a challenge. But they also give you pure personality constantly, you don't have to draw it out of them, so in that way they make great subjects.

What other pooches do you have lined up so far?
Can't say! You'll have to wait and see!

Are you going to be posting pooch portraits on the website going forward and leading up to the book release?
Probably some, or at least teasers, but that remains to be seen.

Anything else you're planning with Beastly?
Yes. Many things.

Do you have a dog yourself?
Not yet, I have two wonderful cats. We are planning to get a dog some day but we are waiting until our son is a bit older.

Below: JB Smoove and Shahidah Omar's dog Lovely; Kathleen Robertson and her dog Sofia (both photos by Caitlin Cronenberg from Beastly).