Kamensky was born to a family of a Major General, an administrator of the Imperial Forestry Institute in Saint Petersburg. In 1852-1860 he studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts.In Academy he received Gold Medals for bas-reliefs. Sculpted in Italy, and for this sculpture he became an Academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts and moved back to Saint-Petersburg.In 1893 during preparations for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago he became the Commissioner of Fine Arts for the Russian exposition. He prepared "huge concrete sculptures for the pavilion" as well as selected 130 paintings and statues from Russia to be presented on the exhibition.