Character Studies

Brian Ingram’s Pensive and Powerful Portraits

- Jack Neubart

 

DISILLUSIONED WITH THE PRACTICE OF LAW, Brian Ingram found himself forced to reexamine his professional path in life. So, at a critical juncture, Ingram chose what to him was the road “less traveled by.” And, to further quote Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken,” it “has made all the difference.” Sparked by the gift of a Nikon D40, Ingram chose photography to be his new profession, and this new path revitalized his outlook on life.

THE ROAD TAKEN Choosing photography as a career is one thing, finding your niche is quite another. A galaxy of possibilities baffled Ingram, but one day he found his shooting star. It came in the form of his niece Abigail, who at the time was battling anorexia. The family was spending Thanksgiving at a cabin in the Smoky Mountains. Seeing her sitting on the porch, he asked to take her picture. She agreed. And that shot formed the Big Bang in his career, earning him first prize in a photo competition that he’d entered. He has since garnered a broad clientele.

With the dawning realization that he’d found his new passion, Ingram gradually upgraded his gear to include both a medium format system and a full-frame DSLR. Ingram now shoots both digital and film; film allows him to indulge his more artistic side. With the aid of a tightly calibrated Eizo monitor, he edits using Phase One’s Capture One Pro, Adobe’s Photoshop and Lightroom, and Hasselblad’s Phocus.