Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Aaron Ingram. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Aaron, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I find that purpose is like a puzzle — we collect little puzzle pieces throughout life from the experiences we go through, the lessons we learn, and the people we meet. One by one, those pieces start to begin to build a picture that shows us a way to make an impact in our lives and community. The biggest puzzle piece I found came out of the lockdown, during the Pandemic. I was a wedding photographer at the time, but I was completely out of work. Early in the mornings, I would find light coming through my windows in unique and interesting ways that led me to taking photos of our furniture and counter tops. As my interest grew into a passion, it inspired me to focus my career in Architectural and Interior Photography. I took my simple beginnings of photographing my kitchen, and started asking friends and family if I could take pictures of their homes. A year later, one of those friends tagged me in a post on social media, recommending me to an Interior Designer that was looking for someone that could photography their new studio. While this was my first paid job, the images from the project were published in magazines like Domino, Garden & Gun, and even Architectural Digest. Looking back, all the little puzzle pieces that had accumulated throughout my life were showing me where in my career my passion actually was. I think if I hadn’t have been looking, I would’ve missed the opportunity to turn such a challenging situation like being on lockdown into something that would launch my career in a completely new direction.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Before I knew that I wanted to pursue Architectural & Interior Design Photography, I’d always been fascinated with the idea of a space and how it can completely alter your mood. A well-designed space is something that’s magical — it’s what can make you stay somewhere and completely lose track of time or make you feel so uncomfortable that you refuse to let yourself or anyone you know ever come back. I always think about what I’d like to do next, and the answer I keep coming back to is restaurants and hotels. I base the majority of where I eat and stay off of the photos from a company’s website. I plan to change the way these industries are captured. When I photograph a home or restaurant, I love to talk to the owner or the builder to learn the story behind the materials used, the attention to detail that’s been put into each room, and also see the passion that they have around their own work. That kind of energy is contagious and I’ll always seek it out any chance I can get.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities/skills/areas of knowledge that are the most impactful in my journey are:
1. People skills — as simple as it sounds, it’s still a challenging skill. There have been countless projects that I’ve picked up just from striking up a conversation and getting along with people. I hate the word “networking”, so I think of it as just being a decent person and getting to know people.
2. Know when knowing your worth means income or experience — As I found myself looking to break into a new industry, I recognized that people wouldn’t be as excited to pay me if they’ve never heard of me. I set a maximum of three free projects that I would do in order to get my name out there and meet people that would eventually want to hire me again.
3. Block out time to find inspiration & learn something new — when things start to pick up, it’s easy to just focus on doing a good job for your clients. If you set time aside to consistently learn & grow, you’ll not only keep those clients, but attract higher paying ones as well.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” I’m currently the only Architectural and Interior Design Photographer that I personally know where I live. It’s such a specific focus that I find it challenging to bring in second photographers on larger projects or ask technical questions (lighting, lenses, etc.). I would love to collaborate with other photographers that are focusing on Architecture and Interior Design. I would also love to speak with any videographers that shoot the same content — I think there’s a huge opportunity to change the way interiors are photographed/recorded, especially in the Real estate industry. The best way that anyone interested in sharing their insight/wisdom or wanting to collaborate with me is through my website: AaronIngram.myportfolio.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://aaroningram.myportfolio.com/interior
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aingram_photos/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-ingram-a9811285/
