Meet Dave Ingraham | Photographer & Graphic Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dave Ingraham and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dave, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I’ve always loved creating things. I loved drawing early on. My dad had a nice workshop, so we’d always be in there building something. I like being able to point to something and say, “I made that”. That’s why I get so much gratification from both graphic design and photography.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
WHAT SETS ME APART From the beginning of my career, I knew who I was and what I brought to the table. Who am I? I’m someone who gets sh*t done, that’s who. This is my brand, and I’ve been loyal to it since day one. Do you need a new brochure by tomorrow? I’m on it. Need 25 easel signs for a conference and the production house needs the artwork by the end of the week? No problem. Having a webinar in two days and the presentation deck looks terrible? I’m your man. Sales team is in town, and you want all 23 to get new headshots? Just tell me when and where.

My strength has always been in executing. When presented with a challenge, I focus on how it can be done, and not why it can’t be done. Like I wrote earlier, I love to create, and every design or photography challenge gives me to opportunity to do just that.

MY STORY
My career should be viewed as a cautionary tale. On one hand, I’ve had what some would consider a successful career in graphic design, spanning over three decades. On the other hand, I’ve made some big mistakes. Last year at the age of 53, I found myself cut loose from the job I loved, facing the difficult decision to either 1) find work again in the corporate world or 2) strike it out on my own and see if I can make it doing what I really love (photography).

I graduated in 1991 with an associate’s degree in graphic design. I was already interning at a manufacturing company in St. Louis, MO and stayed on when they offered me a full-time position. Over the next nine years I worked for a few different companies, working my way up to the role of Creative Director at a fast-growing web development house, working with clients such as Sports Illustrated and Mastercard.

I loved my work, but eventually became tired of dealing with client-zillas. (“I’m sorry Mr. Client, but no, you don’t need those non-essential edits to your website at 9pm on a Saturday”) I longed for the days when I was inhouse, working directly with coworkers to grow our company together. So, in 2000, my wife and I moved to Denver for a design position with a startup which, unbeknownst to me at the time, would be my home away from home for the next 21 years.

I didn’t plan on staying that long, but life has a way of turning out different than you planned. I loved this company. I loved my coworkers, the culture and my boss. I was compensated well. It was pretty much everything I had hoped for, and the idea of staying until I retired actually sounded really great.

But alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

After nearly two decades with the same company, new leadership took over the Marketing department, and everything changed. It went from a culture of trust and mutual respect to one of my-way-or-the-highway. I went from feeling like a valued contributor to someone treated like a first-year intern. New leadership seemed more concerned with writing the correct email than seeing the quantity and quality work I was consistently turning out.

And they also had other plans for the creative area. Despite the years of service and proving myself repeatedly, I was passed over for a promotion to Director. Instead, they hired someone from the outside that they’d worked with before.

It was at this point where I looked around and had to ask myself, is this still the place for me? I’d loved it for so long, it was hard to imagine that it wasn’t. But I no longer felt like a valued employee or someone who was viewed as an essential part of the team. I saw work I’d done in the past being sent off to outside agencies and I was excluded from all design review processes. I was told to “dig deeper” and “do better”, without any clear guidance on what “dig deeper” means.

So, I started thinking about what might be next for me. By this time, I was burnt out on corporate life. I hated that so much of my time was sucked up by playing the corporate game. But I was in my 50s and had just spent the last 20 years at the same company. And in the corporate world, this is viewed as failure. Long gone are the days where someone is rewarded for hard work and loyalty. Now, if you’re not switching jobs every few years, you’re viewed as someone who lacks initiative or ambition, and it showed in the 0% response rate I got from the resumes I sent out.

And to be honest, I was sick of it all. I’d been around the corporate world long enough to know that a new company would just be the same old stuff. So, I turned to something I’ve been doing on the side for several years…photography. The company I was with put on a yearly user conference, and besides being the designer who created all the presentations, banners, posters, giveaways, etc., I also became the on-site event photographer, and I LOVED IT. I’d also become the companies own headshot photographer, taking several hundred headshots over the years.

I’d been dabbling with photography as a side give for a number of years, but in 2018, I really started to cultivate my photography business. I was able to leverage my business contacts and the jobs started to come in. Of course, I could only do it on the side, so my gigs were limited to weekend and the occasional evening, but I knew if I had the time to do it full-time, I could be successful.

By the end of 2019, things were going well enough that I seriously thought 2020 would be the year I would break free from corporate life and make it on my own. But life had other ideas, and when COVID-19 hit, all events shut down and my business ground to a complete halt.

Fortunately, I still had my day job. But I’d had a taste of success with my photography business, and trying to find another corporate job was the last thing I wanted to do. So, I hunkered down and continued to ride out the day job I hated, knowing that someday, the world would get back to normal and events would open back up. And I’d be ready.

And then came June 1st, 2021. I knew the gig was up when I logged into my weekly 1-on-1 Zoom meeting and someone from HR was there. Just like that, my 21-year run was over. I took a month off to figure out if I had it in me to go back to the corporate world, or if it was the time to start my own business. After many sleepless nights, I knew I had to give it a shot. Up until now I’d played it safe, stuck with what I knew and relied on others to stay employed, and look where it got me. Now was the time for change. Now was the time to take a chance on myself and take the biggest risk of my career.

As a boy, I was a Boy Scout (Eagle Scout) and the Boy Scout motto is “Be prepared”. I had already taken care of a good portion of the business side. I’d created my LLC in 2018, figured out pricing, gone through tax season a couple times and had slowly been building up my equipment and gear to a professional level. I’d been able to set aside a little savings so I wasn’t desperate to land a full-time job right away. And I also realized… I still love design. I thought I’d lost the passion, but it turns out, it was just the company I worked for that killed it for me. So while the photography part of my business is still slow, I’ve been able to supplement it with freelance design work. Funny thing is, another dept of this old company reached out, and I’ve been doing a lot of design work for them (they’re actually my #2 client right now).

As I write this, I’m only seven months into my 2nd career. There are nights where I sleep like a baby, and nights where I lay there, wondering what the heck I’m doing. I look back at my career and have many regrets, i.e. I didn’t work at climbing the corporate ladder, I didn’t put as much time as I could have working on my marketable skills, and I assumed loyalty would keep me going. But there’s no going back. What’s done is done. Now is not the time to look back. I believe I’m doing what I was meant to do. With the work ethic taught by my parents, the things I learned along the way (both from success and from failure), and my personal brand of always getting sh*t done, I’m confident I can make this work.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I love mountain biking, so I’d definitely show them many of the amazing trails around Denver. I’d first take them to the town of Lyons, to ride Heil Ranch, Picture Rock and Hall Ranch. For after-ride food and drink, we’d stop at The Post in Lafayette for their amazing fried chicken and bloody marys.

Next day we’d head down Highway 285 to Staunton State Park, This is an wonderful park with beautiful views. Next would be a full day at Buffalo Creek, with over 50 miles of world-class singletrack. Buffalo Creek is the site of the 1996 Buffalo Creek fire, and several trails go through areas that are still affected, making for some surreal biking. For after-ride libations, we’d head to the greatest hidden roadhouse in the world, the Bucksnort Saloon.

Back in Denver, we’d visit the RINO district to check out some amazing street art and grab a bite to eat at the Denver Central Market. In the evening, I might then take them on a dive-bar crawl along Colfax, hitting such gems as the Knob Hill Inn, The Lion’s Lair, The Abbey, and The Owl (which IMO has the best pizza in town).

I also love live music in smaller venues, so I’d probably take them to a show at The Oriental, Bluebird, Ogden, Globe Hall or Herman’s Hideaway.

Speaking of live music, of course I’d take them to Red Rocks amphitheater. No trip to Denver is complete without seeing this world-class venue. Even if you don’t go for a concert, it’s open to the public during the day and is surrounded by hiking trails with great views of the Denver skyline.

Finally, for a real unique Colorado experience, I’d take them to up to the Gold Hill Inn. It’s located only 10 miles west of Boulder, but it’s like you went back 100 years, but in an authentic, non-touristy way.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
It all starts with my parents, Bob and Marie. They instilled in me the the work ethic that’s gotten me where I am today.

Ken Ohlemeyer, Jr, Holly Bourner and Beth Jatcko for being there at the beginning.

Cheryl Flury for being not just a boss, but a mentor and friend for over 20 years.

And also, in no particular order: Kevin Nash, Brandon Van Loucks, Lucas Hughart, Stephanie Swanson, Caitlin Doyle, Corrina Rodriguez, Julie Kopp, Cheryl Flury, Kristin Winkler Snow, Allison Fortman, Ed Shappell, Brian McNally, Lindsay Combs Roland, Halley Walters, Valerie White, Melissa Ronacher, Chris Luoma, David Cox, Jennifer Hagaman, CJ Singh, John Briggs, Joseph Bearss, Jennifer Hinton, Aria Martin-Ward, Chris Bethell, Samm Mammoser, Stephanie Ingraham, Emily Bonneau, Rick Clyne, Adriane Hodder, Nicole Marsh, Kiley Falcone, Carly Perry, Madison Martin, Douglas Sundlof, Scott Koerlin, Shannon Carducci – Rodriguez, Michelle Potter, Robyn Winters, Mora Walsh, Alexis Hull-Stone

Website: https://daveingraham.com

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