Instagram Influencer Spotlight On: Doug Ingram @nightscapades

1) Tell us a little about yourself. What are you doing now and where do you come from?

Hi, I’m Doug Ingram, aka "Nightscapades" on Instagram. I’m a middle-aged married man, father of three children (now all adults) and live in Caringbah, a suburb of Sydney, Australia’s largest city. I have lived in Sydney all of my life but love travelling out of the city and into the country and coastal areas north and south of here.

By day I run my own Apple support business (Macs, iPhones and iPads), which sees me dealing with some very interesting people from all kinds of professions. One of them even wrote and directed an Oscar-winning film!

2) What are your topics of interest? What do you post on Instagram the most?

My main personal interest–or should I say, obsession–is nightscape photography. Nightscape photography involves making images of the night sky with just a camera (i.e. no telescope involved) and framing the sky using earthly landscape features like stars, the moon, and the Milky Way.

I’ve been interested in space and astronomy since I was a kid of about seven or eight years old. In my teen years I saved up and bought a telescope and then an SLR camera, using the camera to shoot black-and-white film photos of the stars. I turned my family’s bathroom into a darkroom sometimes to print my own photos.

Now that Digital SLR cameras are so capable and so affordable I’ve reignited my interest in this kind of photography and have pretty much become addicted to it.

3) How did your Instagram name come about?

Since the kind of photography I do is called "nightscape" photography, and I go out on escapades at any hour of the night to drive long distances to take photos, the name "Nightscapades" seemed like a nice combination of the two words.

I was using my personal Instagram to post nightscape images from time to time, amongst family, landscape and other general types of photos. Two years ago my eldest daughter sent me an SMS one day and said "I think you should start an Instagram feed just for your night sky shots". I started it that day, 24th Feb, 2015, and last Friday, two years to the day, I had 20k followers.

4) What are some apps you use to edit your photos? Share with us your photo-editing routine!

I rarely do any editing on my iPhone other than in the Instagram app itself. I find the tools there to be very good. My nightscape images are shot with a Canon EOS 6D DSLR, then edited in Adobe’s Lightroom on my Mac. From there I save out the image I’m going to post each day and sent it to my iPhone. I write up the blurb for the day’s shot, including shooting information, then import the photo into Instagram.

There is usually a big difference in how bright the image looks on my 27" Mac screen compared to how it looks on my phone, so I use Instagram’s Brightness, Contrast, Shadows and Structure tools to get it right. I paste in the blurb that I’ve written up on the Mac and sent to my phone, and post away.

5) Any Instagrammers whom you really like? Which Instagrammer inspires you the most?

There are several Instagrammers whose feeds I always check and who inspire me not just to take better and more interesting photos but who inspire me to see and appreciate the beauty in nature. Quite a few of these folk are from my hemisphere. Mark Gee @theartofnight is an Australian who now lives in New Zealand and who has been a huge inspiration to me for his wonderful photos and for the example he sets of giving back to the photography community with hints, tips, tutorials and encouragement. Mikey Mackinven @mack_photography_nz also from New Zealand, is just as inspiring and giving and he bought me lunch when I met him in New Zealand last month. One of the most prolific international nightscape photographers is Royce Bair @roycebairphoto. Royce has nearly 120k followers but posts more images by other photographers in his feed than he does his own stuff. I have gained so many followers due to Royce’s generous spirit and willingness to encourage others.

Other Nightscape photographers are fellow Aussies Daniel Gangur gippslandimages, @Matt Williams @mattographybymw, Darren @the_night_safari_guy, Claire Stribbles @bellarina314 and Kathryn Hocking @kj_hocking. There are so many who bless me daily with their photographs and encouragement that I’m sure to miss out on naming most of them.

6) If there’s one thing your fellow Instagrammers just gotta try now, what’s it gonna be?

Engage with your followers and Likers. I try to reply to every comment that people make on my photos. Those people have taken the time to write something to compliment me or ask for more information so the least I can do is reply to them. I have made some great friendships with Instagrammers all around the world through this.

7) What’s your favorite part about being an influencer?

It has to be getting comments from people who say things like "you’ve inspired me to try this", or "thank you for showing me how much beauty there is in the night sky". I love passing on to others the beauty that I see and photograph and helping others to be able to achieve that for themselves is what gives me a spring in my step and a smile on my dial.

8) What are some of your top tips to brands for running campaigns? How do you maintain authenticity?

I’m not aligned with and have never been approached by any brands so can’t offer tips from experience. Based on that my tips would be to look for some of the smaller people who will show you loyalty and gratitude for being there as we climb up the hill of influence and prominence.

9) What would your advice be on the importance of quality and original content?

I’m so committed to original content that I don’t even like to repost images that I have posted previously. I love seeing fresh posts from the people I follow and expect that they like to see the same from me. If I post a shot that’s come from an idea that I’ve seen in another Instagrammer’s feed I always give them credit for inspiring me.
As for quality I’ve been surprised sometimes when images that I think fall short of the mark and almost don’t post actually due well in my feed. That doesn’t stop me from improving my skills to produce better quality and more original output each day.

10) What do you like best about partnering with brands?

As I said above I’ve never been asked to partner with any brands but the opportunities are there for anyone who wants to ask me.

Topics:

• Art
• Education
• Nature & Outdoors
• Photography
• Technology
• Travel

Country:

Australia