Dickinsonians with a flair for the fun side of fashion are the focus
of our cover feature for summer. You’ll
encounter designers Sophie Simmons ’94 and Kate
Duvall ’04, company
co-owner Scott Beaumont ’75,
marketing professionals Jeff Funk ’91 and Marisa Jacobs ’78, boutique
co-owner Debbie Dickson ’82,
and photographer Doug Inglish ’91
and get a peek at how the presidential style of William G. Durden ’71
evolved.
- Sophie Simmons ’94 (below)
Framing fashion
Doug Inglish ’91 has the world in his viewfinder
By David Smith
Follow his eye, the one painting with light and shadow and
the ever-delicate placement of life within a frame a few square centimeters in size yet
as wide as the imagination.
Many years ago, Doug Inglish ’91 began to sketch the
possibilities. He received a 35mm Nikon camera for a preteen birthday present.
The world,
as it does for all newborn photographers, got immeasurably bigger in an instant. Landscapes,
Benny Jet the family cat, wood shingles on a nearby building, once life’s
bit players, became featured performers dancing before a boy’s snapping shutter.
Not
long ago, Inglish found that same roll of color film that had gently nudged him into
this boundless world of creativity. He gazed at the pictures.
“There were forms
and patterns and textures,” Inglish says.
As pictures go, they were really nothing
special, he admits; then again, like each of the 1,000 or so images Inglish has pinned
to a corkboard on his personal Wall of Inspiration in his Los Angeles office, they were
everything special.
Years and a continent away from those photographic first steps, Inglish
has stepped inside a Hollywood spotlight, and his work now appears in street-wise European
fashion magazines like the cutting-edge, London-based Dazed and Confused.
“I think
my pictures are inspired by old snapshots and nostalgic images,” Inglish
says.
In his fashion photography, the McLean, Va., native breaks down temporal
barriers.
“I’m more concerned with creating a moment in time that feels
familiar or nostalgic, that is hard to place whether it occurred today or 25 years ago,” he
says. “In my portraiture, I try to bring out some intrinsic part of that person
that reveals who they are.”
He majored in English at Dickinson and didn’t
take a photography course until his senior year. But under the guidance of Barbara
Diduk, professor of art, Inglish blossomed.
“I felt I was challenged,” he
says. “Of all the experiences I had at
Dickinson, she [is the professor] I keep going back to.”
At Diduk’s urging,
Inglish drew abstract interpretation from a live human model, using lighting and cropping
techniques to achieve striking results.
“He’s very energetic, extremely
open and curious, a very thoughtful and open person,” Diduk says. “When
students develop an interest in visual arts, they have no choice—it’s like
a love affair. That’s what happened for him.
He jumped right into the process and found his way.”
While he has photographed
famous faces like singer Jewel for Interview magazine, actress Minnie Driver and, for
Talkies Magazine Nederland, actor David Duchovny as he stood on the brink of X-Files fame, passion has fueled Inglish’s journey.
He moved to California after graduating
at the urging of his brother David’s friend,
who was working as a wardrobe stylist for a fashion photographer. Inglish did not have
an art-school background, but he was hungry and inspired. He learned the technical
end of the photography business and eventually became an assistant to catalog photographer
Rick Strauss.
“He was a really good mentor,” Inglish says. “He’d
been shooting a long time and gave me a lot of fatherly advice.”
To Inglish, being
Strauss’ assistant was doing the work of a “clairvoyant.”
“I
had to solve problems before they happened,” he says. He was responsible
for the photo-shoot minutiae: the film, the batteries, the model’s needs. It
wasn’t
the most glamorous job, but it put Inglish on location from Texas to Madrid, where
he was a special asset.
“I got to go because I spoke Spanish well, thanks to Professor
[Grace L.] Jarvis,” Inglish
says. He was the only Spanish-speaking member of the group.
Now Europe is ever more
his canvas. There, magazines are “a little more willing
to use people who aren’t super famous,” Inglish says. He does, however,
see a movement in the United States to try to “shake things up” in magazines.
Inglish’s
work will be featured in an upcoming men’s fashion spread in Dazed
and Confused. And there may be bigger European titles ahead for his work, which has
included photographing lines from high-end designers like Dolce & Gabbana.
“With
fashion, you’re at the mercy of the clothing. If you’re working
with boring or uninspiring clothes, it makes the job that much harder,” Inglish
says. “On the other hand, if you have the opportunity to work with a really talented
designer, coupled with an inspiring wardrobe stylist, the job can be such a pleasure.” He
has his own crew now, including two wardrobe stylists.
Is there a dream assignment for
Inglish? He would have loved to have photographed Steve McQueen, the great tough-guy
actor who died at age 50 on Nov. 7, 1980. Inglish says, “He
related so well to the camera.”
The words apply to Doug Inglish, too. “Every
day,” he says, “there’s
still that joy of seeing what’s on that roll. … There’s still that
surprise. It’s an everyday accomplishment.” • |
