About Inge and Masterworks Images

I've been an avid photographer from age 10 when I received my first camera as a Christmas Present - a good old Kodak Brownie Starflash! It's a collector's piece now - how I wish I had kept it. I actually took my first photos at age 7 while waking with my father in Budapest. I still have those images and what amazes me is that I seemed to have a feel for composition even then. The photos are shot with the 'rule (friendly suggestion?!?) of thirds in mind. I continued to photograph as a serious amateur until I decided to set up my business as Images by Inge in 1987. I had just returned from my second trip to Africa, a place I am passionate about, and wanted to sell some of my images from that trip. It was quite a success and I even had an exhibition of my images at the Art Gallery of South-Western Manitoba. I have been back to Africa several times now and we returned from my fifth visit this past October. Stay tuned for more images from that trip on this blog.

I worked as a psychologist at the Brandon Mental Health Centre and later for the BRHA for 37 years - yes, I'm THAT old! :-D - and did both photography and psychology as parallel careers, but eventually I made the leap of faith and retired to follow my first love - photography. I set up my business from my home and with a move to a new house in 1990, I had my first studio space! Wow! Now I was going to make millions! Well, it wasn't an overnight success - I thought that clients would be beating down my door - but over the years we have built up a nice client base. In 1996 I joined the Professional Photographers of Canada the national association for those in the business of photography, where I continued to learn and improve my skills. This past year I was awarded my Master of Photographic Arts degree (MPA), through winning awards for prints in national competitions, and serving on the board of PPOC-MB. I was also honoured to be presented the Honour Of Fellowship (F.Ph.) by PPOC-MB. The Honour of Fellowship is presented to members who have exhibited excellence in photography, unselfish service to the profession and sincerity in fellowship. So, in a sense, I have earned my stripes. :-)

Although family portraits and pet photographs, especially dog portraits, are a specialty, the word is out in Brandon that if you want great Grad photos you MUST go to Inge! I love photographing grads in all their casual gear, whether sports related or musical, etc. and the prom dresses just blow me away! I think I get to photograph the most beautiful grads in Brandon! Oh, and I do male grads too... :-) I also create dreamy glamour photographs and find that clients invariably prefer to work with a woman rather than a man when in that 'flimsy little number'. Though I will rarely put those kinds of images on this blog for reasons of privacy, I will have the odd glamour photo posted where the subject is not immediately recognizable, so call me if you're interested in having this kind of portraiture done.

With the advent of digital imagery, the way we do business - 'we' being me and husband Michael - had to change dramatically. We can now do much more creative imagery and with the addition of our 'Dreamspinner', the sky is the limit as far as backgrounds go. You want to be photographed on a beach in January without leaving Brandon, come and see me! And ask me about the 'Dreamspinner'.

This summer we decided to make another change by creating a new business name - Masterworks Images - which will take our photography to a new level. We are going to create paintings - yes, real oil paintings! - of our portraits of our clients! The images will be printed onto canvas, mounted as an artist would mount his painting, and then finished with acrylic paint. The images will be 'one-of-a-kind' as all artwork is, and of course, the price will reflect that.

We are very excited to be able to offer this to our clients in Brandon, and we are the only studio, to our knowledge, that is offering this kind of portraiture in all of Manitoba! Visit us at our studio and keep coming back to my blog for updates.