Ian MacEachern was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, in 1942.

He worked as a TV cameraman in Sydney and Moncton and, in 1962, moved to Saint John to work for CHSJ-TV. Soon after, he began taking photographs in his spare time. Prompted by the many fires and impending urban renewal, his camera turned to documenting the changing face of the city in the mid 1960s.

In 1966, MacEachern moved to Toronto where he worked as a freelance photojournalist for various magazines. While in Toronto, he photographed at the Mental Hospital at 999 Queen Street for Chatelaine Magazine, and also did stills for a show on poverty in Toronto's Cabbagetown for CBC-TV. In 1967 he was hired as a studio cameraman for CBC Toronto.

MacEachern moved to London, Ontario in 1968 to continue freelance photography as a magazine and industrial photojournalist. He also taught photography at H. B. Beal Secondary School, Fanshawe Community College, and The University of Western Ontario. Ian still resides in Ontario along with his wife and two daughters.

Ian MacEachern’s photographs have been published in ArtsCanada, Chatelaine, Maclean’s, Quest, Saturday Night, Canadian Star Weekly, Time Canada, Ontario Living and London Magazine. He was the principal photographer for Symbols of Aspiration; Victorian Architecture in London and Southwestern Ontario, an exhibition and book published by University of Toronto Press in 1986.

Ian MacEachern has had several one-man shows in Canada and the United States as well as various group exhibitions. His photographs are in the permanent collection of the McIntosh Gallery at The University of Western Ontario and in several private collections.