In California, she became revered by West Coast photographers, and her photography influenced many of her contemporaries. She was also known as an actress and in 1908 she played "Sybil of Nepenthe" in two performances of a play by Charles Keeler presented by the Studio Club of Berkeley in the Hillside Clubhouse; Brigman even served as a “judge” in a baby beauty contest. She performed as a poet both her own work and more popular pieces such as "Enoch Arden". An admirer of the work of George Wharton James, she photographed him on at least one occasion. In 1915 she worked with Francis Bruguiere on the photography exhibition at the Panama Pacific International Exposition.