Jacob Lucas was the quiet helper during the HDR Photowalk in Las Vegas last year. While the walk was led by Brian, Jacob was more off to the side, ready to help at a moment's notice.  At some point during the walk, I had several HDR questions, and Jacob showed me some cool stuff that cleared a lot of them right up.  I talked to him several more times during the expo, and realized he's not only a great photographer, but he's a cool guy too!  Since then, we've kept in touch via the usual social media methods, and I've followed his work since that photowalk, just constantly impressed by the quality of not only his HDR, but his landscapes and concert shots as well.  I'm very excited he took time out of his insanely busy schedule to write a guest blog entry.

I grew up with a very technical mind. Everything had to be logical. Right or Wrong. True or False. 1 or 0. There were never any grey areas with anything that I did. When I graduated high school I went into Computer Science - it was a very natural fit for me. I graduated with honours and today I'm very proud to say that I'm currently working at one of the premier software and technology companies in the world. I've still got room to move up, room to grow, and there's always more to learn. What's interesting though, is that the solutions to problems are always bound by the same constraints. This algorithm is too slow. This doesn't scale. This hardware isn't fast enough. The digital headache has set in.

Late in 2009, I discovered photography. A world bound by the same mathematical constraints. Double this, half that. Lenses and mirrors. Light and shadow. Restricted at all? No way. When I discovered photography it was like a world with infinite creative possibilities was shown to me. Yes, it's very likely that wherever I go someone has photographed it before I have, and probably better than I have. But what they don't have is my life story, my experiences, my perspective. Each photo I take I view as an opportunity to tell my story about how I see my subject, or the scene in front of me. It's a way for me to express, through light & shadow, what something personally means to me. This photograph, I can guarantee… has never been shot before by anyone.

Each photograph I take is in every way intentional. The framing, the background, the position of my subject, everything that's included (and more importantly, everything that's excluded) is for a reason. That reason is that is the number one reason I love photography - pure creative freedom to say exactly what I want to say.

I'm Jacob F. Lucas and I'm a self-taught photographer living in Seattle, WA. Thanks for reading this post and a huge thanks to Michelle for allowing me to post on her site. If you want to check out more of my photography, head on over to http://www.jflphotography.com and flip through my galleries, my blog, or social networks. Cheers!