Photography has been a passion of mine since I was a child. I remember exploring a fifty mile radius, max, around my hometown in New Hampshire with a hand-me-down camera, hoping to someday have the opportunity to enjoy my hobby farther than the borders of New England. One year for Christmas, my dad, who was usually the one driving me around, had a collection of my pictures printed in a book with an introductory message urging me to “continue capturing the world through my lens.” Back then, “the world” didn’t seem to extend farther than Boston.

I was able to hone my composition skills through studio art courses at the very not-artsy polytechnic institute I attended for undergrad. My photography had taken the back seat while I was taking drawing and painting courses, but composition tends to translate across mediums. Directly after graduating college, before entering the working world as a data scientist, my photography was reinvigorated with a 35-day road trip zig-zagging across North America from Boston to San Diego, up through Canada, and back, with a hand-me-down camera in hand once again.

In 2022, I moved on from the hand-me-down and purchased a Nikon Z7. Although I believe successful photography is not dependent on expensive gear purchases, it felt like a major step for my photography because I was investing in myself. My partner showed her support by gifting me a landscape photography masterclass, which really helped improve my technical photography skills and style. But at the end of the day, successful landscape photography is beholden to natural light and what’s in front of the camera; I was able to capture some of my favorite photos with the hand-me-down by “investing in myself” through travel. By the fall of 2022, I was back on the road out West, but instead of returning to Boston, I settled in Seattle. The Emerald City is surrounded by some of my favorite scenery in America - alpine lakes, mountain passes, glaciers, volcanoes, rain forests, sea stacks, and more - which gives me a chance to go shoot something new every week.

I feel like I’m living a dream having had the opportunity to photograph the places on this website and I’m grateful beyond words for nature and the wonderful planet we all live on. I plan to forever capture the beauty of the world through my camera lens.

- Luke Perkins