I am an I.T. professional and aspiring programmer by day and a passionate photographer by night... and sometimes also by day. I am always on the look out for that scene or object that just might look interesting when extracted/ separated from everything around it. I don't think I've read more fitting words to live by for a photographer than those of Henry David Thoreau: 'It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.'
I grew up with the seed of my current obsession with photography was planted the first time I saw the photos my parents took over the years but mostly those my dad took in his youth. But sadly I did not explore this smoldering interest until my late twenties when I stumbled upon the photos of Trey Ratcliff while looking for striking backgrounds for my PC's desktop. I was immediately floored by the detail and vivid(but not outrageous) colors of his work. At the time though I did not realize that all the photos I was finding were his until I found his website and learned that this was a specific style of photography called HDR (high dynamic range). HDR photography's primary purpose is to depict a scene with acceptable luminance throughout the photo when such a thing is impossible from a single shot, using multiple photos and some sort of software that can combine the preferred regions of each photo. The idea was first conceived in the 1850s by Gustave Le Gray using two negatives of the same scene taken with different camera settings to create a single photo.
I have since strayed somewhat from HDR as I have an interest in almost all forms of photography and I like to try new things. I arrived at the name 'Highly Defined Reality' as an homage to what first spark this obsession; HDR photography. Also although I feel that HDR is a great way to capture a scene, I think it should be used wisely and only in certain circumstances. There is a time and place for everything.
Micah Goff joined Pixels.com Licensing on December 31st, 2013.
