Hello ya'll! I wanted to introduce myself to SteemIt, my name is Lucas Zhao and I am on a journey to reawaken the ancient act of storytelling through my personal medium of photography and graphic design. Before I was born, my parents immigrated to Michigan from Xi'an, China to seek new opportunity about 30 years ago back in the beginning of the 90's. The dream was to give their children new opportunities for freedom and new experiences that were not fathomable under the communist rule within China. College, a girlfriend, a good job- those were the usual ritualistic expectations of the American dream... they definitely didn't expect for their first son to move into a van, pursue the dream of a landscape photographer, and start to challenge every aspect of authority, conditioning, and domestication that this world has been programmed with. They gave birth to a possibly undiagnosed crazy, soft-hearted, hard-headed, spiritual nomad, born into the suburbia of Metro Detroit.

I'm trying to use this medium as a way for me to express more of my authentic self. I've hidden behind a screen before in the past to my social media outlets, so SteemIt will be a way for me to be a bit more real with my entire human experience with myself and others. I am excited to be a part of this community!

I began chasing the high of photography about 8 years ago in my senior year of high school. My grandfather gave me my first Minolta film camera, and since that moment in time- the art form itself deeply captivated me. I took some terrible under and over exposed pictures of my friends skateboarding in my hometown and never in my strangest dreams did I imagine it would lead me to where I am now...

(above: A shot//design from the Hawaiian island of Oahu)

After wandering my way through a community college to drop-out, to early twenties self-initiated mind explorer of hallucinogens, to finding myself playing around with some graphic design programs sometime in 2014; photography with the extension of digital manipulation became a channel through which I could communicate with clarity my true experiences of reality. It wasn't long after that I became completely immersed into following this dream and anything that wasn't creating towards this vision and reality drove me to the point of madness. (Especially growing up in the flat suburbia of Metro Detroit, Michigan)

I left Michigan in early 2015 returning occasionally but since then living on the road entirely, from jeep to van, from van to van- the west side of the country is the place I have been able to facilitate my storytelling abilities. I intentionally seek the wisdom and guidance through the indigenous Native American tribes, the ghosts of the land, and ancestor spirits through this journey. (Ancestor worship is a common theme throughout the entire planet prior to modern day Christianity)

Three years, a couple of dreams in the bag, and a plethora trips around the country later. I find myself renewed again. Challenging myself with questions as to what the next step is...

(a blend between Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada and Proxy Falls in Oregon)

After traveling the land, coast to coast, beginning to understand that humans are all the same, generally speaking, and that we all desire the same love... within those similarities exists a shift beyond anything we have ever witnessed as a global species.

I sense that these shifts are taking place on a generational level and a time of renewed art and renaissance is upon us. We all have the power of influencing the creation of a global culture of empathy, communication, and sustainability.

I've spent the past two months in Michigan with my family and I will be hitting the road again in the next few days to Colorado first to begin to see what 2018 has waiting to unfold...

This is what I have for now... feel free to check out more of my work on my website at: LucasZhaoPhoto.com or on facebook via Lucas Zhao Photography.

Thank you for reading and I feel blessed to witness this community unfolding and play my part within it. I hope my writing improves and I hope you all can give me feedback on it as well.

Peace ya'll!