Michael Ross found a way to merge the nerdy techno freak side of him with his interest in photography. Today he is one of the most well known artists in the light painting community.

What is your background, and what is the reason you got into light painting?

I was raised around electronics and computers, so I have a good background in both hardware and software. I ran the IT department in a large Home Health Care company with 11,000 employees across the state of Texas. I have always had an interest in photography, but in 2008 I decided to get myself a decent camera and concentrate on learning it for real.

My first meeting with something similar to light painting was when I took some long exposure images of my nieces playing with sparklers. I also ran into a few other light painting photographers at the time, and from that point I was sucked into it. I started to dream about a way to control light to the point to where I could literally make a painting out of light, just like an artist does with oil and canvas. That was my dream. I envisioned being able to light paint the Mona Lisa or a Picasso in the air in the midst of a landscape.