My passion for photography stems from my upraising of always being close to the outdoors and nature. As a child my family moved around the United States quite frequently, but wherever we went I never found myself far from a natural place. It was in these places where I would escape, play and learn to appreciate the beauty of life.

I turned my fondness for the outdoors into my studies, where I hold a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and Conservation Biology. I bought my first SLR in college (2000) before traveling to Latin America on a semester solo adventure. During this trip, I realized I really enjoyed being behind the lens, capturing those special moments, people and places. I returned to Latin America four more times after this trip always with my camera in hand, feeling excited as to what I may be able to photograph next.

After college, I joined the Peace Corps and was off to the Philippines. During my Peace Corps time my interest in photography shifted focus. I helped start a environmental photography outreach program to help educate high school students about conservation and their local environment. When my Peace Corps service was complete, I still found myself traveling back and fourth to the Philippines while working in Hawaii.

I am now married to my beautiful wife, Nahoma, and we are currently living in Cebu City, Philippines. I’m an active member of the only professional camera club here in Cebu and I spend most of my time traveling, assisting local wedding photographers and tending to my first newborn son. I have created this website foremost with the intention of sharing my work with others, and secondly as an additional avenue to continue my work as a freelance photographer.

I hope you will enjoy my collection of images.

Life is Beautiful

-Jacob Maentz

Photography to me is a innovative balance of art and science, a way to use my creative side but also more of my technical side. I believe most great photographers know how to properly and creatively blend both the the art and science needed to make great images. The greatest delight I find in photography is the challenge and excitement it brings. The excitement comes from the adventure of traveling to new places, meeting new people and seeing new things, while the challenge is most often presented in ‘how do I best photograph this place?’ I tend to use more of a photojournalistic approach to my photography, letting everything happen around me while trying to capture the moment.

Special Thanks

To Word Press and Gallery2 Software, Darren Hoyt’s Mimbo Theme and to the many people who continue to create open source.
To my wife Nahoma for encouraging me to follow my passion and taking in hand my many long hours of work.
To my newborn son Liam Francis for inspiration and to my family and friends who have always been and will always be there.
To IMAGES Camera Club for their camaraderie and especially Rolando Pascua for always pushing me to stay with photography.