about the photographer
Michael Pollack's passion for the natural world has led him to travel the globe in pursuit of unique nature photographs. Reluctant to limit the scope of his nature photography, his subjects include birds, land animals, marine life, and landscapes. Although Michael has been an avid photographer since childhood, only in the last several years has he been able to devote himself to the craft of nature photography. His images were first published in 2002 in the book Sharks and Rays of Hawai'i and has since been featured in several wildlife periodicals. Twenty-five of his large prints were displayed at The Tech Museum of San Jose in a solo exhibit in the spring of 2006. His work has been shown in art galleries from California to North Carolina. He hopes that by sharing unique and beautiful images of nature he might foster in others an increased appreciation for wild things and wild places.
Prior to pursuing photography professionally, Michael enjoyed a 15-year electrical engineering career in which he designed communication systems. The technical skills he acquired as an engineer have proved invaluable in the highly-technical field that photography has become with the widespread adoption of digital imaging. But technical expertise is meaningless unless the nature photographer also possesses a knowledge of his subjects, proficient camera handling, an eye for artistic composition, and a great deal of patience. Michael hopes the images on this website demonstrate his ability to harness those skills to produce compelling nature images.
Michael currently lives in Northern California with his wife, Alison. Michael uses Canon cameras and lenses from 15mm to 500mm to capture his subjects. Underwater, he employs Canon 5D camera bodies in a Subal housing coupled with dual Ikelite DS-125 strobes.