Michael Joerg Haas Photography

 

I was born in Augsburg (Southern Germany). My parents moved to Dinkelsbühl in Middle Franconia when I was one year old. Two sisters followed me into this world. First Sylvia. Then Heidi.

The first photos I took as a little boy were birds coming to a feeding station in front of our living room window in winter (in Waldeck).
I was very happy to see these pics on print because those days belonged to the part of human history where photography was still analogue.
I have been taking photos ever since: travel, portraits, wedding, animals, land- and seascapes, surfing and underwater.
 

The hungry birds were followed by pictures of my beloved dog Beryl, by pictures of my childhood friend Karl, who unfortunately passed away early.

At that time, I was happy and proud when the recorded animals and people with nature behind them were reasonably clear. It was a great time to discover, not the clear desire to become a good photographer.

But slowly my eyes sharpened and gradually I learned photography.

There were many tears and opportunities to shoot farewell pictures when my parents split up and we children moved to Bad Wörishofen (Allgäu) with our mother and her new husband.

I took beautiful pictures in Tuscany, Florence and Siena during a school trip. Before graduation, I photographed with some classmates in Paris, where we had gone to immerse into the art of the city. We believed that we could prepare the final high school exam elegantly and pleasantly in la Cité des Lumières (the City of Lights). That was not completely wrong.

 

The camera also accompanied me over the next few years and documented fascinating journeys to Morocco and Egypt.

The old medina of Fes (Morocco) with its white houses, its many shadows, its veiled women with beautiful eyes captivated my passion as a photographer.
 

Marrakesh seemed like a city of 1001 nights. From there I drove south to the High Atlas to climb its highest mountain, the Toubkal. There is a story about it in this book.

Egypt fascinated me and my camera. The Pyramids of Giza at sunset and the Saqqara (the stepped pyramid also called Djoserpyramid) attract each photographer. But also the desert with its amazing formations of sand should not go unmentioned.

In 1987/88 photography was still analogous but just as interesting. At that time, I had to be careful when checking baggage and not just let the film rolls pass through the X-ray machines.

I lived in Japan from 1991-2003, did a lot of photography there. The mixture of Shinto and Buddhist culture offers a lot for it But even the nature, from pristine deep snow slopes with magic white trees to ice-covered seas in winter, has attracted me and my camera. First underwater adventures showed how interesting the lighting conditions under the ice are for photography.

From 2003-2014 I managed with my then girlfriend a dive center in Bali and learned more about underwater photography and video. It was an exciting time with sunfish, reef sharks, a whale shark and many encounters with smaller marine life. It was also a productive time as a writer. Publications can be found here. A video can be found here. 

Since the end of 2014 I have been traveling with the camera mainly in Asia. During this time, I photographed two weddings, countless people, animals, macros, city life and landscapes. Photos of climbing in Thailand (Krabi: Railey, Tonsai) and Vietnam (Cat Ba) have been created. I was in Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines, where I photographed and wrote.

Last, but not least, I spent ten months in Cameroon, teaching German, writing and taking photos. Fell in love with the people. Cameroon was a German "colony" from 1884 to 1916.  

My equipment includes a Canon 5DMarkII, a Canon 5DMarkIII, professional lenses, flashes, filters and an underwater case.

I love to work as a photographer and would be happy to do some beautiful photography for you soon.

Best regards, Da Nang (Vietnam) November 2019

Michael Haas