BIOGRAPHY: MICHAEL POLIZA
When the New York Times reviewed Michael Poliza’s first book on Africa, the writer said “it might change the way you think about photography.” Poliza is a man accustomed to raising the bar: from actor to entrepreneur, expedition leader, tourism consultant and professional photographer, he has lived a varied and adventurous life, excelling in all of these wildly diverse environments.
After graduating in 1976 from high school in Dallas, Texas, Michael attended university in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before returning to his birthplace of Germany. As a teenager he had been as well known as any actor could possibly be in the Europe of that time, appearing in well over 100 television shows and films. Now he began a second career, representing many US companies in Europe, in so doing spending time and sharing lodgings with the likes of a young Bill Gates.
In 1997, after an illustrious career in the IT industry, Michael sold his companies and moved to Silicon Valley. Dreaming of exploring more of the world and freeing up more time to spend on his photography hobby, he soon moved to Anacortes, Washington, to personally oversee the building of a boat that would be the star of an incredible adventure: the Starship Millennium Voyage, a three-year, round-the-world multimedia expedition. Michael wanted to document the state of the planet’s wilderness areas and, sponsored by SONY, Microsoft, Deutsche Telekom, Olympus and the WWF, the expedition broadcast daily via the Web and developed an avid following of millions of people around the world.
Michael Poliza’s first coffee table book focused on the journeys and discoveries of the Starship Millennium Voyage. Quickly becoming a bestseller, it sold more than 50 000 copies. Michael was one of the pioneering photographers to embrace digital photography, and his Starship book was the very first coffee table book to carry more than 50% digital content.
That expedition over, he returned to the continent that had stolen his heart: Africa. His book by that name was released to massive acclaim around the world in July 2006. Published by art photography specialists teNeues (www.teneues.com), this was one of the most talked-about photography titles of the time and was voted one of “The Best Coffee-Table Books of 2006” by ABC-TV’s Good Morning America. The first print run sold out in three months – quite an achievement for a title that costs over US$100. A more concise version was published in March 2007: The Essential AFRICA showcases the best of the bestselling AFRICA in a more portable format.
In late 2006, Poliza left on another photographic adventure: an 8-week helicopter journey across Africa with the purpose of photographing the continent from the air and sharing the bird’s eye experience with others. His richly surprising images will be seen in Eyes over Africa, available at major booksellers this Fall. Published in the impressive format of his previous AFRICA, this new title is also accompanied by massive XXL Collector’s and Special Editions which, at 504 pages and more than 22 inches in height, rank amongst the biggest books ever published. Once again, Michael Poliza’s images “might change the way you think about photography.”
For more info on the photographer, his books or his various expeditions,
see www.michaelpoliza.com or mail dominique@michaelpoliza.com.
August 2007