Bio

Michael Runkel was born 1969 in Neustadt an der Aisch in Bavaria/ Germany. While reading Karl May in Primary School, Michael discovered his passion to explore remote countries.

He started photographing in 1993, and since then his travels around the world have taken him to more than 130 countries. From the Sahara to the remote jungle areas in Irian Jaya and Borneo, from the glacierworlds of Patagonia to the savannahs of Mongolia.

His picture collection offers more than 280,000 images of travel destinations, people, traditional lifestyles, ancient temples and archaeological sites, as well as in-depth coverage of wildlife in its natural habitat, nature close-ups, and scenic landscapes.

In December 2003 Michael Runkel survived the big earthquake of Bam/Iran, while he was photographing the old citadel. Since then he has raised money for the survivors to build a school and supports a project for the widows, who otherwise would be completely stranded.