MichaelCook87's photostream  

Michael Cook is a self-taught photographer from Sydney, Australia. Michael has honed his craft across nine African nations, continental Europe and Malaysian Borneo, capturing the people, landscapes and rituals that shape these very disparate locales. With a keen eye for the subtleties of a place, Michael is drawn to images that at once epitomise the culture of a region and stimulate a sense of adventure, the dramatic stories that can be wrought upon a furrowed brow, and the simplicity of seizing a moment in time.

Over the past five years, Michael has taken images from the inner city grime of Sydney to the surrealist starkness of the Sossusvlei, Namibia. His psychology background makes Michael uniquely attuned to the nuances of a scene, able to uncover the hidden messages of a moment.

Michael’s photo, “Spice Harvesting, Zanzibar” was named Runner Up in the Touch category for the 2010 Gap Adventure’s Sense Appeal photo competition with the Matador Network. His collection on the Twa villagers of Lake Bunyoni, Uganda, Homer Sacer, People without Place, was shortlisted in the World Nomads Travel Photography Scholarship 2010 from amongst 1558 entrants globally. He also received an honourable mention in the 2011 Corona Extra, From Where You’d Rather Be Photo Competition.