Michael Poliza

Child actor, then IT entrepreneur, Michael Poliza is now in his third career – as one of the world’s top travel and nature photographers. He talks to David Clark

- David Clark

Michael Poliza says he has always done what he enjoys doing. Luckily, he is a man of many talents and the result has been a varied and interesting life made up of three very different parts. As a child, Poliza had a thriving career as an actor, and appeared in over 100 television and theatre productions.

When he became an adult, he put his performing career behind him to become a successful IT entrepreneur, rubbing shoulders with contemporaries including Bill Gates. Then, after going on a round the-world, 1000-day multi-media environmental awareness expedition by boat – the Starship Millennium Voyage – he began a career as a professional photographer and travel guide.

Now 57, Poliza has visited more than 150 countries and produced seven books of his work, featuring Africa and the Antarctic. In recent years he has also launched a travel business which specializes in both pre-organized and tailor-made safaris. I spoke to him by phone, during one of his brief stays at his Hamburg home between expeditions. He discussed his extraordinary life and his love of nature and photography, but began by talking about his own mega busy travel itinerary…

Has 2016 been a busy year for you?

Yes. Usually I travel for about five or six months a year, but this year I’ll be away for around seven and a half months. I have a family so I don’t like to be away too much. Soon I’m going to Majorca to do a project for Stern magazine. It’s the first assignment I’ve had in my life and it’s an aerial project. Then I’m going to Lofoten in Iceland, then to Kenya, then Canada, then New York, then Canada again. After that, I’m doing Alaska.

You’re best known for wildlife and landscape images. Have you always loved nature?