Photography: ‘Human Tide’ by Michael Honegger

By

Michael Honegger

Below are examples of a portfolio I developed over the past year concerning the refugee crisis on the island of Lesvos in Greece.  I call the series ‘Human Tide’ and believe that it marks the beginning of a significant movement of populations in a historic moment. The wars and conflicts throughout the Near and Middle East are posing astounding population issues for which Europe and the rest of the world seem either nonchalant or even hostile. The human tide will not be ignored however, as they make their way to what they deem to be better lives.

Michael Honegger

Photography is my acquired passion and the channel for my creative energy. I have been intrigued by photography since the days of the Brownie Holiday camera that my father gave me when I was a boy. My globe-trotting childhood instilled in me a wanderlust and global curiosity that continues to this day. I worked for the Peace Corps on international development projects for over twenty years with a keen eye affixed to the cultures and people where I was fortunate to work.

I always wanted to share these experiences and visual images with others and I longed for the day when I could devote my energy and focus on my true creative passion, photography. That dream became a reality when I began intensive studies of black and white and alternative photographic processes at the Maine Media College in Rockport, Maine, where I received a Professional Certificate in 2004. I have also studied under a number of prominent contemporary photographers in the United States and in Europe. I am now a practicing photographer living in France and I have expanded my photographic repertoire to include digital capture and montage. I have had my work exhibited in Parisian galleries, the Joyce Gordon Gallery in Oakland, CA, the PhotoPlace Gallery in Middlebury, VT, Rockport College and the University of Maine. Several of my images recently placed in an international photo competition sponsored by the Prix de la Photographie in Paris as well as other international photographic competitions.