Available for Commissions

Based in Costa de Caparica, Portugal
michael@rupp-media.com
+351 927 399 421

About Michael Rupp

I was born in Germany and grew up in South Africa. Two very different worlds that shaped how I see, how I listen, and how I adapt. One taught me structure, the other taught me openness. Today I live in Lisbon, though my work often takes me far from home.

For years I worked in the commercial world, fashion, music videos, advertising. It took a decade to change that. I moved into documentary photography in 2025, I arrived for now.

I work from an in-between place. I’m close to people, subjects, and ideas, but never fully inside them. I’m present, but I don’t belong in the same way. That distance isn’t a weakness in the work. It’s what makes the work possible.

Photography gives me access and proximity that wouldn’t exist otherwise, especially over short periods of time. That access comes with trust, but it’s temporary and conditional. I’m aware of the privilege in that, and of the responsibility that comes with it. Nothing about this position is neutral. It has to be negotiated, again and again.

When I look through the viewfinder, I feel safe and focused. The camera creates a necessary distance. It lets me stay present without disappearing into the situation. I’m drawn to beauty, but I try not to stop there. I’m interested in what sits behind beauty , the image that doesn’t resolve easily. That image is harder to find, and that difficulty is the point.

The work lives in this tension: closeness and distance, participation and observation. The photographs aren’t explanations. They’re traces of encounters that are real, limited, and time-bound. Photos of life.