My interest in photography began in 1968 after seeing the work of Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and Henri Cartier-Bresson. This led to a very active eleven-year period doing street photography in Boston and Los Angeles. Portfolios from this period focus on the Italian neighborhood in Boston, and the residents and transients in, and nearby, the Chapman Hotel at the corner of 5th & Wall Street - Los Angeles.

In 1979 I spent a month photographing in Ireland. While there I met the all-female Irish punk rock band The Boy Scouts, which inspired me to pursue the Los Angeles music scene. Within a month of my return I began documenting the performances and backstage activities of the prominent punk rock and roots rock bands of the era, including The Plugz, X, The Blasters and Los Lobos. The fascinating and visually stimulating audience for this music was also documented in Los Angeles and during two national tours with X.

Between 1986, when I moved to Arizona, and 2002, I photographed a variety of subject matter. Then in October 2002 I began documenting the efforts of Humane Borders, the volunteer organization that places water stations in the desert to help prevent migrant deaths, and lobbies for more humane border policy. A year later I began photographing the humanitarian work of Samaritans, and then the efforts of the No More Deaths coalition when it formed. During this period I was invited to photograph Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument west of Tucson on the U.S./Mexico border for the Desert Places book series published by the University of Arizona Press. In August 2004 the book Organ Pipe – Life On The Edge was published. It is exclusively illustrated with fifteen of my photographs, mostly landscapes and wildlife. Publication of the book led to a commission from the University of Arizona Special Collections, associated with The Center For Creative Photography, to produce a limited edition box set of photographs. The box set, titled Along The Migrant Trail, contains thirteen gelatin silver prints sized 4" X 5" displayed in a jewel box with a cover sleeve, list of photographs, and a booklet describing the work illustrated with three more photographs.

Since 1969 my photographs have appeared in newspaper and magazine articles and reviews, calendars, music collections, catalogs, on postcards, in the Lucky 13 Box Set of X Postcards, in the 1986 documentary film about X titled The Unheard Music, and in the books Beyond and Back – The Story of X by f Stop Fitzgerald and Chris Morris, The Pleasures of Jazz by Leonard Feather, and Tough Company by Tom Russell and Charles Bukowski. Numerous one-man and group photography shows in Arizona, California, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, Colorado and Ireland have included my work. Locations in Tucson where my photographs, postcards and books can be purchased include Obsidian Gallery, Bohemia Artisans Emporium, El Ojito Springs Center of Creativity, Antigone Books and Hotel Congress. My photographic works are also available for purchase through mail order. For more info, check out the Photography section of my site.

Books that feature my photographs:

• Migrant Artifacts: Magic & Loss in the Sonoran Desert by Michael Hyatt
• Organ Pipe: Life on the Edge by Carol Ann Bassett / Photographs by Michael Hyatt
• The Pleasures of Jazz by Leonard Feather
• Tough Company by Tom Russell and Charles Bukowski
• Beyond and Back: The Story of X by f Stop Fitzgerald and Chris Morris

Exhibitions:

• One-man show at Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, CA, 1977
• Fourth Annual Cal Arts Open Photography Competition - "Photo As Document," group show of winners - Cal Arts, Valencia, CA, April/May 1978
• Group show "Views and Visions" at The Foothills Art Center, Golden, CO, 1988
• Group For Photographic Intentions (GPI) Repro" and "Small Exposures" shows at Gallery 31, Tucson, AZ, 1989
• Two man show "Election Day - Bandon, Ireland" at Gallery 31, Tucson, AZ, 1990
• GPI "Big Vision" show, Tucson, AZ, 1990
• Group shows at Raw Gallery: "Al Perry's Pop Art & Consumerism" - 1999 and "Where the Wild Things Are," Tucson, AZ, 2000
• One Man Retrospective Show "Portraits" at the Gallery at Hotel Congress, in Association With Elizabeth Cherry Contemporary Art, Tucson, AZ, December, 2000 - January, 2001
• "Lucky 13 - X, the band" Show at La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, October 2001
• Lost & Found - Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Services Gallery, Baltimore, MD, October - December 2003
• Group Show - Metroform, Ltd, Tucson, AZ, November - December, 2003
• Hot Shoe Salon, Tucson, AZ, 2004 and 2005
• Day of the Dead Season Show - Obsidian Gallery, Tucson AZ, September - November 2005
• Group Show "Captured Time" - Raices Taller 222 Gallery, Tucson AZ, October 2005
• Group Show "Dia de los Muertos" - Raices Taller 222 Gallery, Tucson AZ, November 2005
• Group Show "Myths & Legends" - Raices taller 222 Gallery, Tucson, AZ, January 2006
• Group Invitational "Persona" - Obsidian Gallery, Tucson, AZ, June/July 2006
• Group Invitational "Alter Ego" - Obsidian Gallery, Tucson, AZ, July - September 2006
• Group Invitational "El Dia de los Muertos" - Obsidian Gallery, Tucson, AZ, September - November 2006
• One-man show "Migrant Artifacts: Magic & Loss in the Sonoran Desert" - A & I Photographic Services Gallery, Hollywood, CA, May/June 2007
• One-man show "Migrant Artifacts: Magic & Loss in the Sonoran Desert" - Bohemia Artisans Emporium, Tucson, AZ, June/July 2007
• Group Invitational "A Midsummer Night's Dream" - Obsidian Gallery, Tucson, AZ, June - September 2007
• Group Show: "Day of the Dead" Exhibition – Obsidian Gallery, Tucson, AZ, September – November 2007
• Group Show: "Meeting the Mystery: Themes on Impermanence" Exhibition at Prescott College - Tucson, AZ - October - December 2007
• Group Show: "The Heart's Path; Border Art and Artifacts from the Migrant Trail" - El Ojito Springs Center of Creativity, Tucson, AZ, October 2007 - February 2008
• One-man Show: "Day of the Dead" Exhibition at The Arizona Historical Society's Sosa-Carrillo-Freemont House, Tucson, AZ, November 2007 – January 2008
• One-man Show: "Along The Migrant Trail" Exhibition at El Ojito Springs Center of Creativity – Tucson, AZ, March – April 2008
• Group Show: "AZ Asphalt" Photographic Exhibition at PanTerra Gallery – Bisbee, AZ, March – April 2008
• Group Show: "Heroes and Gods" Exhibition with my focus on Cesar Chavez and The United Farm Workers California Proposition 14 Campaign in 1976 at Raices Taller Gallery – Tucson, AZ March – April 2008

Collections:

• Numerous private collections
• University of Arizona Special Collections
• Center of Creative Photography at the University of Arizona

Awards:

• Honorable Mention, Fourth Annual Cal Arts Open Photography Competition - "Photo As Document," juried by Gary Winogrand - Cal Arts, Valencia, CA - April/May 1978