Biography

Michael Richardson is an Oakland, California-based photographer who uses film and digital cameras to document the influences people and places have on one another. 

His strong interest in the influence of people and place is partly due to losing his father at an early age. Being an only child with no extended family in the US, he often sought out interesting places near his home. As a result, he developed deep and powerful connections with special places while growing up that strongly informed his sense of personal identity as an adult. His most recent projects are documentary-based.

A retired Instructional Designer, Michael developed in-person and web-based training for industry leaders, including Cisco Systems, AAA, Kaiser Permanente, and Google. 

His photography has been included in the Portfolio Production Highlights exhibition, Gallery Obscura, City College of San Francisco, CA, 2025 and 2026. His portraiture work is featured on the cover of local poet Karen Marker’s collection, Beneath the Blue Umbrella.