BIOGRAPHY
 
Mike was born in Uganda, East Africa, in 1960. His family then moved to Kenya where he spent his childhood, whilst his parents managed hotels in some of Kenya’s prime wildlife reserves. Mike’s family roots go back three generation into Colonial East Africa. His great-grandfather, the famed Charles Cottar, emigrated from Oklahoma with his wife and nine children, in pursuit of adventure. Charles, with his three sons, Bud, Ted and Mike, set up one of the first safari outfitting companies, and soon became safari guides to royalty and the rich and famous, such as the Queen Mother, Woolworth Donohue and Martin & Osa Johnson.

Mike’s grandfather, Mike, took up filming the wildlife rather than shooting it, providing unique footage for Hollywood’s early wildlife documentaries. He is believed to have sold footage of a lion for one of the earliest MGM logos.

Mike’s formal education began when he attended boarding school in Kenya. From there he went on to school in Devon, England. After his GCSEs, in 1976 Mike went into further education, attending Lewes Technical College and the London College of Printing. Inspired by the family’s huge collection of photographs and cinematic footage, and family friends like Peter Beard and Mirella Ricciardi, Mike’s ambition was to become a photographer.

1980 After leaving Lewis Technical College, Mike started to work as a freelance Photographer. His first major assignment was for the company Davy Power Gas, who sent him to the Philippines to take photographs of a new phosphate plant they were building. On the plane on the way back he met the editor for Newsweek International Asian edition, who gave Mike his second assignment. After that he worked for Yves Roche, Gooding Aluminium, Fototfast, The Sussex Times, The United Touring Company – Kenya, and the Kenya Tourist Board.

1984 With a business partner he bought a four storey converted warehouse on Bermondsey Street, London SE1, where they made a Photographic Studio on the top floor. He then attended the London School of Printing at the Elephant and Castle to study large format photography. Over the next 14 years until they sold the building in 1998, Mike worked freelance, offering studio and location photography to clients such as;

Yves Roche, Juno Kitchens, Hermes, Cosmos Travel, Ectomorph, Cottars Safaris, Alex Walker Safaris, Raven Fantasy Armour, Regulation, Tempo Wigs, Sh!, Nomad Pictures, Athena International, Bemrose Calendars, She N Me.

Mike has worked for advertising and design groups like McCann Erickson, Andrew Derrick Associates, Moondance Media, and Junction Designs. He also shot or sold photographs to stock libraries world wide, including the Hulton Deutsch Collection, Explor – France, Photorama – Netherlands, Orion Press - Japan, Mega Press – Japan, Zefa Picture Library and Picture Bank in London.

Mike has had much of his accomplished work published by Crescent Publishing, Motcalm Publishing, Company, Vogue, Harpers Queen Magazines, Cleo in Australia, The Observer, Blitz, Ritz, Swimwear USA, Creative Camera, Scenario, Ludus, Penthouse, and Playboy.

During this time Mike also worked as an associate producer for Programme 33 _ Old Man Cottar. Boreales – Hiya Safari! A show reel for Sarrumai and Cottars Safaris – Kenya. He has shot and directed a small series of Model Profiles documentaries and four photographic technique videos for White Stone Productions, a Rubber fetish fashion show reel for Pussy Cat Productions,

In 1999 Mike moved to Lanzarote in the Canary Island, for family reasons, where he continues to shoot both photography and video. Recently Mike has worked for local clients like The Holiday Gazette, Catlanza, Estupendo, shooting stills and video for Club Select and Club World Wide, Zona Visual, as well the Tres Islas and Iron Man sporting events, both of which have appeared on Euro Sports Television

2004 Mike had his first photographic exhibition at the Galeria Punto de Encuentro con El Art in Lanzarote's capital Arrecife, entitled Hax2004 and through his website www.haxart.com he now sells limited and open editions photographs to private collectors all over the world.

2005 Whilst shooting his normal assignments, in Europe and the UK, Mike started to research and write his book “Through Maasailand- In the footsteps of a Giant”, featuring over 300 photographs

2006 Mike has spent time filming Stone Town in Zanzibar and the great migration in the Maasai Mara, Kenya. With a trailer, a website and a “Dummy” of the book, he is now working full time on research and planning for a departure early in 2007 to retrace Joseph Thomson’s footsteps, through Maasailand.

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