Michael Van Huffel is a Fine Art Photographer based in Santa Cruz, California. In 2008, Michael became ill with what was eventually diagnosed as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, a debilitating life-changing illness. The considerable losses, challenges and battle with this disease led directly to his current photography work, beginning in 2017. This story has been featured by the BBC.

Born in Ohio, he attended Berklee College of Music. He was given his real start as an artist by (the musician) Prince, who challenged, guided, and gave Michael the opportunity to grow and move from technical work to much broader challenges. In his time working for Prince, Michael began doing album layouts, but quickly grew into illustration, design, animation and special effects for music video production. His work appeared in album releases, tour books, merchandise, clothing, and much more. This work garnered him two RIAA Gold Record Awards and a Golden Reel Award for his contributions.

Given a chance to do some motion design work for a studio in Minneapolis (where he lived at the time), Michael turned his focus to animation and design for advertising. He worked with some of Minneapolis’ largest agencies, for clients including Nike, MTV, Dominos, General Mills, Red Wing, Target and many more (including Jesse Ventura’s infamous Gubernatorial run). He also continued in design/illustration work for a variety of clients & industries.

Moving to Los Angeles in 2001, Michael moved back into the entertainment world. Freelancing for a few years, doing graphics & title design for film and TV, (some award-winning) for a multitude of projects, with clients including The Discovery Channel, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros and more. He eventually took a job with film marketing company Aspect Ratio in Hollywood, where he held the title of Creative Director up until the onset of his illness.