About Michaël

Born in a small village outside of the forest, Michaël van de Velde quickly learned his first drawing lessons his neighbor & friend, The Forester. Sadly, The Forester passed away in June 2008.

Michaël & The Forester drove daily through the forest. They’d park the car to observe & sketch drawings of the wild life right in front of them. These basics gave Michaël an eye for detail which remains with him today. At the age of 12, Michaël was not longer able to spend time in the forest eveyday because of his new school. Besides his love for wild life & sketching, at a young age He had a passion for racing cars. Two icons Michaël still respects from his youth are Ayrton Senna and The Ferrari F40. Out of his passion for cars, Michaël’s career as a photographer began.

At the end of 2004 Michaël went to a Belgian Ferrari Club event where they were impressed by his photographs. One year later He was able to go into a yellow Ferrari F355 GTB on a track day. The owner of the Ferrari was kind enough to introduce Michaël to one of his friends. The owner’s friend took Michaël around the track in the Ferrari 355 Challenge, where Michaël was able to take brilliant photographs of the action directly from the track.

His passion for photography continued to grow and in 2005 Michaël went to The Official School for Photography. He was one of the most progressive students of the first year. Thanks to Ferrari Challenge driver Sandro Mucelli, one month before Michaël’s final exam, he made his debut in Motor Sport photography at Silverstone. Mid-2007 Michaël completed his school studies with success.

With hands on experience during the races, Michaël learned quickly how things worked in the world of Motor Sport photography. With Sandro’s podium success and being involved in a huge crash, Michaël’s photographs were shared with Motor Sport Professionals making his debut year a huge success.

For the 2008 Season Michaël became one of the Ferrari Corse Clienti photographers, active in FIA GT and returned to Silverstone to photograph the GP2, where he was one of only six photographers approved for that race.