In the artist's words:

Michael Wagener lives and works as a photographer and teacher in Cologne. After studying art at the University of Siegen, he consolidated his skills in commercial photography with Simon Puschmann in Hamburg. His academic work at the University of Siegen was followed by teaching assignments in the field of art and media education with a focus on photography at universities in Oldenburg, Flensburg, Siegen and Cologne.

Michael Wagener was appointed a member of the DGPh in 2008. Since 2012, he has regularly published photo essays and articles as a freelancer for the French culture magazine MicMag. In 2013, as a member of the jury, he awarded the first German Education Prize for Photography. In 2017, he organized a pilot project to communicate the UN's SDGs in the medium of photography in cooperation with CANON. He has already presented his photographs in numerous exhibitions in Germany and abroad (including Goethe Center Yerevan, Armenia 2022, Revelat Festival Barcelona 2021, Photoszene Köln, 2018/2016; Staatspreis manufactum, Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Dortmund, 2017; Blank Wall Gallery, Athens, 2017; IHK, Düsseldorf, 2017).