Bio

lebanese-american documentary / street photographer, filmmaker michael rababy likes to create pictures of people.  he studied art history at the university of san diego before spending time in paris. taking influence from henri toulouse-lautrec and henri cartier-bresson. his ethnographic documentary book “american bachelor” details the highs and lows of the single male, followed by “folsom street food court”, an irreverent take on the annual street fair in san francisco. his clients / credits include billboard creative, E!, google, hamburger eyes, LA weekly, mercedes-benz, paul mccarthy, people magazine, the sundance institute, time-out new york, VICE magazine, the village voice and the yes men. his street photography was featured on the oxygen network’s girlfriend confidential:LA and he was the official portrait photographer for TLC’s highly rated series LA ink. michael is also the photography curator of the hive gallery in the downtown los angeles arts district since 2015 and created the book “california love - a visual mixtape” (2020). his latest book “casinoland - tired of winning” documents 30 years of casino culture, published by kehrer verlag fall 2024. his short film 'still lives', which tells a story through black and white still photographs set to piano music, premiered at the palm springs international short film festival, was an official selection of the miami short film festival. his film ‘january man’ screened as an official selection at at the boston international film festival and the miami short film festival. overall, his work can be described as emotionally charged poetic-realism. michael lives in california and is currently at work on his latest masterpiece.