Max Morales was born in Chicago and raised in San Francisco. He began piano studies early. He studied music through elementary and high school, and theory and composition at San Francisco City College and the University of California, Berkeley. He studied ballet from 1958 to 1962 and was in the corps de ballet and a character dancer with the Pacific Ballet from 1960 to 1962. He danced until 1977 when a back injury forced his retirement from dance. He has experimented with photography for the last 40 years converting from film to digital four years ago. His work is in collections in Europe, Mexico & the United States. He has also studied languages & computers.
Since 1979, Max has owned and operated his own production company producing live events (company promotions, fashion shows, dance and theater shows, and performance art); he operates under the name Styrous as a sound designer, production coordinator, choreographer & photographer. Some of his collaboration can be seen at www.butohdrawing.org. The contacts made through these venues have been the inspiration for many of his photographic subjects. He has composed music for films, commercials, retail stores and the theme song for the Asian American Arts Foundation’s 1999 Golden Ring Awards.
Says Mr. Morales, "My best photographic work is comprised of studies produced under the light available at the time of the shooting rather than with flash. I love to see the light play over the features of the person I am shooting, to watch as the inner person is revealed to me."