Michael Cassimaty · Author & Photographer
Learning to
Lean Back
A formative decade of wildlife fieldwork, travel and unexpected opportunities — and the experiences that quietly shaped the life that followed.
The memoir
A life shaped by places,
people and the natural world.
Growing up on a small farm in Queensland, Michael Cassimaty dreamed of distant places long before he had the means to reach them. Guided by books, curiosity and a fascination with the natural world, he followed that dream into turtle research camps, remote coral cays, rainforests, deserts and wildlife expeditions across Australia, Europe and the Middle East.
Learning to Lean Back follows those years and the quieter lessons that accumulated along the way — about uncertainty, adaptation, friendship, landscape and the directions a life can take without announcing itself.
Behind the photographs
The stories behind the photographs.
A photograph holds a fraction of a second. The story around it can stretch for decades. These places and images open into the fieldwork, people and memories behind Learning to Lean Back.
About Michael
Writer, photographer, observer.
Michael Cassimaty is an Australian writer, photographer and former tourism, education and government professional whose life has been shaped by wildlife, travel, fieldwork and an enduring curiosity about the natural world.
His early years took him from turtle research at Mon Repos, Heron Island and Raine Island to travel through Europe, the Middle East and the Sinai, and later to work in tourism, conservation, education and public administration. Photography has accompanied much of that journey, recording landscapes, wildlife and people across several decades.
His memoir, Learning to Lean Back, revisits the years before illness and disability altered the course of his life. Rather than a story of overcoming adversity, it is a reflection on curiosity, fear, belonging, change and the ways experience quietly accumulates over time.
He continues to write, photograph and develop new projects, including a photographic companion to the memoir and a series of children’s books.
Other stories
Stories beyond the book.
Expanded scenes, recollections and pieces from the world surrounding Learning to Lean Back — some given more room than the memoir allowed, others following paths the book left aside.
Read the storiesNews & events
From the desk, the archive and the road.
Publication
The book takes shape
Updates from proofing, layout and the journey toward publication.
Events
Brisbane book launch
Launch details will appear here once the venue and date are confirmed.
Archive
A story behind a photograph
Occasional notes from the photographic record that sits behind the memoir.