From Beijing - A Worldtrip with the photographer Michael Wagener

"Normally, I am an art teacher at a high school in Germany and I am also a lecturer for digital photography at the university. Two years ago, I decided to break out of my everyday life and take my time just to do things for myself and I chose to take a sabbatical. I decided to travel around the world, to see something of this Earth. Not in a special way or with a special motivation or even a concrete plan.

When you are travelling, it is still amazing how many people you meet, who travel around.

Some by bicycle or in specially built cars, some for a few month... some for years. For some it is an adventure, the time to reach a special personal goal. Others are maybe on the run from their everyday lives and are looking to find themselves. For me it is a little bit of everything, but, of course, a good time to get a deeper experience, who you really are.

I started in September 2011 with a few guidebooks, which I did not read much. I traveled by planes, buses, motorbikes, trains and also speedboats. No special ways... just going forward. I saw amazing places like Cairo, the Himalaya, the region of Nepal, Tibet or the north of Laos. But I had no concrete ideas or expectations of the places I visited. I just wanted to follow my great passion of being a photographer and during my trip I realized that I am mostly interested in the everyday life of the so-called poor people in most parts of the world. And also I thought at the beginning of the trip, it would be nice to meet other teachers in different cultures and talk about the motives for teaching. I had the chance to meet strong characters and I was impressed by their different ways of living. My camera was always a kind of medium to get in touch with these people, not only for taking pictures. Often they invited me for a talk, a cup of tea or to see their homes.

... and when I get back to Germany, I can now show some impressions of my trip... and of course, I will have some good stories for my schoolkids."