About Max Wisshak

My Background in Cave Exploration

I became addicted to caving in the 90s and have since explored horizontal, vertical, tight, vast, clean, muddy, wet, dry, hot, cold and damn cold caves around the globe. As a member of the Höhlenforschungsgruppe Ostalb-Kirchheim and the Spéléo-Club de Béziers, I have been involved in discovering, exploring and surveying dozens of caves, reporting on our findings in numerous articles. As expedition leader and cartographer, I focus on the Alpine Reiteralm plateau in Germany/Austria, the Montagne Noire caves in southern France, and Lechuguilla Cave in the United States. The camera is an integral part of my caving expeditions and karstic travels with my wife and friends.

My Background in Geoscience

As marine geobiologist at the Senckenberg institute in Germany, my main field of research is the growth and decay (calcification and bioerosion) of coral reef ecosystems and other depositional systems sustained by calcareous ecosystem engineers through earth history. My research in the context of cave exploration furthermore includes mineralogical and geochemical analyses of unusual speleothems, such as those formed by baryte and celestine. For my scientific publication record, please visit ResearchGate or Google Scholar.

My Background in Photography and Publishing

Studying Fine Arts at a private art school and a year in the postgraduate programme Media Science and Practice fostered my skills as a writer and photographer, teaching me how various media operate. My photographic work has been widely published in magazines, calendars, and books. Inspired by the success of my first photography book, Inside Mother Earth (Edition Reuss, 2008), I established the publishing imprint speleo-photo editions to produce premium coffee-table books. The critically acclaimed outcome of this creative venture so far includes New Zealand Karst (2020), Lechuguilla Cave (2022), and Burren (2026).