Michael Cirlos's passion for photography developed in 2006 when he relocated to Hua Hin, Thailand, to study international relations at Webster University. After two years studying and exploring Southeast Asia, he was awarded the travel scholarship to continue his education and photography in Amsterdam. He returned to San Antonio in 2009. After graduating from the University of Texas at San Antonio, he began reporting on inner city culture and founded Humans of San Antonio.

His work has appeared in regionally on Kens 5 and Univision 41 and in the San Antonio Express News, the Rivard Report, the Lake Front, Muze Collective Magazine, Centro San Antonio, and San Antonio Magazine. In 2015 he was selected to participate in the Mountain Workshops School of Photojournalism, where he studied under Rick Loomis, a Pulitzer prize-winning photojournalist of the Los Angeles Times.