As the son of an accomplished cinematographer, Sol Negrin ASC, young Michael Negrin had the opportunity to visit film sets starting at age eight. Young Negrin was hooked. His dad's assistants taught him how to load film magazines when he was thirteen which enabled him to start an advanced apprenticeship. The elder Negrin worked on early rock music films such as Concert for Bangladesh and John Lennon’s One To One stereo simulcast for ABC, which figured heavily in Michael's start in the music video area. Upon graduating from New York University, he promptly began shooting and producing music promos for Billy Joel, just as MTV was taking off.

In 1984-85 he shot several videos for Billy Joel that included Uptown Girl, Tell Her About It and For the Longest Time. Later he photographed Time After Time for Cindy Lauper, which earned an American Music Video Award for Michael and for the director Eddie Griles. He found himself shooting a greater mix of commercials as well, including fashion and beauty spots with the likes of Andi McDowell, Claudia Schiffer, Elle McPherson and Vanessa Williams.

In 1987, Negrin shot his first feature, an indie project starring Shelly Winters, titled Touch of a Stranger. In 1993 he shot a Roger Corman feature titled Saturday Night Special which aired on ShowTime. Also in ‘93, he photographed his first hour-long documentary/concert special for PBS on Billy Joel. The following year, he traveled to Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Zagreb Croatia to shoot Night Watch, an action adventure yarn starring Pierce Brosnan for New Line and USA Pictures. In 1995 -1996 Negrin shot 18 episodes of a VIACOM series titled Diagnosis Murder for CBS Television. In 1997 he shot a romantic comedy for the Shooting Gallery called Hudson River Blues, which premiered on the Romance Channel. He also photographed the pilot for Charmed for the WB starring Shannon Dougherty. The Attic Expeditions, a recent indie feature shot by Negrin, screened in Los Angles last summer and received rave reviews from the LA Times.

Negrin shot additional principal photography on the NBC series Westwing during the 2003 season. Currently, he is an additional cinematographer on The Fox series The O.C.