Biography
As a winner of many international photography awards and nominees, wildlife filmer and photographer Vincent Munier (1976, Vosges, France) won multiple times a César Award (Best Documentary) and the acclaimed BBC Wildlife photographer of the year award – something particular is setting the works of Munier apart from other wildlife photography.
Munier’s work is existential—rooted in humility and far removed from the bravado often associated with wildlife photography. From the prejudice-free and non-discriminatory behavior of Arctic wolves to the acumen of the capercaun, Munier’s images encourage to ponder questions of arrogance towards living beings and our human superiority complex.
To be able to approach physically as well as mentally the animals in their own habitat, one needs to know a myriad of behavioural, physiological and psychological traits and how the species adapts to seasonal changes and lights. Munier’s images are proof of this phenomenon. In order to be forgotten by the animals or not to be perceived at all, increasingly distant quests and long periods of patience are needed. The result is that his works are – in resonance with his modest personal character – examples of silence and decidedly rustic; testimonies of making himself completely invisible and non-existent. As if there was no human present.
Since these creatures are the true legitimate inhabitants of nature, it is adamant we as humans have to pay them more respect. Munier is not so much recording nature but finding constructed compositions that include the atmosphere of the environment that these animals live in. These compositions consist of the tranquillity of their surroundings as well as the linear construction and sensibility of the force of nature.
