A Focus On Nature, Advent Calendar, Now for Nature
AFON
Vincent Munier to NowforNature – Max Thompson
Welcome to our 2016 Advent Calendar series (#AFONAdvent)! This year, our theme is “The Gift of Inspiration”. For each day, one of our members has written a blog post about someone who has inspired them, and how that inspiration has lead to them being where they are today. Each member is a shining example of a young person who is acting Now for Nature. We hope that you enjoy the series and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
For the majority of people their only glimpse into the world’s vast ecosystems is through film and photography so it’s no wonder that my idol is one of the leading natural history photographers of the world. You’ve probably seen his work, be it in books, newspapers, online or through many other outlets yet you many have never heard of him.
Vincent Munier grew up in the shadow of the Vosges mountain range in southern France which fuelled his passion for the outdoor, now he can be found traveling all over the world documenting some of the most incredible places and species. You can’t help but being engaged by Vincent’s work, whether it is a cute Artic Hare or and a huge Bison his work gives you a view into their world and makes you see these species in a whole new light.
In one series of images he is photographing a pack of Artic Wolves making their way across an artic plain. Wolves are a heavily persecuted in most parts of the world as a result of them being an apex predator and a threat to humans, Vincent decided to use his imagery to show these ‘killers’ in a completely different light, by showing them as vulnerable, nervous and social animals it flips people’s perception of these predators and hopefully have people fighting for their protection, not their extinction.
Artic wolves (c) Vincent Munier
Since I brought my first camera nine years ago I’d always edge towards photographing nature and wildlife until six years ago when it became my passion and since then it’s taken over my life.
Red deer stag (c) Max Thompson
Meadow Pipit (c) Max Thompson
In that time there were many people who influenced me but none as much as Vincent Munier and his work. Vincents work is so unique due to his out of the box thinking, one example of this would be his shot of an Artic Tern taking off, instead of photographing it as most would with the bird in focus, he focused on the ripples in the water in front of his subject creating a unique and stunning image. It doesn’t stop there, he regularly photographs just reflections, incredibly tight crops and images that you really have to look at before you even see a living thing, it is this out of the box thinking that has inspired me to try and push the boundaries of my photography.
Arctic tern (c) Vincent Munier
Vincent has done a few films around his photography which are worth a watch; they can be found on Vimeo and on his website and it will give you a great look into the mind of an amazing photographer.
Max Thompson
Leave a Reply