While the exhibition “The 3 Poles” is on display at the Musée de la Photographie Charles Nègre until January 15, 2023, Nice Premium met with Vincent Munier to learn more about his history with photography.
A fervent advocate of the environmental cause, an extreme traveler, and a lover of vast wild spaces, Vincent Munier is one of the greatest wildlife photographers of his generation. For more than 20 years, he has roamed the wildest landscapes to capture incredible images where animals are at the heart of the environment.
His First Wildlife Photograph
His journey with photography, from the meeting to the point where this passion also became a profession.
Vincent Munier grew up in the Vosges with parents who cared about nature. At the age of 12, his father, a naturalist, lent him a camera with which he took his first wildlife photograph, a roe deer. This moment was a turning point for him: “It’s amazing to capture a moment that is like a mirage, almost unreal.” In 1988, it was not yet a profession, just a passion, but such a consuming one that he constantly felt the need to immerse himself in the beauty of nature.
The springboard was his three awards at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition at the Natural History Museum in London. This allowed him to showcase his images to the rest of the world. Then he juggled odd jobs, travels, and photography. In the 1990s, he finally decided to make it his livelihood. From photographer, he also wished to produce his books and created his own publishing and film production company.
“I don’t like to say it’s a job; in the field, it’s not work, it’s my life.”
Vincent Munier
Vincent Munier, Spokesman for Beauty
Support for environmental causes through his photographs was an obvious choice for him, due to the values instilled from a young age, and because he can’t help but feel concerned when he sees all the diminishing beauty of the wild nature.
However, he leaves the work of photojournalists to others, where exposing issues comes with showing difficult-to-see realities. He defines himself as an “interpreter of beauty,” preferring to focus on beauty, which soothes him: “I think the two are complementary.” His photography highlights beauty with a subtle message that our ecosystems are fragile and need protection. It’s his way of raising awareness; showing beauty is also defending it.
Natural Environments Are Degrading
Throughout his adventures, Vincent Munier has noticed significant changes, and this in a short span of 20 years.
He witnesses the degradation of natural environments, forests, marshes, wetlands, everything is shrinking, and species are disappearing “even birds I photographed as a kid.” He is disappointed and saddened to see how most contemporary people are unaware of what we’re losing; we are so cocooned in our comfort that it no longer affects us.
For example, when he traveled to the Arctic a few years ago in April, he could still admire ice, but now in April, it starts to melt and the tundra is already visible.
“The marveling children we once were, society has put us on a track to fit us into a job, an economy. We have blinders that have made us forget we need to coexist with others. This is the big challenge now, to stop prioritizing economy over life.”
Vincent Munier
A Long-Awaited Encounter
Despite his numerous adventures and the associated memories, Vincent Munier shared with us one of his most striking moments. It was his encounter with white wolves. After three expeditions without seeing anything, on the fourth, he saw two white wolves from the Far North, nicknamed “the ghosts of the tundra.” Then that famous journey where a pack approached him and surrounded him. “This long-awaited encounter is probably the most powerful moment I’ve experienced.”
