Vincent Munier (born 14 April 1976) is a French wildlife photographer and documentary filmmaker. Among his most notable works are his photographs of arctic wolves and snow leopards. He co-directed a film about snow leopards, The Velvet Queen [fr] (2021), which received the César Award for Best Documentary Film.
Vincent Munier was born on 14 April 1976 in Épinal in Vosges, northeastern France.[1] He began to photograph animals in the Vosges forests and mountains at the age of twelve, aided by his father.[2][3] He went on to become a professional wildlife photographer.[1]
Munier prefers to create landscape photographs with animals that viewers might not discover immediately.[3] He is known for photographing in snow, which he likes due to the lighting associated with it, how it omits non-essential details from the image and the fact that animals manage to live in remote and harsh environments.[4] He is notable for his photographs of arctic wolves on Ellesmere Island in Canada, which he took during six years of expeditions, and became the basis for his photo-book Arctique (2015). His quest to photograph snow leopards began in 2011 and involved six trips to Tibet before he first encountered the animal in 2016.[3] It resulted in two photo-books about Tibet and snow leopards, Tibet : promesse de l'invisible and Tibet : Minéral animal, both published in 2018 and the latter with texts by the writer Sylvain Tesson who joined one of the expeditions.[2] Munier's quest for snow leopards is the subject of the documentary film The Velvet Queen [fr] (2021), which Munier co-directed with Marie Amiguet [fr] and which received the César Award for Best Documentary Film.[3][5] It is the subject of Tesson's book The Art of Patience [fr], which also includes photographs by Munier.[3]
Munier received the Eric Hosking Award in 2000, 2001 and 2002. He was the first photographer to receive this award three times.[1]
Bibliography adapted from France Inter.[1]
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