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With "Les 3 Pôles" (The Three Poles), Vincent Munier offers us a striking immersion into the heart of these remote regions with extreme conditions, with nearly fifty photographs taken during challenging expeditions, undertaken alone and independently.

It transports us to the enchanting white landscapes of the Arctic and Antarctic, following the trail of mythical animals such as the Arctic wolf, polar bear, musk ox, and emperor penguin.

In Svalbard, Nunavut, and Adélie Land, Vincent Munier has a gift for photographing animals in all their splendor and nobility.

His latest trip took him to the high plateaus of Tibet, which Vincent Munier calls "the third pole."

Here, the photographer set out in search of the famous and very rare snow leopard. But the explorer also encountered many other animals along the way, including the Tibetan fox, the Pallas's cat, and herds of wild yaks and kiang donkeys...

Recounting his latest expedition to Tibet with Sylvain Tesson, to whom he lent his pen as a travel writer,La Panthère des neiges(2021), co-directed with Marie Amiguet, won the César Award for Best Documentary Film in 2022. This film is being screened in the museum for the duration of the exhibition.

Through this exhibition, Vincent Munier invites visitors to Visa pour l’Image to spread their wings and embark on a poetic journey that is entirely natural, without geographical boundaries, with the beauty of the wild world as their horizon.

A journey in search of light, first and foremost: the subtle light of dawn and dusk; the blinding light of snow; the soft light of mist; the light of moonlight, which lingers even in the darkest night. A journey in search of encounters, of course: a wild bestiary is on display here, from the tiny ant to the great deer, from the modest sparrow to the snow leopard, from the invisible Arctic hare to the polar bear.

Encounters with birds are often fleeting—the time it takes to ruffle their feathers... and they've already flown away. Larger species give photographers more time to think about their framing, as they strike a pose: Japanese cranes courting in the snow, emperor penguins huddled together in colonies to withstand the blizzard, snowy owls hunting in the vast white expanses.
To encounter large land mammals (brown bears, polar bears, African lions, Arctic wolves, etc.), the approach is different: the photographer acquires a detailed knowledge of the environments and territories in which they live and becomes a tracker. They must read the more or less faint traces left by the animals' repeated passages, identify their hunting, mating, and resting places, in order to choose the best observation point for setting up their hide, or simply lie down flat on the ground, under a camouflage net, behind a rock, or under vegetation cover. Blending into the background, masking his scent, making as little noise as possible; it is a solitary activity, and the magic works much more easily if the photographer is alone in the field, with all his senses alert.

Regardless of the continent, regardless of the landscape explored, whether it is close by or far away, Vincent Munier's motivations remain the same: to experience and relive the hope of having chosen "the right place, the right moment," the thrill of anticipation, and the wonder when the beast appears.

Does showing the beauty of the world still make sense today, at a time when every layer of our environment is being degraded, when almost every object in our daily lives masks an ecological disaster?

Vincent Munier has been asking himself this question for many years and sincerely puts it to the Visa pour l’Image audience and his fellow photojournalists. Celebrating the beauty of nature or bearing witness to the damage done to it: both approaches undoubtedly have their place and reflect a commitment that can be equally profound and lucid.

Each of us needs to be surrounded by beauty in our lives. And our sense of wonder, coupled with greater knowledge and education about the environment, undoubtedly leads to a desire to protect it. "Be content with the world, fight to preserve it," writes Sylvain Tesson. In this struggle, human humility and responsibility towards the rest of the living world should carry equal weight and go hand in hand.

In 2021, France hosted the consultative meeting of the Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1959, alongside a cultural and scientific season open to the general public throughout the polar summer.

As the planet inexorably warms, sea ice, permafrost, glaciers, and ice caps melt dramatically, and sea levels continue to rise, our fascination with the poles, both north and south, continues to grow. So does our concern, as the Arctic, Antarctic, and Subantarctic sound the climate alarm.
Twenty-six cities in France are hosting large-format photographs by Laurent Ballesta and Vincent Munier. Through their contrasting perspectives, the duality of the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps is revealed: deserted or overpopulated, harmonious or chaotic, silent or deafening. Vincent Munier on the ice and Laurent Ballesta beneath the surface.

For years, photographer Vincent Munier has been documenting the beauty and fragility of nature. He has developed a committed stance and defends the idea that humans must observe and adapt to the world to which they belong. During his photographic journeys, he strives to show the beauty of vast wilderness areas, where nature has not yet been transformed by humans. The photographer's view and sensitivity to the world are reminiscent of Jean Giono's vision and writing. This obvious connection gave rise to the idea of an exhibition in which Vincent Munier, inspired by the emotion he feels when reading the writer's texts, presents a unique selection of photographs.

Exhibition designed and organized by the Centre Giono, the Carzou Foundation, and Les Nuits Photographiques de Pierrevert.

This exhibition takes us on a journey in search of rare and distant animals. From the Arctic to Antarctica, via Kamchatka (Russia), the Tibetan plateau, and the island of Hokkaido (Japan), his encounters with wildlife in the great outdoors reflect a quest for solitude and beauty: moving silhouettes in the mist and camouflaged animals, animal shadows and delicate portraits bring them to life.

He reveals his dreams, emotions, and encounters to us. Inspired by Japanese prints and minimalist art, his work depicts animals in their natural environment. Species such as the snow leopard, white wolf, polar bear, snowy owl, musk ox, and more.

Through his images, we are invited to take the time to breathe, to embrace the serenity of vast solitudes... to take one more step towards this fragile nature.

Through a visitor guide using image recognition, the visit is enriched by Vincent's voice, who recounts the conditions in which the photos were taken and reveals behind-the-scenes details about his photography, supplemented by bonus videos.

From December 10, 2016, to May 16, 2017, the National Museum of Natural History is expanding its special "bear" program and welcoming nature photographer Vincent Munier. Around sixty exceptional photographs showcase brown and white bears in their wild habitats in Russia and the Canadian Arctic. This immersive, poetic exhibition in the heart of the Jardin des Plantes complements the "Bear Species" exhibition in the Grande Galerie de l'Evolution.