Jasper Doest

I have recently completely fallen for Jasper Doest....no...not the man himself....we have never met....but his photographs...of Japanese Snow Monkeys to be precise!

I first saw Doest's work last year at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012 exhibition;  Doest's image Relaxation received commended in the Animal Portrait category.  Then of course in this year's exhibition, Doest was winner in the Creative Visions category with Snow Moment.  And, the 2013 Travel Photography of the Year results just recently announced, Doest was joint winner in Portfolio - Wild Stories with a collection of four of the monkey shots.

So, what is it about these photographs that is so captivating?  Why is this relevant to me now?  Well I have lately been thinking about personal voice, following feedback from my TAOP assessment.  And with Doest I can see clearly what personal voice means.  Japanese Snow Monkeys live in an environment that suits them.  Throughout evolution, animals have either adapted or migrated, so you have to assume that these monkeys are in their element.  Doest however, manages to capture them with emotion - the monkeys appear to be cold, lonely, isolated, mournful, soulful, in fact anything but at ease with their environment - which is kind of incongruous...

These are also of course astonishing pictures, with simplistic composition, dramatic environment, negative space, limited colour palette; I keep finding that I'm drawn to this kind of set up, in the never ending quest to escape the daily clutter, chatter and chaos.

So the challenge for me is translate this into my own work as I try to find my own personal voice (or voices as I think they might be different from Street to Nature..).

And, yes, I have emailed Doest to see if he has room on his 2015 workshop with the Snow Monkeys 

:)