French photographer based in Paris, Jacques Julien graduated in cinema and studied ethology. He made films before moving toward photography.
After exploring street photography and architecture, he soon focused on animal portraiture. He is equally interested in capturing wildlife in its natural habitat, in the studio, or in urban settings. The study of animal behaviour through ethology allows him to “cure himself” of anthropocentrism to feel closer to his subjects.
His animal works have been published to illustrate ethological studies such as “The intelligence of crows” for France Inter. Some of his studio portraits have been used for cat food brands like Purina PetCare and also illustrations in various newspapers such as Libération about ChatGPT, HuffPost (view article)….
Jacques Julien’s photographic approach constantly associates style with narrative to capture the mysteries of a daily life that slip past us in their fleetingness. His work is imbued as much with popular culture, science fiction and cinema as it is with founding myths and tales of the collective unconscious.
The contemporary phenomenon of reality being contaminated by fiction guides his work. His candid photographs evoke echoes of archetypes, symbols, and mythology within an urban world where architecture, people, and animals stand as a poetic resistance to the progressive and inevitable digitalization of the world.
After making experimental films, photography became his ideal medium for exploring our relationship to space-time through metaphysical, animistic, and dreamlike inspiration.
For him, black and white stands to colour as literature stands to cinema. The beholder is free to imagine their own colours and the interplay of light and shadow becomes all the more powerful.
Alongside his artistic work, he is developing a royalty-free online stock photo library as an illustration photographer. Jacques Julien is recognised as a professional craftsman by the Guild of Arts and Crafts of Paris based on his diploma and experience in the audiovisual industry.
His passion for wildlife has led him to share his knowledge through articles and video games about the animal world, such as ANTagony, an interactive documentary about ants available on Android. Others are accessible directly on his blog. More recently, he has expanded his creative scope by developing web applications such as Real Photo Inspector and Convertito.
- 06/2019 Exhibition : “In the Pocket” at the Laboratoire d’exposition introducing The Concept Cat series
Customers via Getty Images : Nestlé, Geo, France Bleu, Libération, El Pais, Huffington Post… View guestbook here
Jacques Julien company is registered in France (SIRET : 851329813 00014)