Inspired by his love for animals in general and his cat Dwiezel in particular, young Belgian photographer Vincent Lagrange is currently working on an ongoing project called Human Animal, where he photographs both domestic pets and wild animals in a very refined and serious manner. ‘‘Today most people photograph just people’’, says Lagrange, ‘‘but only a few photograph animals... I tried to photograph the animals as humans, depicting their emotion and human-like characteristics in a sombre way.’’ Indeed, Lagrange’s images focus on the most expressive aspects of his subjects, revealing striking similarities between animals and people: through his lens,not only cats and dogs but even reptiles and birds seem to acquire expressions that are full of character and wit. Needless to say, the process of creating these portraits was no easy task, since the photographer had to rearrange his props and lights constantly to accommodate the animals moving around at their own disposition in the studio!
