About Jonathan

Jonathan Ducrest (b. 1976) was born and raised in Switzerland, where his interest in photography was ignited with a point-and-shoot camera he received from his parents. The mountain vistas, atmospheric conditions, and dramatic scenery of the towering Swiss landscape provided him with his earliest subjects.

In 1998, he relocated to the United States and settled in New York City. There, he expanded his practice into the metropolis's urban canyons and architectural wonders, which drew parallels with his earlier scenes of nature's awe-inspiring power.

In 2013, Ducrest moved to Los Angeles to pursue new photographic discoveries. The West Coast's varied topography—deserts, oceanic horizons, and local styles—have provided a fresh set of artistic challenges while also bringing together the varied strands of his visual palette from twenty-five years of experimentation and creative investigation. Ducrest's compositional skill, discerning eye, and cinematic sensibilities have made him one of the foremost landscape, travel, and urban photography practitioners working in the Los Angeles area. After 23 years in the U.S., he returned to his native Switzerland in early 2021.

A self-taught artist, Ducrest also manages all of the technical and editing processes requisite for contemporary digital photography.

Ducrest's work has been collected extensively by individuals and prominent collectors, including Netflix. His photographs have been featured in many television productions—Disney-ABC, Warner Media, and Apple. In 2020, he received a citation award for Petrol Station 2018 from the renowned American Institute of Architects during the AIA/Architectural Photography Awards. In the early days of the lockdown in Los Angeles, Jonathan decided to document life in a seemingly empty city of angels. The result was Lockdown L.A., a photographic essay published in September 2020, with a second edition in April 2021. In early 2021, Saatchi Art named him one of 21 artists to watch in 2021. In May 2022, he received two awards from the American Institute of Architechs Los Angeles for his images “Woman on a Bridge” and “Wrap de Triomphe.” The Royal Academy of London selected his image “Out of Gas” for their summer exhibition on the theme of climate; the edition sold out within a month. In August 2023, reFocus Awards named him Photographer of the Year in the architecture category for his series on the 50th anniversary of La Muralla Roja, designed by Ricardo Bofill. Jonathan collaborates extensively with Switzerland Tourism, showcasing his native homeland through his images.