John-Paul Jespersen’s artistic epiphany arrived three years ago in the form of a bold, tradition-breaking painting from 1809 by Casper David Friedrich, the highly regarded artist of German Romanticism.

Seeing “The Monk by the Sea” for the first time in a humanities class at the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, the young photographer was drawn by how the artist composed his masterpiece: a tiny figure robed in black, visible from behind, set against a landscape segmented into three strong horizontal zones of color where any sign of perspective depth disappears.

Looking at the canvas composition given mostly over to the cloudy sky, one sees that every line leads out of the painting, creating the perception of infinity. “When looking back, I realize that my photographic style and technique completely changed directions about one or two months after I first saw this painting,” Jespersen, 25, explains.

Those familiar with Jespersen’s work – which is becoming more widely available including some of the city’s best-known galleries and at the weekly farmer’s market in downtown Salt Lake City – can begin to see the results of his compositional influence. His professional resume also is steadily growing with awards and shows: one of the winners in the Positive Focus Body of Work 2006 International Competition in Brooklyn, New York; artist’s residency in Reykjavik, Iceland with the Association of Icelandic Visual Artists, fourth place in the 2005 Photographers Forum Magazine Annual International Photo Competition and winner of The Brooks Institute of Photography’s most coveted award – The Dorothea Kuhne Scholarship.

Raised in Salt Lake City, Jespersen took his first photography class in his freshman year of high school. “I just always liked it,” he says. “It was my favorite class all through high school, and my teacher John Craigle gave me a lot of personal attention and time and inspired me to make it a career.” He also counts photographers Todd Hido and Michael Kenna as major contemporary influences for his art.

The diverse landscape of Utah and the surrounding Intermountain West region have provided plenty of artistic impetus for Jespersen. However, he also has turned toward nighttime urban images, such as the photograph of Utah’s state capitol featured in the banner nameplate.

One can readily see Jespersen’s effective variation of Friedrich’s theme. Long exposures and the use of moonlight to create surreal daytime images are signature elements of his composition. Preferring to travel when the moon is full, he went to Yellowstone National Park, capturing the moonlit geyser basins at 2 a.m.

In a recent interview, he said, “I look for clean scenes with gentle low contrast lighting. I love shooting water and things with motion when I shoot at night. I love the idea of minutes or hours of time compressed in to one image.” Jespersen plans to publish a book of his project as he continues to explore moonlit landscapes around the globe.

For more information, visit jpjespersen.com or jpjespersen.blogspot.com. He also has a booth every Saturday morning at the downtown Farmer’s Market in Pioneer Park, and owns a fine art reproduction company (www.jfar.net).