Masahiro Hiroike

Hiroike is inspired by Japanese paintings, including "Suiboku-ga", which have been depicted since ancient times, and expresses "Beauty of Japan" unparalleled in the world through the medium of photography with a uniquely "Japanese sense of beauty". He places particular emphasis on the "flow of time" and takes fantastic photographs of night scenes such as fireflies, long exposures, and ICM (Intentional Camera Movement), expressing the "mononoaware" ,"fuzei", "wabi" and "sabi".Japan is an elongated island nation with a complex topography of mountains, rivers, and oceans unparalleled in the world, as well as four distinct seasons and a varied climate. The Japanese people, who have lived in harmony with nature with a view of nature that is both reverent and fearful of nature, which sometimes takes away lives, have developed a unique religious view and a sense of beauty based on nature. They have also discovered a unique aesthetic sense characterized by simplicity, tranquility, harmony, and the flow of time, as well as the "mononoaware", "fuzei", "wabi" and "sabi".Although the majority of Japanese people are said to be non-religious, this sense of beauty has been passed down from ancient times to the present. It has taken root not only in the arts, but also in the details of food, housing, behavior, and way of life, and has influenced corporate philosophy and political ethics. To consider the Japanese sense of beauty is to question its value in society and to consider how it can be applied to an ever-changing world.Besides the content of his work, Hiroike's main concern is "ultra-high resolution. He has a large printer at home that can handle 44-inch wide paper rolls and a panel laminator that can handle 1600 mm wide paper, and he prints, panels, and frames 2 m x 1 m photographs. Since he considers the final form of a photograph to be "a large print framed," it is necessary to take ultra-high-resolution photographs. For this reason, he uses a digital camera with 60 megapixels and a single focal length lens as much as possible. He also uses a tripod for most of his shoots, and focuses manually, and does research on super-resolution and other post-processing on his PC.

Hiroike was born in 1962 and has been a systems engineer and programmer for over 30 years. He developed a program to create photo slideshows, which led him to start taking photographs seriously. He started his career as a professional photographer in 2020 by winning 2nd place in the professional category and nature/wildlife category at the Sony World Photography Awards. Hiroike is a self-taught photographer and has grown his photography and career by entering photo contests.[Awards]2015 Olympus Open Photo Contest Grand Prix2020 Sony World Photography Awards Professional “Natural World and Wildlife” 2nd2020 IPA（International Photo Awards）Professional Nature-Astrophotography 2nd2023 LensCulture Critics‘ Choice 2023 winner (Selected by Christie’s Darius Himes)