Honorable Mention / 2024 / Nature / Landscape

• Photographer
  Hajime Hirano, Japan
• Studio
  2525link
• Website
  https://2525link.net/
• Instagram
  https://www.instagram.com/2525link/

My hometown, Saga Prefecture, is one of Japan's leading producers of wheat. I have been shooting wheat fields for the past 7 years. After the harvest, some farmers burn the straw back to the soil. From the air, this burning wheat field looks like a phoenix. This is not a design that was intentionally burned by a farmers. It is a silhouette that was created by chance.

My hometown, Saga Prefecture, is hidden famous production area of wheat in Japan. I have taken 70,000 photos of wheat fields for the past 7 years. By fascination of those vitality, I obtained a trademark registration for "mugigrapher®︎," means "a photographer specializing in wheat and barley" in Japanese.
"Unusual always exists with usual days. Decay also exists with beauty." This perspective is connected to all of my photographic stances, including street snaps.

Awards I won "Sony World Photography Awards" 2023 Japan National Awards 1st Place and 2nd Place in the same category in 2024.