Beyond beautiful landscapes, the "present moment" of Earth.

In an age of advancing climate change and environmental destruction, the relationship between our lives and nature is reaching a major turning point.

Nature photographer Yosuke Kashiwakura has gone beyond mere beauty,
and has captured in his photographs the challenges facing Earth and the signs of change.

This page offers an opportunity, through Kashiwakura's works,
to re-examine the diverse expressions of nature and the current state of the environment behind them.

The "present" state of the Earth, hidden behind beautiful scenery.

In an age of advancing climate change and environmental destruction, the relationship between our lives and nature is at a major turning point.

Nature photographer Yosuke Kashiwakura has captured not just the beauty of nature, but also the challenges facing the Earth and the signs of change within it, in his photographs.

This page offers an opportunity to re-examine the diverse expressions of nature and the current state of the environment behind them, through Kashiwakura's works.

When discussing Yakushima, rain is indispensable. Moist winds from the ocean collide with the steep mountainous island, creating clouds and bringing abundant rain that nourishes the forest. The constant rain throughout the year is also the source that nurtures life on this island.

Water falling from the sky flows down the mountainside to the sea. From this simple process, countless lives are born in the interim. Without exception, humans have also benefited from this life-giving force, and can thus be counted among the beings that thrive in this interim.

Yakusugi (Japanese cedar) trees grow slowly, resulting in a fine grain, and the older the tree, the more oil accumulates in its wood. This is why even after falling, they are resistant to decay, and it is said that they return to the earth over the same number of years as their lifespan. Eventually, fallen trees become covered in moss, and new life sprouts, nourished by the moisture stored in the moss. Not only cedar sprouts, but countless other lives, including various tree species and fungi, grow using the fallen tree as a foundation. Fallen trees covered in life make the boundary between life and death seem ambiguous.

Standing in the narrow gap of near-eternity, you realize you're looking across thousands of years, from the past to the future. And you come to understand that eternity is a very quiet thing.

Standing in the forest, I'm reminded that humans, too, have cycled through life and death in the same way. Connecting precious lives to the next generation may be a somewhat hackneyed expression. Yet, in this forest, it is the simple truth. If everyone lives but for a moment in the expanse of eternity, perhaps connecting individual existences is indeed what it means to continue living.

He vigorously photographs nature-related themes both in Japan and abroad. Focusing on the rehabilitation of orangutans living in areas where civilization and wilderness collide, he published "Back to the Wild: Orangutans Who Lost Their Forests," a photo collection that took 15 years to produce. He held a touring exhibition titled "Orangutans and the Green Tsunami" at Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido, Ecorin Village, and Maruyama Zoo. His works have been exhibited at the "MOVING PICTURES Exhibition" organized by the BOS Foundation, the world's largest primate conservation support organization, as well as the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in the US, the Natural History Museum in London, and the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He has won awards such as the LensCulture Earth Awards, the National Geographic International Photo Contest, and Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and received the Monochrome Photography Awards / Landscape Photographer of the Year. He also serves as a judge for the Monochrome Photography Awards. In 2025, he launched an environmental photography project titled "Endless."