Wildlife / Animals nominee

I have been following and photographing wild orangutans living in the forests of Bukit Lawang, Indonesia, six times so far, at a pace of once every three months. By spending a long time in the same space as the orangutans, I’ve come to notice the “lines” drawn by their bodies. I believe these lines reach beyond humans and other primates, touching the very essence of life. These lines blur as the orangutans swiftly move through the forest, blending with the lines created by the surrounding vegetation, and resonating deeply within us.
With my anthropological background, I desire to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be human through the study of great apes like orangutans. While they are similar to humans, orangutans are a distinctly different kind of animal. I want to approach them not as rare wild animals captured in nature photography but as familiar beings—our “neighbors”—like the people we pass by in the streets.
Just like viewing street photography, I hope people can feel the orangutans as something familiar in their presence.

After graduating from Shinjuku High School in Tokyo, Shohei Yoshida studied in the United States for eight years to find something uniquely his own. He studied anthropology and photography at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh and wrote a master's thesis at Western Michigan University’s Department of Anthropology, portraying the lives of Jamaican coffee farmers through photographs and poetry. During his studies, he also participated in an exchange program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
After returning to Japan, he joined support efforts for the Tohoku earthquake and worked as an NPO staff member assisting victims in Otsuchi, Iwate. Later, after working as an international interpreter and a corporate employee, he reunited with his college friend, and together they established I&S Photography Studio, launching his career as a professional photographer. Currently, he travels to the jungles of Sumatra every three months, photographing orangutans in search of something that flows at the core of humanity.
He has studied photography under photographers Sue Lezon and Masato Seto. In August 2024, he held a solo exhibition titled "Floating Family." He received the runner-up prize at Limelight 2024, hosted by OM SYSTEM.