They Look Like Paintings,

but they are not,

 these pictures, are the work of the Japanese photographer Kenij Toma, who has created a highly contemporary and hyper-realistic photographs inspired by traditional Japanese painting style, 

 “Dating back many centuries, Western botanical illustrations were primarily used to depict the details of plant species for the identification of specimens with medicinal properties,” explains Kyohei Abe, Executive Director of the Detroit Centre for Contemporary Photography, Kenji Toma is doing the opposite, but with a camera, which is designed capture realism,

 currently based in New York, Toma is a commercial photographer to create the pictures for his new photobook “The Most Beautiful Flowers,” which are both hyper-realistic to the point of looking artificial, Toma utilized a process called focus-bracket shooting, it’s a method of photography often employed to shoot close-up, macro photos in which the final photograph is a composite of several images of the subject with each element in full focus, 

“Hyper-realism allows him to capture the specimen’s idealised beauty, creating a work that is deeply modern, yet in harmony with a rich Japanese history and tradition.”

Toma’s photobook is available through German publisher Kehrer Verlag, several selected prints are also going to be on display at the Tokyo gallery 916 Small from September 16 – October 15, 2017, check the gallery’s website for hours, there is a 800 yen general admission fee, but back to the photographs, they really do look like they are paintings, fascinating.