Shigeru Tamura (photographer)

Shigeru Tamura
田村茂
circa 1948
Born	田村寅重 (1909-02-28)28 February 1909  Japan, Sapporo, Hokkaido
Died	16 December 1987(1987-12-16) (aged 78)
Nationality	Japan
Occupation	photojournalist
Known for	creator of the portrait of Osamu Dazai

Shigeru Tamura (田村 茂, Tamura Shigeru, 28 February 1909 – 16 December 1987) was a Japanese photographer notable for his work in fashion and photojournalism.

Tamura was born in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. Shigeru was an assumed name; Tamura's personal name was probably Torashige.^[1] He studied photography at the Oriental School of Photography (オリエンタル写真学校, Orientaru Shashin Gakkō); graduating in 1929. With Yoshio Watanabe, in 1935 he set up a studio for advertising and other photography in Ginza, Tokyo. He was highly successful as a fashion photographer, notably in work for the magazine Fujin Gahō from 1937. Together with Ken Domon and others, he set up the Young People's Photojournalism Research Society (Seinen Hōdōshashin Kenkyūkai) in 1938.

Tamura emerged from the war as a photographer of social issues in Japan, approaching them from a pacifist and left-wing angle. He also traveled, producing books on the Arab world and North Vietnam. In 1963 he set up the Japan Realist Photographers Association (Nihon Riarizumu Shashin Shūdan).

In the 1970s Tamura documented the topography and cultural patrimony of Japan. He died in 1987.