Collecting together some of Shigeichi Nagano's magazine photos from the sixties, (some from the fifties too), this new book from publisher Heibonsha, is a great introduction into the photographer's work. Featuring colour and black and white images, it also comes in Japanese/English text, with a preface by Manabu Torihara, which gives excellent information on Nagano's history and influences, a brief biography is included as well as an interview with Shigeichi Nagano giving brief explanations behind the photographs.
Born in Oita prefecture in 1925, he studied at Keio University in 1942, after graduating he worked as a magazine editor. In 1958 Nagano visited Hong Kong for two months, and when he returned to Japan he exhibited the photographs he took there, which are collected in this book. At the end of the sixties he was the photographic editor at Asahi journal, where he employed among others Daido Moriyama. In 1965 he collabarated with Kon Ichikawa on the film Tokyo Olympiad.
The photo's themselves are much like the photo-journalism of Cartier Bresson, who together with Robert Capa was a major influence on Nagano. Nagano's pictures include elements of street photography, catching Japan unposed, one of the pictures I'm sure uses montage, a beach scene where the sea seems to overlap with the sand which reminded of Nakaji Yasui's montage pieces. Along with photographers like Ken Domon and Ihei Kimura, Nagano was part of the growing school of photo-realism in Japan. Some pages of the book can be seen at the link below. The book is available here and here.
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