SHIOTANI Teiko

SHIOTANI Teiko 塩谷 定好 (1899-1988) Tottori Pref. Prominent member of Japan's pictorialist movement.

Interested in photography since grade school. In 1919, established the Akasaki Vest Club, a camera club. His photos were published numerous times in magazines such as Geijutsu Shashin Kenkyu and Photo Times.

In 1928, he was a founding member of Nihon Koga Kyokai. Became a prominent photographer of the San'in district (Tottori, Shimane, etc.)

He was part of the "Vesu-tan" (abbreviation for Vest Pocket Kodak Camera) movement which used pictorialist techniques. They removed the Vest Pocket Kodak Camera's lens hood and allowed the aberrations of the single lens element to produce a soft-focus effect. They therefore could create artistic photos without using an expensive lens like the Verito which was used by portrait studios at the time.

This Vesu-tan school of photographers also retouched the prints with oil paints. Shiotani photographed people, landscape, and other snapshots. His photographs, while retaining a earthy flavor, looked like decorative pictures which were like a different world.

Awards Honorary Award, Photokina 1982; Distinguished Contribution Award, Photographic Society of Japan, 1983; 1st Regional Culture Service Award, Minister of Education, 1983