TANNO Akira

TANNO Akira 丹野 章 (1925.8.8-) Tokyo. Prominent advocate of improving photographers' copyright laws in Japan.

Graduated Nihon Univ. Art Dept. While in college, started out as a photographer of ballet performances. Founding member of ViVo photographers agency from 1959 to 1961 which included TOMATSU Shomei and HOSOE Eikoh.

Freelance photographer from 1951. From 1965, delved into documentary photography covering social problems such as the Tokyo-Yokohama Industrial Belt, urban pollution, military bases, Okinawa, and Hiroshima.

From 1960 together with WATANABE Yoshio, Tanno worked to revise Japanese copyright laws for photographers.

In 1970 the copyright law was revised to stipulate that a photographer would have the copyright to a photograph for 50 years after the initial public display. Before that, it was only 10 years after the photograph's creation.

Tanno continues to work to improve photographers' rights in Japan. He serves as a key member in a number of copyright-related and photography-related organizations.

Awards Distinguished Service Award, 1998, Photographic Society of Japan