shji take take shji born 1920 is a japanese photographer famous for portraits and nudestake was born in yokosuka which later became suka then kakegawa shizuoka on 15 may 1920 the oldest son of a father who worked in the sake industry and a mother who performed on the koto and transverse flute the boys mother died when he was six and he moved to the house of his fathers elder sister his younger brother moved to another house both in yokosuka while his father tried and failed in the transportation industry and quickly moved to tokyo a year later the boy moved to the house of a rich family still in yokosuka he started at school quickly showing an aptitude for drawing gaining a special mention in a national contestshji moved to tokyo with his father in 1928 living in nippori with his fathers new wife he became a keen photographer when very youngtake joined the army but was able to work as a photographer in 1947 he managed to attach himself to ghq for which he photographed singers and actresses at the ernie pyle theatre from 1949 he became involved in a succession of photographic organizations as he continued work as a photojournalist starting in 1951 he spent five years photographing classical and other musicians from around the world during their stays in japan these photographs were published in asahi camera and in 1955 were collected in the highly praised book world musicians he was also publishing nude photographs in the magazines camera and photo artfrom the 1950s through the 1970s take moved to become the top photographer of women in japan for five years from 1971 take photographed housewives and ol nude sometimes together with their babies or small children also nude on nippon television this work too was later collected into booksby the 1980s takes fame and commercial success as a portraitist and photographer of nudes had eclipsed his earlier and very different work republication within the volume dedicated to him of the series shwa shashin zenshigoto 1982 and the publication the following year of haruka naru uta brought it great acclaimbesides photography take has also worked as television screenwriter and an essayist as a photographer he has remained active in his late 80samong the photographers who have trained under take are mineko orisaku and sanae numata