Yasushi Nagao
Yasushi Nagao in 1961
Born(1930-05-20)May 20, 1930
DiedMay 2, 2009(2009-05-02) (aged 78)
Known fortaking a picture of the Assassination of Inejirō Asanuma

Yasushi Nagao (長尾 靖, Nagao Yasushi, 20 May 1930 – 2 May 2009) was a Japanese press photographer.

Nagao is best known for his photograph of Otoya Yamaguchi assassinating Japanese Socialist Party politician Inejiro Asanuma. At the time Nagao was a cameraman working for Mainichi Shimbun; Hisatake Abo, Nagao's picture editor, told Nagao to cover a debate at Hibiya Hall. As Yamaguchi charged Asanuma, Nagao changed the focus to fifteen feet from ten feet.[1]

"Tokyo Stabbing", Nagao's famous photograph

Nagao won the 1960 World Press Photo of the Year award and the 1961 Pulitzer Prize. The first award allowed Nagao to travel abroad widely, impossible for most Japanese people at the time.[2]

Nagao left the newspaper in 1962 and became a freelance photographer.[3]

Nagao was discovered collapsed in his bathroom on 2 May 2009. It is believed he died of natural causes.[3]

Notes

  1. ^ John Faber, Great News Photos and the Stories Behind Them, 2nd ed. (New York: Dover, 1978), no. 58, p. 126 (Google Books).
  2. ^ Untitled page about this photograph, "In pictures: 50 years of photojournalism", BBC
  3. ^ a b "Japan's first Pulitzer Prize winning photo journalist dies" Archived 2009-05-05 at the Wayback Machine. The Mainichi Daily News. May 4, 2009.

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