AK 旧 A TATEISHI ProfiIe 旧 1930 Akira Tateishi was born in Japan. 1956 he began scuba diving in search for new motifs for his paintings. This promp- ted him tO make a camera housing SO that he could photograph what he observed un- der water. Soon, however, hiS underwater photography t00k on an artistic quality, Of- fering Tateishi a new avenue Of expression. Tateishi held his first exhibition of under- water photography in 1957 and that same year was the cinematographer for an under- water motion picture documentary entitled "Umi ha lkite / Ⅲ作わ e living sea)". Spurred by his successes, Tateishi decided t0 merge his love Of art and his passion for the ocean and founded the MARINE ART CENTER in 1958 コ n same year, he received a prize from Shinseisaku-kyoukai. Tateishi made his first underwater 16mm movie "Kaitei no DOUbUtSU (Underwater AnimaIs)II in 1959 and the following years went on tO make 6 more. At the same time, Tateishi continued tO broaden his profes- sional horizons, he tired ice diving in Lake Yamanaka, Japan in 1964 , filmed the crash of an Air Nippon flight 0 幵 Haneda Airport in 1966 at a depth of 28 meters and in Ap- ril of the same year, designed an under- water camera housing which he called TA- TEISHI BRON ℃ A MARINE I . Later that year, his biography " 1000 Hours Of Under- water FilmingI went on sale. AS a consequence Of hiS growing recogni- tion and influence in his field, in 1967 Ta- teishi was requested by the Prime Minis- terls Office and the Undemater Marine Park Center tO SCOUt and recommend suitable sites for the underwater Marine Park in Oki- nawa. HiS continued interest in the techni- calaspects 0f underwater photographyled tO the successful de-sign Ofthe TATEISHI BRON ℃ A MARINEII . Among his more in- teresting assignments during the periOd 1967 / 68 were the filming of the wreck of the WorId WarIIship "Kumano" in the PhiI- ippines and the making 0f the commercial film "The Sea of Okinawa" commissioned by the Ryukyu Government (Ryukyu be- ing the ancient name Of Okinawa when it was an independent country) along with an- Other promotional film"Okinawa Ⅳ 0 tazu- nete 旧 1969 Tateishi further diversified his ac- tivities when he started Japan's first scu- ba diving magazine MARINE DIVING and tO further promote underwater photogra- phy, worked regularly with the magazines ASAHI, ASAHI CAMERA and ASAHI GRAPH. Some of his better known works tO be pub- lished in these magazines included his phO- tographs from the Maldives and the French Polynesia. Tateishi created a sensation in the photographic world in Japan when he published the first artistic nude photographs shOt underwater. Concurrently, Tateishi re- mained busy with a number 0f film projects for television. 旧 April 1971 , the 曰 S 印 BRONICA MAR- Ⅱ went on sale and during the same year Tateishi held an exhibition entitled わ e Art of the CoraI ReeflI at the Fuji Ph0t0 SaIon in Ginza,Tokyo. Tateishi was a 0 invited tO the Coca CO は BottlerIs event at Heron ー land(Great Barrier Reef) in Australia and worked on promotionalfilm for Quantas Air- ways and the Philippines Airlines (which he filmed in San Boanga). 旧 1972 , Putnam published a book of pho- tographs entitled "The Coral ReefII with text in English, French, Spanish and ltalian and Tateishi was the on ツ Japanese photog- rapher featured in this book.ln the follow- ing years and on hiS account, Tateishi published two b00ks titled "Umi no Saka- na(Fishes ofthe sea)'l and "Okinawa no San- gos わ 0 ( CO 「 a / Reefs in Okinawa)I along with a b00k on photography called 0 / Sekai no NakamatachiII. At the same time Tateishi continued tO exhibit his works regularly at various salons in Ginza, Harajuku and Ueno (alli n Tokyo). 旧 1975 Tateishi tried Sink Hall diving in Aus- tralia and appeared on the popular TV pro- gram " 11 PM" tO present this activity tO view- ers in Japan. His influence on the technical evolution 0f underwater photography was further enhanced with the appearance Of theTATElSHl CANON MARINE 16M. Ta- teishi SO became involved in technicaltrain- ing by conducting a course Of underwater photography at the Asahi Culture Center and giving lessons as an instructor.ln 1977 Tateishi went to Baja CaIifornia to film the giant grouper and 1978 started the Travel Diver magazine, UMI TO SHIMA NO TABI, the best beach and resort magazine. As a result Of all these achievements Ta- teishi came tO be recognized as a leader in his field and had the honour 0f having his works displayed in the T0kYO Museum in 1976. One of his photographs was used in the 0 幵 ic 回 stamp Of the Marine Park 0f iomote lsland, Okinawa. His MARINE ART CENTER (which he founded in 1958 ) was converted intO a jOint StOCk cooperation. 旧 1988 , Tateishi published MARINE PHO- TO,the first Magazine for Underwater phO- tographer in the WO d. For more than four decades Akira Tateishi has helped focus national attention on un- derwater photography through movies, tel- evision, newspaper magazines. T0day, Tateishi is still recognized as one Of the worldls leading photographers.