Sakae Tamura

(September 17, 1906 – July 22, 1987) was a Japanese photographer and a prominent figure in the New Photography movement in the years before the war.

Born in Ōtsu, Shiga Prefecture, Tamura graduated from the Tokyo College of Photography (now Tokyo Polytechnic University) and entered Oriental Photo Industrial in 1928 and became editor of Photo Times. He was an active contributor to the magazine and in Japan Photography Association (, Nihon Kōga Kyōkai), created in 1928 and a successor to the Japan Photographic Art Association (, Nihon Kōga Geijutsu Kyōkai). He was a leading figure in the (, Shinkō Shashin Kenkyūkai), formed in 1930.

Tamura's work was influenced both by pictorialism and by New Photography.

Tamura is particularly known for his portraits, and Shiroi hana (, White flower, 1931) is the best-known of these and widely anthologized. Okatsuka says that it expresses a certain lyricism but “displays a more sophisticated sense of maturity” than the works of his contemporaries Masataka Takayama and Jun Watanabe.

Books by Tamura

Seibutsu shashin no utsushikata . Tokyo: Sōgeisha, 1952. A guide to photographing still lifes. Sakuga no daiippo . Tokyo: Genkōsha, 1954. A guide to the practice of photography.