May 13--Toyo Miyatake

Toyo Miyatake was born in Japan, and came to California as a teenager. He took up photography shortly after his arrival, and studied with Edward Weston. He eventually opened a studio in the Little Tokyo area of Los Angeles.

After the outbreak of World War II, he and his family were sent to the Manzanar concentration camp. Manzanar was one of 10 internment camps established in desolate areas of the American West to house the more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans who were forced to abandon their homes and businesses because of government fears that their loyalties lay with Japan.

Although it was strictly prohibited, Miyatake smuggled in a camera lens and film holder, and built a camera out of scrap wood. He is one of a handful of photographers (including Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange) to capture life inside Manzanar during the Japanese internment, and was the only Manzanar photographer who was himself an internee.

One of my final portfolio projects for photography class is to write a profile of a photographer.
When I visited Manzanar last summer, there was an interactive exhibit in the visitor center where one could choose a tag at random and learn about one of the internees. I happened to select Toyo Miyatake. It was a moment that had particular meaning for me.