Toyo Miyatake

Born in Takashino Village (now Manno Town), Nakatado District Kagawa Prefecture. His real name was Toyoo. In 1909, Miyatake emigrated to the United States. Aspiring to become a painter, his mother opposed the idea, so he turned to photography. In 1918, Miyatake learned photography for four months at the photography class by Harry Kinji Shigeta in Los Angeles and established his own studio in 1923. He formed a friendship with Edward Weston, with whom Shigeta also had a connection. Even though Miyatake was not a member of the Japanese Camera Pictorialists of California (JCPC), he participated in their exhibitions. Miyatake worked as Michio Ito’s exclusive photographer, and Yumeji Takehisa, who arrived in the United States in 1931, also frequented Miyatake’s studio. In 1932, he photographed the Los Angeles Olympics as a news photographer. During World War II, he was interned at the Manzanar Internment Camp and documented life there with a handmade camera. Eventually, thanks to Weston’s advice to the camp director, Miyatake was granted official permission to take photographs in the camp. He also collaborated with Ansel Adams to document scenes of Manzanar, both of whom were friends with each other before the war.