Interviews

1. His father describes the importance of photographing camp life

2. His father didn't spend too much time with the family

Miyatake,Archie

(1924-2016) Photographer and businessman.

His father didn't spend too much time with the family

He didn't spent too much time with the family. He was really, pretty 100%, into his work that he loved so much. But once in a while, he'll take us to snow or something. Boy, it's a big treat for us because we hardly ever get to go anywhere. Even then, he would have his camera with him. Once we'd get there he'd park the car, and you look around for him - he's gone. Never see him until about four or five o'clock when the sun starts going down and it's time to go home - it's getting cold. Then you wonder where father is...far way beyond, he's walking back towards the car. Soon as he gets to the car he says, "Okay lets go home." And all that time he's roaming around taking photographs of scenery.

Date: March 22, 2001

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Robert Nakamura, Karen Ishizuka

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Archie Miyatake, the son of famed photographer Toyo Miyatake, was born in Los Angeles in 1924. In 1942 he was incarcerated in the Manzanar concentration camp where he and his family were confined for the duration of World War II—and where he graduated from high school. A photographer himself, Archie continued to run the Toyo Miyatake Studio in Little Tokyo after his father’s death in 1979, eventually moving the business to its current location in San Gabriel, California. He passed away on December 20, 2016, at age 92. (December 2016)