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Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Toyo Miyatake

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Toyo Miyatake, (Photographer)

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Tōyō Miyatake, photographer at Manzanar, 1943.
Reason
Fine example of Ansel Adams's artistry as a portrait photographer.
Proposed caption
Portrait of Tōyō Miyatake (1896–1979) by Ansel Adams, 1943. Miyatake was a Japanese American internee and camp photographer at Manzanar War Relocation Camp during World War II. A studio photographer prior to his internment, Miyatake started taking photos at Manzanar with an improvised camera fashioned from parts he smuggled into the camp. His activity was discovered after nine months, but camp director Ralph Merritt supported the endeavor and allowed him to have his stored studio equipment shipped to the camp and continue the project. Initially a camp guard had to release the shutter for him after Miyatake had positioned the camera, but this procedure was later abandoned. Miyatake met and befriended Adams at the camp and in 1979 they published a book together, Two Views of Manzanar.
Articles this image appears in
Tōyō Miyatake, Manzanar
Creator
Ansel Adams
How many potraits have you seen with the head tilted at a direction? That's the reason. --Kalyan 05:18, 24 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
It is unusual as a portrait in the way it's looking up at his face against the sky. It has the feel of a candid. --Dhartung | Talk 12:28, 26 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support THE photographer. -Fcb981 15:49, 23 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. Of course! What say we go ahead and nominate all Ansel Adams' free content works. :) He actually hasn't had too many so far. Because Adams' published works are pretty much technically perfect, the only criticism I could find is that it's not really "compelling... making the viewer want to know more," but that'd be pretty picky. --Peter 17:41, 23 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose I'll probably be a lone voice here, but I just don't like it, nor any of his people shots for that matter. I really don't understand why the acknowledged grand master of dynamic black & white landscape photography should have produced such a raft of uninspiring, staid and unimaginatively composed portraits. His contemporary, Cartier-Bresson, is in another class entirely (although I've never really liked HC-B's landscapes, to be fair..) I'd give this a couple of points for being by a notable photographer but its FP-worthiness ends there. mikaultalk 18:20, 23 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • You're not alone I dont like it either, so i oppose— Preceding unsigned comment added by Hadseys (talk • contribs)
      • Well, CB's are certainly more interesting (the Truman Capote shot especially) - but the standard is best of Wikipedia, not best of the world - and to me, this falls well, well within that range. Debivort 00:27, 24 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • I agree w/ Debivort; additionally, I don't think the quality of HCB's work (which I agree is very high) detracts from Adams's. Regardless, an Oppose vote is an Oppose vote. --Peter 14:58, 24 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
        • Fair point(s). My opposition is based on the "final analysis" of personal preference. I find the image washed-out and kind of average-looking, rather than exceptional. I like portraits to have *more*, somehow, than this one offers. It's really hard to relate the caption to the image, for example; none of that comes through the way it might with a more expert portraitist like HC-B, which is why I offered him up as an example of what's "wrong" here, IMO. mikaultalk 17:27, 24 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
          • Not to criticize your opinion, which you have every right to hold, but Cartier-Bresson's photographs are atmospheric celebrity portraits. Light and shadow are used to create an air of mystique, to elevate the celebrity from the everyday life. Adam's Manzanar pictures on the other hand are snapshots of internees, and his goal was to portray resilience under adverse conditions, and in particular to show that the internees were "people like us". So his nature photography technique would have been counterproductive for this portrait series. ~ trialsanderrors 19:35, 26 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
            • hmm, I'm really not sure this is such a casual snapshot. It looks like the studio set up described in the caption and would have been a formal sitting. The similarity of this applied approach to the very average (again, IMO) rendering of this snapshot is pertinent to his lack of accomplishment in this particular field. The other shot is an FP and maybe his notability as a photographer, plus the historical context, is enough for this one too. I just tend to look at images on their own merit, I guess, and I see little here which his compelling or inspiring in any way. 20:05, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
              • The restrictions mentioned in the caption were imposed on Miyatake, not on Adams. This is probably less of a point-and-shoot snapshot than it pretends to be, but clearly Adams's intent was to create a series of images that resemble snapshots, including portraits, still lives and pictures of everyday activities, along with his well-known nature photographs. The full book can be seen here. ~ trialsanderrors 22:09, 26 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
                • Adams surely used the studio kit that his friend was eventually allowed to keep, though, and used it for obviously formal sittings like this one. The book is wonderful, but it's also a fine example of the point at issue: there are stunning landscapes, a number of spontaneous-looking snaps as you say but there are a large number of rather stiffly-posed, poorly-lit formal portraits which don't seem to make any attempt at a "snapshot feel" and which do demonstrate a lack of finesse in that particular field. I really don't have a problem with them, they're undoubtedly a valuable addition to the book, but neither they nor the candidate shot here are photographs worthy of individual accolade, in my opinion.. mikaultalk 23:03, 26 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. A free image with this type of quality is hard to find. tiZom(2¢) 19:01, 23 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. I think it's a great portrait, with high enc value. And scanned wonderfully. Even Ansel Adams, known for his pickyness in print quality, might have approved. Zakolantern 17:08, 25 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose Sorry Ansel, I love your landscapes but I'm gonna have to agree with mikaul on this one. It does look kind of washed-out. Spebudmak 05:05, 26 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support, slightly informal and lighting is problematic but it's still of superior technical and compositional quality. --Dhartung | Talk 12:28, 26 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Manzanar portrait Toyo Miyatake 00100u.jpg MER-C 03:40, 29 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

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