Ansel Adams “Manzanar from Guard Tower” – It’s Complicated

Ansel Adams “Manzanar from Guard Tower” – It’s Complicated

Introduction

December 7th, 1941, “a date that will live in infamy” -President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. That was of course the day Japan bombed the American naval base, Pearl Harbor. Killing over 2,400 Americans and damaging or sinking 19 U.S. Naval ships. The bombing hurled the United States into World War II against the Axis powers of Japan, Germany and Italy. It was also the catalyst for one of the darkest chapters in American history. During WWII the American government relocated 110,000 Japanese Americans, 2/3 of whom were born in the United States, and placed them into internment camps (Teicher, 2015). 

In 1943, at the behest of the Manzanar internment camp, located in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, about 200 miles north of Los Angeles. Ansel Adams would take a series of photos. Some have criticized these photos as an instrument of government propaganda. Others believe that’s an unfair characterization of Adams’s work at Manzanar and one Adams would disagree with.

Adams once wrote, “All in all, I think this Manzanar Collection is an important historical document, and I trust it can be put to good use. The purpose of my work was to show these people, suffering under a great injustice, and loss of property, businesses and professions, had overcome the sense of defeat and despair by building for themselves a vital community in an arid (but magnificent) environment.” (Adams, 1980). 

Personal perspective

I chose this photo because it fills me with mixed emotions. I’ve been to Manzanar a hand full of times. Driven past it many more. I’ve backpacked throughout the Sierra Nevada and have been to the top of Mt. Williamson, the mountain in the background of the photo. I love that part of California. I hate its history.

I don’t know how old I was when I became aware of Manzanar but it was likely on a fishing trip with my dad, headed to Convict Lake. You say the pledge of allegiance every morning, get told you live in the greatest country in the world and one day you find out they imprisoned their own citizens for no reason. It’s unsettling.

I’m also a fan of Adams. I love nature and his photography is inspiring. His Manzanar collection is full of beautiful photos but the history is heart-wrenching. Part of me agrees with the criticism he’s received. His photos of Manzanar feel a little whitewashed. But they also fit his style. You don’t buy a Taylor Swift record and expect it to sound like Slayer. It’s hard to be too critical of someone’s work when It’s authentic to them and it’s good. 

And I have to remind myself that nothing is all one thing. History is often told in absolute terms but in the moment, nothing feels absolute. If Toyo Miyatake and Ansel Adams can become friends, I should be able to reconcile my feelings about this photo and take it for what it is. A talented photographer, taking a picture of a horrible tragedy in a place I love.

Historical perspective

Manzanar from Guard Tower was taken sometime in late October 1943. Pistol Packin Mama by Al Dexter was the number one single in the country, the New York Yankees led by catcher Bill Dickey (Joe DiMaggio enlisted in the Army that year) won the World Series in five games, a gentlemen’s sweep, over the Saint Louis Cardinals. A month later Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill would meet in Tehran to discuss military strategy. Interestingly the 1st and 2nd highest-grossing pictures were both movies about World War 1, “This is the Army” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. Reminiscent of movies like “Mash” offering a parable to Vietnam without actually being about Vietnam in 1970. War was in the zeitgeist. 

That same year Zoot Suiters would fight with navy sailors in Los Angeles amid rising racial tension and an influx of military bases in Los Angeles. Those bases along with industrialization would become a major driver of the Southlands economy for years to come (Los Angeles Times, 2009).  

On November 1st, 1943, around the time, Adams was at Manzanar, the Japanese internment camp at Tule Lake saw a peaceful protest during a visit by War Location Director Dillion S. Myer. Between 5,000 to 10,000 men, women and children surrounded the administration building and forced Myer to make improvements to the camp (Shuttleworth & Patterson, 2021).

In 1943 the Allies were making strides but the war was still very much in question. Edward R. Murrow was becoming famous for his wartime correspondence, broadcast into American homes via the radio. America was at the precipice of the military-industrial complex, suburbanization and an impending civil rights movement brought on in many ways by the cultural shifts that begin during this period.

Technical perspective

Ansel Adams famously started a club of photographers who called themselves f/64. f/64 is the smallest aperture setting on the View Camera, the type of camera Adams used for his pictures. A smaller aperture lets in less light which gives the photo a larger depth of field which is good for the landscape photos Adams is famous for. The View Camera is essentially a box with an accordion-like center that can be manipulated to bring a subject into focus. Adams was a master with his View Camera but there’s more to photography than just the camera.

There’s a saying in photography, zoom with your feet. Adams, himself once said, “A good photograph is knowing where to stand.” Adams practiced what’s called, visualization. Meaning, he imagined the shot before taking the picture. He knew how he wanted it to look in his mind and had the patience to wait until the conditions were right (Adams, 1980).

But his most renowned technical achievement came in how he developed his photos. Adams created what’s called a Zone System. The Zone System consisted of ten zones where the darkest zone would be given the value of I and the lightest the value of X (he used Roman numerals). Using this technique Adams in his own words could, “expose for the shadows; develop for the highlights.” Many of his negatives look nothing like his finished product (Adams, 1980).

Ethical perspective - Utilitarianism

The ethics of Adams Manzanar photographs are complicated. On the one hand, Adams is documenting a dark time in American history and it’s good we have them. On the other, Adams was of European descent, photographing a Japanese internment camp for the United States government. His photos were intended to put a positive spin on the people in the internment camps but some saw it as propaganda (Partridge, 2022).

Adams is rightfully considered one of the world’s finest photographers of natural landscapes. His Manzanar photos are in line with the rest of his work. The criticism of his Manzanar collection is not its quality but its impact on the public. It’s a palatable view of the camps. Maybe too palatable. Still, many Americans label him a “Jap lover” and his initial showing of the photos in San Francisco ended early due to public outrage. Adams was criticized on both sides (Feeny, 2016). 

It’s impossible to talk about the ethics of this photo without talking about the other two photographers known for their Manzanar photos. Dorothea Lange and Toyo Miyatake. Lange and Adams were friends although Lange was critical of Adams’s Manzanar collection. She also was invited to take photos of the camp but hers showed the human condition. Lange was a social justice warrior before the term existed and it showed in her work. Lange once said of Adams’s political views, “He’s ignorant on these matters, he isn’t acutely aware of social change.” (Shuttleworth & Patterson, 2021).

Miyatake’s photos are even more indicative of life in the camps because he was a prisoner at Manzanar. A photographer before the war, Miyatake smuggled a camera lens into the camp with him and constructed a homemade camera to document the goings on. Even with primitive technology, Miyatake’s photography was visually impressive but more importantly, it was brave. He risked his life to document Manzanar, something neither Lange nor Adams had to worry about. Miyatake and Adams would become friends over the course of Adams’s visits. For all the criticism Adams Manzanar collection received, he took a utilitarian view of his work and the world is better for it.     

Cultural perspective

Adams is synonymous with California culture. His photos of places like Yosemite have shaped the world’s impressions of California for decades. The story of this particular photograph is not the story of Adams or even California though. It’s the story of the fortitude of the Japanese American people and the hypocrisy and cruelty of the American government. Without context, it’s reasonable to see this as a picture of a beautiful mountain range and what appears to be a small work camp. Context matters. This photo was taken from a guard tower designed to keep men, women and children from escaping. Americans, imprisoned for years, without due process. The photo takes on a different cultural perspective given that context.  

That cultural throughline may seem like an archaic part of American history but we just had a President who didn’t think Muslims should be allowed into this country. These cultural battles persist to this day. The photo represents cultural differences and bigotry. Not in the abstract but in government policy. From on high the United States imprisoned 110,000 citizens. Although this photo may not be as culturally memorable as photos like the sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square, the meaning and depth behind it tell of an ugly part of American culture.

Critical perspective

Adams was well-known to the general public and well-respected within the photographer community. Adams is perhaps the most decorated American photographer. He received a Doctorate of Arts from both Harvard and Yale. He was awarded the Conservation Service Award by the Department of the Interior, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Sierra Club John Muir Award. He’s also had many awards posthumously named after him including the Sierra Club’s, “Ansel Adams Award for Conservation”.   

Compared to his other work “Manzanar from Guard Tower” is not particularly impressive. Mount Williamson is an imposing, beautiful figure but the buildings are drab and the photo lacks the contrast of his pictures of half dome or snake river. This photo is more historically significant than visually significant (Hoving, 2015).   

Conclusion

My personal perspective shifted many times while researching this paper. Ansel Adams is not someone looked upon as a controversial figure, so it is interesting to read criticism of him. While the photo itself is not controversial, it’s not the Hart Park drowning photo or the Vulture and the Little Girl. It doesn’t immediately evoke a particular feeling. The context around it does. The context includes; race, war, hypocrisy, cruelty, perseverance, loyalty, patriotism, sacrifice, justice. It’s complicated. Adams was a fine photographer but he was also rich, affluent and white documenting the Japanese American experience during WWII.  

Throughout this assignment, I kept asking myself, am I team Lange or team Adams? The answer is I’m team Lange. Her criticisms are fair. As well-intentioned as Adams was, and I believe he was, Adams saw Manzanar as a triumph of the human spirit. Lange saw it as a tragedy. Lange was right. I can’t help but look at this photo and think, Adams was a bootlicker.

 References

Partridge, E. (n.d.). Seen and unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams's photographs reveal about the Japanese American incarceration. School Library Journal. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://www.slj.com/review/seen-and-unseen-what-dorothea-lange-toyo-miyatake-and-ansel-adamss-photographs-reveal-about-the-japanese-american-incarceration

Teicher, J. G. (2015, September 15). Ansel Adams' rare photos of everyday life in a Japanese internment camp. Slate Magazine. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://slate.com/culture/2015/09/ansel-adams-photographs-manzanar-war-relocation-center-in-the-exhibition-manzanar-the-wartime-photographs-of-ansel-adams-at-the-skirball-cultural-center.html

Adams, A. (1980). The New Ansel Adams Photography Series. Amazon. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://www.amazon.com/Ansel-Adams-Camera-Photography/dp/0821221841

Hoving, K. (2017, September 26). Ansel Adams, Mount Williamson, Sierra Nevada, from Manzanar, California, 1944. Land and Lens. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://sites.middlebury.edu/landandlens/2016/10/05/ansel-adams-mount-williamson-sierra-nevada-from-manzanar-california-1944/

Los Angeles Times. (2020, September 28). An examination of the Times' failures on race, our apology and a path forward. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-09-27/los-angeles-times-apology-racism

Feeny, M.-. (2016, September 1). Let's be honest, Ansel Adams's images of a WWII internment camp are propaganda - the Boston Globe. BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://c.o0bg.com/arts/theater-art/2016/08/31/ansel-adams-images-manzanar-internment-camp-are-moving-disquieting/KPVfsij9eOOUpqa9kxBX8I/story.html

Shuttleworth, J., & Patterson, T. (n.d.). Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange at Manzanar: - scholarshare.temple.edu. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://scholarshare.temple.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.12613/7139/Patterson-JournalArticle-2021-09.pdf?sequence=1