<Begin Segment 14>

SY: At the time, do you remember reflecting a little about your experiences in camp?

RN: Oh, yeah. No, that was definitely a kind of... especially the work of W. Eugene Smith, he does these really nice profiles. He did an African American midwife in the south, he did one on a country doctor, kind of everyday people, not the rich and famous. So I loved those things. And I saw an exhibit by, called "The Family of Man" put together by a famous photographer, Edward Steichen, and then I really saw from a really international viewpoint, photography that kind of said something about people and those kind of cultural universals. And so all of those. But that clicked, not as much as later, but I thought that I could do something on Japanese Americans. Not camp, 'cause that's still... I was still part of the Nisei generation that I don't want to deal with that. But I did a nice essay on my father, it was kind of like the "Day in the Life of a Gardener," which I can't find the negatives. I'm killing myself. But I really liked that. And then I did a nice... I think a nice piece on a cousin coming from Kagoshima and her getting used to the U.S., I did a short piece on her. So that's what I wanted to do.

SY: And you, at that time, the Dorothea Lange pictures on camp, the War Relocation photos?

RN: I didn't see that 'til later. I just saw her stuff on the '30s, the Depression, the dust bowl and all of that, but I didn't know Ansel Adams had shot at Manzanar or Dorothea Lange had done that. That wasn't until later.

SY: So you mentioned that you did this "Day in the Life" of your father, was there any social stigma attached to being the son of a gardener at that time, do you remember during your childhood?

RN: Yeah, during my childhood -- 'cause once again I lived on, I went to school on the wrong side, or the right side of the... and my friends in high school, their fathers were lawyers or doctors or whatever, and they had cars and I didn't. During Easter they went to Avalon and I had to work with my dad. And during the summers they'd talk about going here and there. So that, yeah, I felt, was more economic, more class than anything else. So I kind of felt that. But I'm trying to think... not a lot.

SY: Did you work with him? You said you helped him a little.

RN: Oh, yeah.

SY: A lot, huh?

RN: Yeah, I'll never, never do gardening.

SY: You don't take care of your garden at home?

RN: I don't. And it took me the longest time to hire somebody 'cause I had access to all my dad's tools and everything. And I said, "I'm not going to do this," so I hired someone. But that was hard to do. Yeah, I worked every weekend all summer. I know that had some kind of impact on me. I'm not going to do manual labor. [Laughs] 'Cause it's really hard work, so from when I was ten years old, eleven years old 'til my senior year in high school, I worked the weekends with my dad. Well, some Sundays, but I'd work Saturday for sure, and then he had other... and then Sundays, but all summer. I used to hate summer was coming. I didn't like the idea. And I'd love it when it rains, so can't go to work.

SY: 'Cause I know I've heard from other gardeners' sons, kind of taking care of other people's... who could afford a gardener, it was very divisive.

RN: Oh, yeah. And you could really see the class difference. Yeah, I saw...

SY: Making you feel a little less than.

RN: Oh, yeah. My dad was good, so he worked with some very prominent people, movie stars and all of that, who really had a lot more money than we did.

SY: But by the time you got through to the Art Center, you decided to do this photo essay. Was that how --

RN: I did that during, when I was at Art Center. I did it as one of my assignments.

SY: Right, and that was, you remember the impetus for that particular...

RN: It was from the photojournalists that I talked about that I really liked.

SY: And your dad didn't have any trouble?

RN: My dad's really good. He knows exactly, he knew exactly what I wanted. I think he could have been an actor in another life, 'cause I'd just sit him down, "Can you do this?" And he'd just get right in there and I'd just... so my dad was very good. He knew what I wanted.

SY: And what was he, what was his reaction when he saw it?

RN: You know, it's like my mom, anything I do is great.

SY: And what was your brother doing at the time?

RN: My brother was going to school, yeah, six years younger...

SY: Not real close. You weren't close.

RN: Yeah, right.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.