Alan Miyatake, a Sansei, was born in 1953 in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in the Boyle Heights neighborhood and later in Montebello, where he attended grade and high school. He attended East LA Community College before joining the family business. His paternal grandfather, Toyo Miyatake, owned a photography studio and was an important figure in the Japanese American community. Both his maternal and paternal families were incarcerated at Manzanar, a World War II–era incarceration camp, where Toyo smuggled in a camera and eventually became a camp photographer. In this interview, Miyatake discusses his early life, parents and extended family, early memories of both Boyle Heights and Montebello, significance of sports with growing up, role of his Japanese heritage, his Japanese American identity, career aspirations, learning about his family's incarceration, Toyo's photography studio, learning to do photography himself, eventually taking over the family's photography studio, visiting Manzanar, and the legacy of his family and grandfather.