User talk:L h powers

 Hello L h powers, and Welcome to Wikipedia!  Welcome to Wikipedia! I hope you enjoy the encyclopedia and want to stay. As a first step, you may wish to read the Introduction.

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L h powers, good luck, and have fun. --Hoary (talk) 01:17, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

Arita Taiji
In this series of edits, you added such passages as:


 * When one sees the prints firsthand, the keen sensibility and sensual great beauty offer breathtaking moments. Even today, this series still expresses the fresh energy of the moments the images were made.

This is obviously commentary. The commentary may or may not be shared by people whose opinions matter. (My own opinions wouldn't matter; and as it happens I don't have any, because I haven't seen the prints at first hand.)

IFF such opinions have been published in art magazines and the like, then you can specify who it was who expressed them, and where. If on the other hand they are opinions that you (however justifiably) think should be shared by anybody with an educated appreciation of photography (or of art, or art photography, or whatever), then you can't add such material, and indeed you should promptly delete what you have already added.

Please also see "WP:NOR" and "WP:NPOV". -- Hoary (talk) 01:17, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for your taking the time to comment on the changes to Taiji's page Hoary. I made these changes because Masako Arita (Taiji's widow and business manager)  requested them. She provided me with the text after consulting w/ her Japanese collegues and I added it as a courtesy since her English and computer skills are limited. (And so are mine, but i've managed to get this far.) If I have somehow breached WP protocol, my apologies, however I did have a gallery in which Taiji showed his work and I can attest to his having been a unusually accomplished artist whose work compares to any of his Japanese peers both photographically and in other mediums. If you can offer me assistance in the proper way in which provide a WP entry for him, I welcome your help. L h powers (talk) 03:46, 10 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your candor, but you've made clear what I had suspected (and what many other readers here, less patient than myself, would suspect): That this is essentially advertising copy.


 * Please read and digest "WP:COI" and let's then edit the article so that it can avoid the unpleasant (and, usually, long-lasting) "advertising" and "conflict of interest" templates that it already deserves. (Example of the use of the former.)


 * In a few minutes, I shall return to the article and start this job. Your initial reaction may be of horror, but I urge you to read the policy pages to which I've pointed you before you reverse my changes. (This of course does not mean that my changes cannot be improved, or that you should not participate.) -- Hoary (talk) 04:15, 10 December 2011 (UTC)


 * I've now done about as much as I intend to do in the near future. The resulting article is highly problematic. The material about his time in the US lacks supporting evidence. There's not even any source given to back up the claim that he died. Please provide this. It does not have to be on the web, but it must be published and reliable. -- Hoary (talk) 08:54, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

I have spoken to Masako and she has a book that refers to Taiji's paintings and photographic work. I will be seeing her in the coming days to pick the book up and hopefully that will clear that up. As for verification of his being dead, I have photos of his body at his wake, and a copy of his death certificate, but these seem in appropriate to post. Frankly Hoary, I don't understand why you've taken it upon yourself to change something that has nothing to do with you and then walk away. Masako and I both want Taiji's Wiki page to be an honest reflection of who he was professionally and a testiment to his work, but obviously, we don't have necessary knowledge to meet Wikipedias standards on our own. If you no longer care to work on his page, please point me in the direction of someone who can help us get his entry right. Thank you, L h powers (talk) 20:43, 11 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Yes, Arita has nothing to do with me. This in no way disqualifies me from improving the article about him; if anything, it's the reverse. (NB I do not claim that I haven't made or won't make mistakes.)


 * Of course the article should not show a death certificate, let alone photographs of the body. The man was at least moderately well known (I knew of his "First Born" long before Wikipedia existed) and I am surprised (and disappointed) not to have yet seen an obituary or similar. Have you seen one? If so, you are very welcome to cite it. Again, it does not have to be on the web, but it does have to be published. (If there is nothing, then there's another way to get this matter sorted out, but it's more complex and I don't want to get into it yet.)


 * Maybe I expressed myself badly. I am not "walking away". There was a set of changes that I wanted to make in the short term, and I finished making them. I'm still here.


 * Here by comparison is an article on another Japanese photographer, of a similar age. Unlike Arita, he stayed in Japan -- but that means that a greater percentage of the material about him is in Japanese (a language I find painfully difficult to read). Just about every one of the tiniest claim about him is "sourced": the exhibitions alone account for footnotes 47 through 71 at the last count. All this "sourcing" is of course tedious work.


 * I understand that you are unfamiliar with the requirements here and the methods, and I'm willing to help you (or any other author of this article) with the work. Indeed I've already made a start at it. But now it's your turn (or somebody else's). Do your best, and I'll help tidy the result. -- Hoary (talk) 23:29, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

At Masako's request there was no obit done here in Northern Cal. And to the best of my knowledge none was written here in the US, but I will verify this w/ her. I will also check w/ her to findo out if one was done in Japan. I do know that she is working on having two books done, one in Japan for his photographic work and one done here for the work he produced after relocating to his area. I believe she plans on having them done on the one year anniversary of his death (July 2012)but I will also verify this with her. Thanks for your willingness to assist in this update. L h powers (talk) 00:30, 12 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Today I looked in databases of five Japanese national newspapers (Asahi, Mainichi, Yomiuri, Sankei, Nikkei). There's been virtual silence about the man and certainly no mention of his death. I have found some material that will back up his exhibition history till twenty or so years ago, but that's it. (I'll add what I can, but not today.) Later (next week, perhaps; certainly not this week) I can look in a catalogue of articles published in Camera Mainichi and Asahi Camera; but I can't think of possibilities here beyond that. Aren't there northern Californian art magazines that might have mentioned him? -- Hoary (talk) 11:30, 12 December 2011 (UTC)


 * I've added the extra info. All but one of the Japanese exhibitions are now "sourced". The format is not consistent, because I'm sleepy and tired. Some day soon, I'll clear up after myself. -- Hoary (talk) 15:33, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for your work Hoary. I too must turn my attention to other matters for a a little while but will be back in touch after my meeting w/ Masako during which I'll try to find the information you've requested. L h powers (talk) 20:35, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

Hoary, I'm now back on the task of finishing up Taiji's Wiki Page to the best of my feable abilities. As I read thru our correspondence of some months back, I see that I was to get back to you with a book that Taiji's widow, Masako had, with reference to his work in media other than photography....it turns out to be the already cited, Japanese Photography in the 1970's....so that probably won't do much good, or will it if notated in the right spots? The one year anniversary of his death was July 17th and as planned, Masako is holding a retrospective exhibit of his California works here in Mendocino, CA thru Aug. 25th. Here is a link to blog posting w/ info on the exhibit... puretaijiarita.wordpress.com Additionally, Masako has commissioned two protege's of Taiji to do a book on the artwork he created while in California and here's a link to that.... http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3424978. As for upcoming exhibits, Masako has made arrangements w/ a photographer in Tokyo who was an assistant to Taiji before his move to US. There is a retrospective exhibit planned for November of this year at his assistant's gallery in Tokyo as well as a limited edition folio that will be published in Tokyo and Paris. I will contact Masako for those details so that they too can be properly cited on the Wiki page. I apologize for not getting back on this sooner, but until now, there hasn't been much to provide. Hopefully, these developments will aid in making Taiji's page do justice to his talent. Respectfully, L h powers (talk) 03:41, 15 August 2012 (UTC)