W. Eugene Smith

 William Eugene Smith

By: Jacob Smith


    William Eugene Smith was born on December 30th, 1918 in Wichita, Kansas. William had a talent for photography that was apparent when he was young, causing him to be hired by his local newspaper. When it was time for college, he went to Notre Dame where a photography degree was specifically created for him. However, he only stayed for one semester before moving to New York to work for Life and do other freelance work for companies such as The New York Times, American, and others. His early career with Life had him taking photos as a war correspondent during World War 2. He was renowned for the emotion and truth he displayed in his images. He was well known for always being able to capture strong emotional stories in his photos, mostly due to his immense dedication to the craft.

    His time photographing World War 2 was cut short by an injury caused by a grenade explosion which caused him to go through 2 years of recovery and not be able to even hold a camera. After his recovery, the first image he captured was meant to tell a different story than the war. He took a photo of his two kids walking out of the woods, which was titled The Walk to Paradise Garden, and it became arguably his most famous photograph.

    He then began to produce photo essays, diving into every detail on the subjects lives he photographed.  Some of his more prominent photo essays were The Spanish Village, Country Doctor, Nurse Midwife, and A Man of Mercy. He eventually left Life after clashing with editors, joining Magnum for more freedom, and continued to work on photo essays. He produced one of the largest photo essays on Pittsburgh. However, the project never got published, causing him to leave Magnum and his family. Another successful photo essay he produced was Minamata, a village in Japan with mercury poisoning in its water, causing people to be born with physical defects.

    He taught at the University of Arizona from 1977 until his death on October 15th, 1978. William Eugene Smith was added to the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum in 1984, and his family set up a memorial fund in his name to fund future humanitarian photographers.

The Walk to Paradise Garden, 1946. W. Eugene Smith

Sources:

Photos: https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/w-eugene-smith/

Biography Info:

“W. Eugene Smith.” International Center of Photography, 18 Dec. 2023, www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/w-eugene-smith?all%2F1940-1949%2Fphotograph%2Fall%2F0.

“William Eugene Smith.” International Photography Hall of Fame, 24 Aug. 2023, iphf.org/inductees/william-eugene-smith/.

Slideshow: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13eXJhXFxmWhyThgfZgmSHkOJKJX3ndrOalhImIhTxXw/edit#slide=id.g2b904ef876a_0_132  




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