W Eugene Smith – Significant American photographer and humanitarian

Biography

William Eugene Smith, a prolific photographer working mainly in the mid 1900s. Being known for creating the photo essay as we know it now. He began his photography career as he was fascinated with planes and wanted to buy photos of them, instead being given a camera to take photos himself. By 15 he was making a name for himself having all sorts of images published from sports, to landscapes all done to document current situations whether it be sports scores or the impact of the wild weather at the time. This quickly made the basis for his career.

After graduating high school in 1936 he gained a scholarship, through Catholic Church connections, to study photography at the university of Notre Dame, however then quitting university at 18. He spent the following two years in New York working for Newsweek, becoming known for his detailed work and unusual personality. Later on he was fired from Newsweek, due to the newspaper wanting Smith to use a larger format camera as technology advanced but Smith refused to stop using his 35mm Contax. A year later Smith started working for a magazine company, Life, of which he quickly became friendly with the magazines, at the time, photo editor. As he progressed in his career he got married and had children, continuing to have up and downs in his personal life before ending up with Sherry Suris in New York having completed the Minamata book in 1974. 

War work 

As the time progressed, so did Smith’s career. World War Two approached quickly, leaving Smith as a war correspondent in 1943 while still supplying photos for life magazine now just of the war rather than previous subjects. Smith is renowned for his work during the war being on front lines with American troops and on many other missions. Smith found his way within the war, stating ‘you can’t raise a nation to kill and murder without injury to the mind… it is the reason I am covering the war for I want my pictures to carry some message against the greed, the stupidity and the intolerances that cause these wars and the breaking of many bodies.’ Smith made huge amounts of progress in his work from 1943 to 1945 but with this came dangers, in 1945 Smith was injured by mortar fire while photographing a battle. This led to the following two years being filled with surgeries. However as Smiths condition improved, he began to photograph again. A photo made famous by another photographer after he exhibited it was actually his first photo after the accident, the photo being of his two children walking in his garden at home. Even having had the set backs of the war, Smith continued to photograph for Life magazine till 1955. The year in which his photo from 1946 was made famous by Edward Steichen. Smith contributed to the development of the photo essay significantly in this time, producing many articles and photo essays, the most prominent being the country doctor. As time progressed so did Smiths work before drawing him back to his roots in America, where he began to teach at the Art department and department of Journalism at the University of Arizona. Subsequently living the rest of his life teaching and organising his work before suffering a second significant stroke, which sadly he passed away from in 1978. 

Smith is a monumental photographer, who created around 50 images, changing the trajectory of how we perceived and experienced history. Not only having documented World War II, he covered subjects such as the Minamata disease, the ever changing environment and many other issues we still have today. He was essential in raising awareness and understanding to the goings on around the world, otherwise biased in its documentation or simply hidden. 

Not only did his photography inspire and change how we perceived, he was the creator of the modern photo essay. Having spent many years developing it to the form we know today. 

Image Analysis

“The Walk to Paradise Garden” – W. Eugene Smith in 1946

This photo was the first photo Eugene Smith took after his accident in 1945. It was his a photo of children running in the garden. For what should be a simple photo it is impactful, not only with the historical connections of it being the first photo after his accident. The lighting adds impact with the trees already framing the shot creating a tunnel of light and a small path of light where the children had walked. The children are off centre in the frame, but this works with light opening up on the right balancing the image. In the photo is a young boy and young girl holding hands the taller boy leading the way into a brightly lit open area of trees rather than the tunnel in which the photo has been taken. The children have been silhouetted against the bright light as the leave the leafy tunnel. The photo invites curiosity and childlike innocence, portrayed with the title ‘The walk to paradise garden’ suggests a childlike approach of running through gardens, enjoyed the sun and finding what a child would consider ‘paradise’. However I think this can also link to Smith himself as while the photo was taken from a low angle, a child’s eyeline the title and the idea that it is his garden and his children in the photo does add impact, considering his previous few years deep in the depths of war and the most brutal forms of humanity, the simple bliss of getting to watch his children play tells a completely different story. This photo is not only impactful but tells a tale as old as time, of children innocently enjoying life and adults escaping with them for a second recognising their former selves within the children. Overall not only technically is this a lovely photo is beams childhood and the stories within it. Smith is known for creating the modern version of the photo essay, this technique is ever present in his work, even single shots like this one tell a story, often from multiple perspectives like this one.