Jonathan Segovia

Mrs. Weisberger

Photography

11/29/2016

      William Eugene Smith is one of those photographers whose outstanding work may be familiar to your eye, but his background might be more of an enigma. Born in Wichita, Kansas, he took great interest in photography at the tender age of fourteen, and by the age of seventeen he started working for local newspapers. He then studied with the Irish when he received a photography scholarship to the University of Notre Dame. A scholarship that he only took advantage of for a year, for he ditched that part of his life to start working for Newsweek, while freelancing for numerous magazines including: LIFE, Collier’s, and The New York Times. These were just the stepping stones that lead to Smith’s awe-inspiring career that opened many people's eyes to things that they weren't yet fully aware of.

One of the most renowned photo essays by Smith was that of when the United States entered the second World War. He was in side by side combat with American soldiers as they fought off the Japanese. His weapon of choice was a camera, and although he didn’t shoot as many pictures as bullets, his work may have left a bigger impact on the world. He also accomplished many other photo essay’s like that of a country doctor, a midwife, and the re-election of the Labour Party candidate Clement Attlee, in Great Britain. But of all these fascinating photo essays Smith created, his last piece of work, “Minamata”, which opened the closed doors behind the victims of mercury poisoning in a small Japanese fishing village, was one of his greatest works. set the norm for photojournalism for many years after his death.

William Eugene Smith is undoubtedly one of the godfathers of photojournalism. Smith is said to have brought the photo essay to life, for his work set the norm for photojournalism for many years after his death and till this day. Smith will always be remembered, and even more with the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund, established in his memory after his death. The Memorial Fund financially supports numerous photographers that take the same path in photography and photojournalism as Smith did during his tremendous career. For this, Smith will always be remembered as a founding father of the photojournalism world.