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W. Eugene Smith
“I am interested in shaking man’s heart.”
Biography
• Born in Wichita, Kansas – December 20, 1918
• Died in Tucson, Arizona– October 15, 1978
Biography (continued)
• Photographer for Local Newspapers• New York City– Newsweek
• LIFE MAGAZINE- 1939– 1943 War correspondent– 1950 UK General Election
• Magnum Photo Agency-1955– Pittsburgh
WWII
“I would that my photographs might be, not the coverage of a news event, but an indictment of war – the brutal corrupting viciousness of its doing to the minds and bodies of men; and, that my photographs might be a powerful emotional catalyst to the reasoning which would help this vile and criminal stupidity from beginning again.”
WWII (continued)
“The Walk to Paradise Garden”
“I needed to make a photograph that was the opposite of war.”
“I let the ideas come from the subject itself, instead of force them.”
“I wish to plunge deeply into stories that are the very guts of our time.”
Nurse Midwife Maude Callen Eases Pain of Life and Death. Pineville, South Carolina
The Pittsburgh Essay
• Three week project deadline– Spanned for three years
• Over 10,000 negatives
• Too enormous of a project– LIFE Magazine offered $13,000
Pittsburgh (continued)
– Assigned to capture the essence
of the city
Continued…
• Coal mining• Rivers• Steel
MinamataMinamata disease was caused by the Chisso Corporation’s chemical plant in Minamata, Japan.
From 1932 to 1968 the Chisso Corporation dumped waste water containing mercury into Minamata Bay. The mercury contaminated fish and other sea creatures in the bay which were the staple food for Minamata villagers.
For his last Photo essay, Eugene Smith and his wife Aileen lived in Minamata, capturing the struggles and corruption in the fishing village.
“Photography is a small voice, at best, but sometimes-just sometimes-one photograph or a group of them can lure our senses to awareness.”
