"I am an idealist. I often feel I would like to be an artist in an ivory tower. Yet it is imperative that I speak to people, so I must desert that ivory tower. To do this, I am a journalist—a photojournalist. But I am always torn between the attitude of the journalist, who is a recorder of facts, and the artist, who is often necessarily at odds with the facts. My principle concern is for honesty, above all honesty with myself..."
-W. Eugene Smith
American W. Eugene Smith, 1918 -1978, is a legendary photojournalist, who beyond his fine technical skills, is also respected for his integrity and passion to tell the truth. So much so that he was known for, at times, being at odds with photo editors, defending his personal vision on assignments.
The photographer captured emotionally-charged battle scenes during World War II, and created other great photo essays for Life magazine, including the The Country Doctor, essays which perfected the term. Smith spent an extraordinary amount of time with his subjects, immersing himself in their lives, something other photographers hadn't generally done up until then.
One of his most famous photographs "Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath" drew world-wide attention to the effects of Minimata disease, which was caused by the Chisso corporation discharging heavy metals into the water sources around Minimata. To view pictures from the Minimata series, here is a link to Magnum's archive.
To read some more about Smith's work on Minimata and the Tomoko photograph, here is an article in the Digital Journalist by Jim Hughes, founder of the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund,
