Photographer of the Week (Eugene Smith)

W. Eugene Smith

            William Eugene Smith was a professional photographer who was born on December 30, 1918 in Wichita, Kansas. He died in Tucson, Arizona on November 18, 1978 (he was 59 years-old). He graduated from Wichita North High School in 1936. He began his career by taking pictures for two local newspapers, The Wichita Eagle (morning circulation) and the Beacon (evening circulation). He moved to New York City and began work for Newsweek and became known for his incessant perfectionism and thorny personality. Smith was fired from Newsweek for refusing to use medium format cameras and joined Life Magazine in 1939 using a 35mm camera. In 1945 he was wounded while photographing battle conditions during World War II. In January 1972, Smith was attacked by Chisso employees near Tokyo, in an attempt to stop him from further publicizing the Minamata disease to the world. Although Smith survived the attack, his sight in one eye deteriorated. During the time Smith was not able to work due to his injuries, his wife of Japanese origin Aileen M. Smith continued the work. Smith and his wife lived in the city of Minamata from 1971 to 1973 and took many photos as part of a photo essay detailing the effects of Minamata disease, which was caused by a Chisso factory discharging heavy metals into water sources around Minamata. The essay is published in 1975 as 'Minamata', 'words and photographs by W.E. Smith and A.M Smith'. One of his most famous works, known as Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath, taken in December of 1971 and published a few months after the 1972 attack, drew worldwide attention to the effects of Minamata disease. Complications from his long term consumption of drugs and alcohol led to a massive stroke that he suffered which lead to his death in 1978. He is buried in Crum Elbow Cemetery in Pleasant Valley, New York.

Tomoko Uemura in her bath