Week 5 Journal

    

 William Eugene Smith is a famous American photojournalist who is well known for documenting and photographing the American offensive in the Pacific during World War 2, “Country Doctor”, a work dedicated to showing the struggles of rural physicians, documenting pollution in Japan, as well many other photographic journals dedicated to showing the struggles of humanity. Born in 1918, Smith got his start photographing for a local newspaper in his home town Wichita, Kansas at the age of 15. In 1937 his career took off when he started working for Newsweek. He was fired from that job over a dispute about the use of mediums, and later was employed for a year by Flying Magazine as a war correspondent, and after was employed by Life Magazine. Smith is said to be the most important figure in the creation of the editorial photo essay. His photos are said to tell stories and illustrate what he was trying to say in ways that invoked incredible emotion. A great example of this is his work revolving around World War 2. One of his most famous photographs shows a lone soldier smoking a cigarette. This photograph along with many of his other works was emotional for the American public because it gave a face to the violence and death that was going on in the war.  Suddenly issues that seemed worlds away came crashing down, and this was all thanks to his photos. Smith is credited with being the standard for modern photojournalism. His human approach to the medium, as well as his mastery of his technical skills, have earned him a place in the international photography hall of fame. After he died in 1978, The W. Eugene Smith fund was started to move the genre of human photographic journalism forward. To this day the fund is still going strong and has helped keep the value of integrity within this form of journalism.

    Rural America in the 1950s was sometimes a cruel and devastating place. With a lack of development in areas such as transportation and modern medicine, those who chose to brave the elements sometimes met an early end. This made life for doctors in these areas ones of tragedy as well as heroics. With sickness and injury always prevalent, doctors in rural America had to be swiss army knives that could take care of any situation. These doctors also had to be fearless as many situations that they faced could very well be life or death. The purpose of this photograph is to show the humanity of the doctor taking care of the injured child. The look of concern on his face shows he cares, and the gentleness that can be seen in his hands shows he takes his work incredibly seriously. You can also see in the picture his visible fatigue which hints at the amount of work that he may have already done that day which again, shows his outstanding dedication to his work.