Lets face it, no matter what they say about how much he worked on his prints in the darkroom, W. Eugene Smith is one of the great masters of photography. I can't imagine doing what he did. When I took up photography I had all the knowledge that he and Andre' Kertescz and Cartier-Bresson and Minor White and Ed Steichen and and and and .... had already figured out to help me make my images. So when I look thru my camera I can see what has been done before me and learn from that. Sometimes I see something and get excited about trying that. Today as I was photographing some family portraits I saw this picture and thought a great deal about W. Eugene Smith's photograph--knowing full well that I couldn't duplicate it---but still thought it might make a nice picture. Smith's picture was one of the crowning achievements of the 'Family of Man' exhibitions which really brought the power of the photographic image into the realm of understanding that--though it is recorded using an apparatus (a camera) that the eye and intent of the maker can elevate the work to an importance equal to that of the other arts---some may argue that it elevated it beyond the other arts(though this is where I get into long drawn out boring discussions with my painter friends who disagree.) In any case it is always nice to think of great images and remember how they moved me when I was young and learning how to use this apparatus to make something that I called art--which has led me in a very nice direction in life. So Thank you W. Eugene Smith for all these years and for today! SayerMotter Photography by Richard Sayer.
W. Eugene Smith's picture of his children.