W. Eugene Smith became one of the legendary figures of photography.

His work was often suggested as an art. But when in time of publishing it he was often cautious and only allowed his photos to be published if they had a reference to his vision of the picture not what the editors wanted to place.

William Eugene Smith was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1918. At the age of 14 he became interested in photograph. While taking pictures with his mothers camera he realized that his desire was to take pictures. During his High-School years he took pictures for the school news. His pictures consisted of sports, airplanes and the Great Depression.

In 1936, at the age of 18 he was admitted in Notre Dame University. There he shoved great masterpieces that a special scholarship was created just for him, in the field of photography. He quit the university because they stretched great demands of his work.

He than turned to the magazine “Life” but after one year was fired for using small cameras even though he was told not to. He began to free lance for The New York Times, Colliers, American, Life, and other publications.

In 1939, he gained a new outlook on music which was to shape his thinking and opinion on his work and the world. He also joined Life but quit soon after for the freer life of a free lancer.

In 1942, he became a war correspondent for Ziff-Davis and later for Life. He photographed the war in the Atlantic briefly but went to the pacific and spent most of his time there. During this time he was involved in 13 invasions. He was known for taking great chances if it meant getting the picture.

In 1945, he was critically wounded by a Japanese shell fragment The missile hit him in the head cutting both cheeks, injuring his tongue and knocking out several teeth. Characteristically, he was taking pictures at the time and the fragment passed through his left hand before entering his cheek just below the eye and near the nose.

He was hospitalized for two years and was doubtful that he will ever take photos again. They were wrong, in 1947 he came back with the most popular picture yet.

Threw the years of 1947-1954, Smith was to create great photo essays for Life, which put him in the masters seat of the field. He quit once again in 1955 when Life sold one of his essays. He then went to make the picture essay on the city of Pittsburgh. This project was done out of his own pocket which put him in debt. In this time he received aid from the

Guggenheim Fellowship in 1956-1957.

In 1958-1959, he began a project which allowed him to take pictures of the city in any way he saw fit but exhaustion, illness, and personal crises prevented him from writing his famous essays. W. Eugene Smith died in 1978 at the age of 60.