[Portrait of Dr. Albert Schweitzer at Lambaréné, Gabon, West Africa]

Creator

American Photographer · 1918–1978

W. Eugene Smith's interest in photography grew out of a boyhood passion for airplanes. His mother, herself an amateur photographer, suggested he make his own photographs of planes rather than borrow money from her to buy photos by mail. Thus began a prolific career that spanned five decades; Smith is said to have made at least twenty thousand negatives in one three-year period alone. Reacting to S