hello, i just discovered w.eugene smith. i saw a print of his at a gallery in santa fe n.m. titled "Woman gather to mourn an old man's death, from "Spanish Village," 1950. it was just insane how great it is. so my question is does anyone have an idea on his technical stuff? film, camera, printing, etc. thanks rodney

-- rodney carver (carcon@spinnet.net), March 25, 2000

Answers

Though I am no W. Eugene Smith expert, I can throw a couple bones your way. He was an expert photojournalist who shot for Life magazine and Magnum among others. He was fiercely independent, a maverick, who fought tenaciously for his projects, and believed that the artist/photographer, should have total editorial control, when it came to what should be included in feature articles. He was a genius, whom for many was a pain in the ass to work with. I think because he had a clear vision and would not compromise it on any level.

I think most of his stuff was shot on 35, but I couldn't tell you much else in the way of technical info. For an insightful and well illustrated article on him, I highly reccomend the spring 98 issue of DoubleTake magazine, the article "W. Eugene Smith's Unfinished Symphony: Previously Unpublished Photographs from the Pittsburgh Project". Also the Fall 99 issue has an equally interesting article, recounting some photography he did in an afterhours Jazz club.

-- Paul Swenson (paulphoto@humboldt1.com), March 25, 2000.

There's a great biography by Jim Hughes, "WES, Shadow and Substance". Also a fantastic piece by him in Lustrum Press's "Darkroom". 35mm Tri-X developed by inspection. Severe alcohol and personality problems. Some wag (David Vestal?) said his life could be described as "Photography, Made Difficult."

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), March 25, 2000.

I have read in many sources that W. Eugene Smith was indeed a difficult man to work with. At the same time however, he certainly was a photographic visionary. I may be wrong about this, but I recall watching a documentry that stated he primarily used a 35mm rangefinder. I also recall a report that stated while on some assignments he was actually forced to develope his film in a toilet of all things. Talk about resourcefulness. Any, just thought I would add my two cents.

-- Andrew Kaiser (akaiser@rushorder.com), March 26, 2000.

Gene Smith has always been my favorite photographer. I can't put my finger on the issue right now, but there was an excellent article in Photo Techniques many months back, something like "The real darkroom secrets of Gene Smith". The current discussion of manipulation using programs like Photoshop is nothing new- it turns out that Smith did some serious cutting and pasting in the darkroom. Those remarkable shots often weren't so remarkable on the original negatives. Still, he had a remarkable vision, and was able to translate it into pure and powerful images. See if you can find the book "Minamata" about the results of mercury poisoning in Japan. ISBN 0-03-013636-9. Though not as grandoise as the 1950s work, some of the images by Smith and his wife Aileen will knock your socks off. Smith was severely beaten as a result of this work, and I believe this ultimately hastened his death.

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), March 26, 2000.

Sorry, I forgot about the name change. The above mentioned article is in Darkroom & Creative Camera Techniques, Nov/Dec 1995 (V16, #6) pg. 43.

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), March 26, 2000.

W. Eugene Smith was a darkroom pro who would often work on a single print for hours or days until he got the results he wanted. He did not hesitate to add bromide or carbonate to his developer to tailor it to his needs.

-- (edbuffaloe@unblinkingeye.com), March 27, 2000.

I am somewhat of a Smith expert (I hate that word but I've been called worse) and most of the above is accurate with the exception of the cutting and pasting statement. Smith once resigned from Life Magazine (as he did several times) because of where the gutter fell on a photo used on a double-truck spread. He received severe head injuries in the Pacific Theater during WWII which many say contributed to his crankyness and again was injured in Japan by company "goons" during the Minimata work. Possibly his greatest photos came from his work in Haiti. But, of course, his photo of Tomoko in Her Bath from Japan is surely the most touching. Smith did suffer the results of too much alcohol and too many pills and died at the age of, what was it, 59 I think. He was, in my opinion, the greatest photojournalist ever. I have always recommended to anyone beginning a career in photojournalism to study all they can find about Smith then try to be a tiny fraction as passionate about their work as he was. This would almost assure success.

-- Joe Cole (jcole@apha.com), March 27, 2000.

One thing I learned from him was that a couple of layers of orange gel will make a great safelight out of an old b&w tv set, and you can watch baseball while you print!... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), March 27, 2000.

Probably "cutting & pasting" was a bad choice of words, as I didn't mean via computer, nor by scissors & paste. The example in the above mentioned article is the famous Schweitzer photo showing a hand and saw handle in the lower right area. They don't appear in a contact sheet, and were added from another negative. The article uses the word "fabrication" which I think is a bit harsh, thus my choice of the cut & paste phrase :-)

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), March 29, 2000.

Yeah, darkroom manipulation I guess we called it back then. I suspect you're familiar with Dorothea Lang's "Migrant Mother" photo. On the negative and the original print there is a ghost of a thumb on the lower, right and in some later prints from that negative the thumb had been airbrushed out. It was the thumb of a guy who grabbed a part of the canvas tent and pulled it back. I understand Miss. Lang was furious whenever she saw a published print in which the thumb had been removed.

-- Joe Cole (jcole@apha.com), March 29, 2000.

The image from "Spanish Village" was shot with a couple of flashes or hot-lights on stands.

You can find a lot of books filled with his images, biographies etc. by searching for W. Eugine Smith on Amazon

-- Kristian Elof Sxrensen (elof@image.dk), May 20, 2000.

oNE OF THE IMAGES i MOST LIKE IS OF A HAITIAN MAN IN AN ASYLUM. THROUGH THE YEARS SMITH KEPT REFINING THE IMAGE UNTIL JUST THE MAN'S EYES SHOWN ON THE PRINT WITH JUST A HINT OF TEXTURE ELSE WHERE TO FIX THE PLACE IN THE IMAGE. VERY HAUNTING. JAMES

-- james (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), May 21, 2000.