The great American photographer W. Eugene Smith is one of my heroes. Brilliant, totally committed, revolutionary, difficult, and complex: he is sometimes credited as the father of the photo essay. In 2010, American Photo Magazine published a previously unknown written essay by him. Two quotes stood out to me then, and I rediscovered them recently:

As a photographer who covers and collaborates with many performing artists, I related to this struggle:

“An artist whose work intrudes into the creative life of another artist is faced with a perplexing choice. To intrude enough to properly interpret, to translate, necessitates (at least when time is limited) a forcing of the situation in a way that might be damaging to the thin, intangible creative thread of the other artist. Yet not to do this is certainly frustrating and damaging to the interpretation of the intruding artist.”

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I think most folks who get serious about their photographer, whether as profession or avocation, can relate to this frustration:

“The number of rolls used on any of my stories is nobody’s business, for unless the thinking and the way of developing a journalistic story is understood thoroughly by outsiders, they will misinterpret. If a writer says that he wrote 26 versions of his last chapter, it is interpreted as showing what a diligent, careful, hard working perfectionist he is. With a photographer, it merely is interpreted as showing that if you take enough pictures, some are bound to be good!”

Reading the article as it plumbs these depths is highly recommended.

If you are interested in seeing and learning more about this seminal figure, I suggest the fantastic photo bio, Let Truth Be the Prejudice. How can I not love something with that title? I trust you are familiar with at least some of his images. They are among the most famous of the mid 20th century.