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Quote by W. Eugene Smith

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W. Eugene Smith
W. Eugene Smith

W. Eugene Smith was an influential American photographer known for his profound documentary photography. His work is renowned for its empathy towards human suffering and its focus on social issues. Smith's contributions to photography have had a lasting impact, and he is widely considered one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. more

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“I am an idealist. I often feel I would like to be an artist in an ivory tower. Yet it is imperative that I speak to people, so I must desert that ivory tower. To do this, I am a journalist - a photojournalist. But I am always torn between the attitude of the journalist, who is a recorder of facts, and the artist, who is often necessarily at odds with the facts. My principle concern is for honesty, above all honesty with myself.”

PeopleFeelsFactsArtistSpeakAttitudePrinciplesHonestyConcernPhotographerDesertJournalistOddsTowersTornImperativesIdealistIvoryRecordersIvory TowerPhotojournalists
Author:W. Eugene Smith
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“I would that my photographs might be, not the coverage of a news event, but an indictment of war - the brutal corrupting viciousness of its doing to the minds and bodies of men; and, that my photographs might be a powerful emotional catalyst to the reasoning which would help this vile and criminal stupidity from beginning again.”

MenMindWarHelpingBodyMightPowerfulEventsEmotionalNewsPhotographStupidityCriminalsReasoningBrutalMind And BodyCoverageCatalystBegin AgainIndictment
Book:W. Eugene Smith, his photographs and notes
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“I was after a set of pictures, so that when people looked at them they would say, ‘This is war’-that the people who were in the war would believe that I had truthfully captured what they had gone through I worked in the framework that war is horrible. I want to carry on what I have tried to do in these pictures. War is a concentrated unit in the world and these things are clearly and cleanly seen. Things like race prejudice, poverty, hatred and bigotry are sprawling things in civilian life, and not so easy to define as war.”

PeopleWorldWantBelieveWarEasyRacePovertyGoneHatredPrejudiceHorribleBigotryUnitsFrameworkCiviliansCaptured
Author:W. Eugene Smith
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