Saturday 20 October 2012

The Brilliance of W.Eugene Smith


The LIFE website really did come up with a masterpiece recently when the decided to produce an extended gallery of W. Eugene Smith's landmark photo story 'Nurse, Midwife'.

The story originally ran in the December 1951 issue of the classic magazine and followed the activities of a South Carolina nurse and midwife named Maude Callen who cared for patients in an area covering 400 square miles.When the story ran in LIFE donations flooded in that was used to build a clinic where Maude Cullen worked until she retired in 1971.

The photography is just brilliant. No other word for it. If you're wanting to study and develop the narrative skills for putting together a photo story, W Eugene Smith should be your first port of call. This photo story and the 1948 LIFE photo essay 'Country Doctor' are undoubtedly two of best you'll ever see.

The excellent 'Nurse, Midwife' by W. Eugene Smith can be found HERE