101 anni fa nasceva il fotografo William Eugene Smith | 30 Dicembre 1918
Il 30 Dicembre del 1918 a Wichita, Kansas, nasce il fotografo William Eugene Smith. Se non avete idea di chi stiamo parlando è comunque probabile che conosciate un suo aforisma (tra i più fraintesi/abusati della storia della fotografia):
A cosa serve una grande profondità di campo se non c’è un’adeguata profondità di sentimento?
Il piccolo Eugene era appassionato di aviazione e all’età di nove anni chiese ai suoi genitori i soldi per comprare una macchina fotografica, con la quale fotografare gli aeroplani. A gudicare da quello che è successo dopo, è facile immaginare che la passione per l’aviazione sia passata almeno in secondo piano nella scala delle priorità di Eugene, perché è diventato uno dei più grandi fotografi documentaristi di tutti i tempi.
Smith lavora per molti anni per la rivista Life, comprendo il teatro del Pacifico durante la Seconda Guerra mondiale. Verso la fine del conflitto viene ferito al volto da una granata ed inizia un lungo calvario di interventi chirurgici e riabilitazione che lo terrà lontano dalla fotografia per un paio di anni.
WORLD WAR II. The Pacific Campaign. January-February 1944. US Navy Avenger fighter bomber, belonging to the USS Bunker Hill aircraft carrier, drops its load on the Marshall Islands, occupied by the Japanese.
WORLD WAR II. The Pacific Campaign. June 1944. Battle of Saipan Island. US Avenger fighter bombers moving towards the Saipan Island, to attack the Japanese.
WORLD WAR II. The Pacific Campaign. June 1944. Battle of Saipan Island. US Marine holding a wounded and dying baby found in the mountains.
WORLD WAR II. The Pacific Campaign. March 1945. The Battle of Okinawa (Japanese island).
US anti-aerial artillery.
WORLD WAR II. The Pacific Campaign. April 1945. The Battle of Okinawa (Japanese island).
A US soldier helps a wounded soldier belonging to his unit, after an attack against the Japanese positions.
WORLD WAR II. The Pacific Campaign. April 1945. The Battle of Okinawa (Japanese island).
US flame throwers used to dislodge the Japanese from their bunkers.
USA. Pennsylvania. City of Pittsburgh. 1955.
USA. Pennsylvania. City of Pittsburgh. 1955.
WORLD WAR II. The Pacific Campaign. 27 June 1944. Battle of Saipan Island. US Marines.
Country Doctor
Con questo lavoro del 1948 Smith racconta la quotidianità di un medico di campagna, il dottor Ernest Guy Ceriami, incaricato di fornire assistenza medica ventiquattro ore su ventiquattro ad una comunità di 2000 persone nell’area delle montagne rocciose. La storia, commissionata da Life, denunciava la carenza di medici nelle campagne americane e l’impatto che questo aveva sulle comunità rurali.
USA. Colorado. Kremmling. 1948. Dr. CERIANI resting in his kitchen, after having spent the night operating. Dr. Ernest Guy CERIANI, a country doctor (aged 32), takes care of all the people in the town of Kremmling and in the 400 miles surrounding the town. 1948.
USA. Colorado. Kremmling. 1948. Dr. Ernest Guy CERIANI, a country doctor (aged 32), going to visit his patients in their remote villages.
USA. Colorado.
1948. Dr. CERIANI with Lee Marie Wheatly, a two and a half year old child who needed emergency treatment after having been kicked in the head by a horse. Dr. Ernest Guy CERIANI, a country doctor (aged 32), takes care of all the people in the town of Kremmling and in the 400 miles surrounding the town.
USA. Colorado. 1948. Dr. Ernest Guy CERIANI (on the right), a country doctor (aged 32), takes care of all the people in the town of Kremmling and in the 400 miles surrounding the town.
USA. Colorado. 1948. Parents watch Dr CERIANI treating their daughter.
Dr. Ernest Guy CERIANI, a country doctor (aged 32), takes care of all the people in the town of Kremmling and in the 400 miles surrounding the town.
USA. Colorado. 1948. Dr CERIANI operating Lee Marie Wheatly, a two and a half year old child who needed emergency surgery after having been kicked in the head by a horse.
Dr. Ernest Guy CERIANI, a country doctor (aged 32), takes care of all the people in the town of Kremmling and in the 400 miles surrounding the town.
USA. Colorado. 1948. Dr CERIANI visiting Joe Jesmer, an 82 year old man who was having a heart attack. Dr. Ernest Guy CERIANI, a country doctor (aged 32), takes care of all the people in the town of Kremmling and in the 400 miles surrounding the town.
USA. Colorado. 1948. Dr CERIANI looking at a 7 year old boy’s injured hand.
Dr. Ernest Guy CERIANI, a country doctor (aged 32), takes care of all the people in the town of Kremmling and in the 400 miles surrounding the town.
USA. Colorado. 1948. Dr CERIANI resting on an operating table.
Dr. Ernest Guy CERIANI, a country doctor (aged 32), takes care of all the people in the town of Kremmling and in the 400 miles surrounding the town.
USA. Colorado. 1948. Thomas Mitchell, one of Dr CERIANI’s patients.
Dr. Ernest Guy CERIANI, a country doctor (aged 32), takes care of all the people in the town of Kremmling and in the 400 miles surrounding the town.
USA. Colorado. 1948. Dr. Ernest Guy CERIANI, a country doctor (aged 32), takes care of all the people in the town of Kremmling and in the 400 miles surrounding the town.
Minamata
Minamata è un lavoro che ha impegnato Smith e sua moglie per tre anni e racconta gli effetti dell’inquinamento da mercurio sulla popolazione di una città giapponese.
JAPAN. Mercury poisoning. 1971.
Minamata Bay. Mrs Hayashida with her dying husband. They both suffer from mercury poisoning.
JAPAN. Mercury poisoning.
Minamata Bay. Takak Isayama, a 12 year old fetal (congenital) victim of the Minimata Disease, with her mother.
Minamata is both a fishing village and a “one company” industrial city in the Kyushu district of Japan. It is also the setting for a historic confrontation; the victims of Minamata disease versus the Chisso Corporation. The causal agent of the disease is “methyl-mercury chloride (organic) mercury. Mercury (inorganic) was used as a catalyst in manufacturing acetaldehyde from acethylene. Small amounts left the plant as waste, the rest of the organic mercury was created in the ocean from dumped inorganic mercury. The toxic waste discharged into the water, consumed by fish, then found itself by nutrition into the human body.
JAPAN. Mercury poisoning.
Minamata Bay. Iwazo FUNABA’s crippled hands. She is a victim of the Minimata disease.
JAPAN. Mercury poisoning. Minamata Bay. Patients and relatives carry photographs of the ‘verified’ dead on the last day of the Minimata Trial (victims of the disease against the Chisso Plant).
Minamata is both a fishing village and a “one company” industrial city in the Kyushu district of Japan. It is also the setting for a historic confrontation; the victims of Minamata disease versus the Chisso Corporation. The causal agent of the disease is “methyl-mercury chloride (organic) mercury. Mercury (inorganic) was used as a catalyst in manufacturing acetaldehyde from acethylene. Small amounts left the plant as waste, the rest of the organic mercury was created in the ocean from dumped inorganic mercury. The toxic waste discharged into the water, consumed by fish, then found itself by nutrition into the human body.
JAPAN. Minamata. The entrance to a section of the Chisso Chemical Plant. 1971.
JAPAN. Minamata. The Committee of victims demonstrating against the Central Pollution Board, during the hearings of the Victims of the Minamata Disease versus the Chisso Chemical Plant trial. 1971.
JAPAN. Tokyo. Victims of Minimata disease, and sympathisers, demonstrating in front of the Chisso headquarters. They pitched up a tent and spent the whole night on the sidewalk. 1971.
Minamata is both a fishing village and a “one company” industrial city in the Kyushu district of Japan. It is also the setting for a historic confrontation; the victims of Minamata disease versus the Chisso Corporation. The causal agent of the disease is “methyl-mercury chloride (organic) mercury. Mercury (inorganic) was used as a catalyst in manufacturing acetaldehyde from acethylene. Small amounts left the plant as waste, the rest of the organic mercury was created in the ocean from dumped inorganic mercury. The toxic waste discharged into the water, consumed by fish, then found itself by nutrition into the human body.
Fotografo e videomaker, dal 2009 si divide tra fotografia di matrimonio e documentaria.
Come documentarista ha pubblicato su National Geographic Italia, L'Espresso e riviste minori. Come matrimonialista ha avuto l’opportunità di lavorare in Italia, Francia, Germania, Inghilterra, Svizzera e Bermuda.
http://www.francescorossifotografo.it/
[…] da Andrew Levitas, è basato su una storia vera, quella del fotografo documentarista americano William Euegene, chiamato soltanto Gene, Smith (Johnny Depp), che durante gli anni della Seconda guerra mondiale […]
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Minamata - Il nuovo film con Johnny Depp — Gogo Magazine
[…] da Andrew Levitas, è basato su una storia vera, quella del fotografo documentarista americano William Euegene, chiamato soltanto Gene, Smith (Johnny Depp), che durante gli anni della Seconda guerra mondiale […]