William Eugene Smith was an American photographer who produced photographic projects that changed the way photographs were represented. Rather than a photo being a photo, he told stories through his photographs, through a practice called photojournalism. His photographic projects depicted people in their daily lives, but in different situations. The photographs he took hid nothing of what he saw from the public, no matter how graphic the landscape may appear. His photographic methods differed from traditional methods, in that traditional photographs/photographic projects were a distortion of reality, so that it would appeal more to the public. Smith, on the other hand, showed what was really happening in the world or wherever he took pictures. His photos basically showed his audience what was happening in various parts of the world and showed people living their normal lives, no matter how depressing or graphic their real lives might be. Smith changed photography and, in my opinion, opened up the new world of photojournalism by telling stories with his photographs. William Eugene Smith was born to Nettie Lee Smith and Bill Smith on December 18, 1918 in Wichita, Kansas, who would later revolutionize photography. His mother Nettie loved photography, taking photos of her family, especially her two sons as they were growing up, photographing the events of their lives (Hughes 2). Photography has been a part of Smith's life since he was young. At first, he started out always being photographed by his mother, then transitioned into photographing with his friend Pete, as he grew older. They often practiced photo developing in Nettie's kitchen, and he later began creating albums with her photographs. His photographs differ... middle of paper ...... he Smith died of a stroke in October 1978, a year after moving to Arizona to teach at the University of Arizona. However, his work continues to live on through his contributions to the change in photojournalism. In 1980, the W. Eugene Smith fund was founded to promote humanist photography in order to perpetuate its legacy (Magnum Photos). This collection showed a change in the world of photography thanks to W. Eugene Smith and his non-traditional methods in photography. Works Cited1- PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/w-eugene-smith/about-w-eugene-smith/707/2- Magnum: http://www.magnumphotos.com /C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.Biography_VPage&AID=2K7O3R13EDK01- W. Eugene Smith: Shadow and Substance: The Life and Work of an American Photographer by Jim Hughes2- Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Project by Alan Trachtenberg , edited by Sam Stephenson