Minamata

  The first photographer that I learned about was Eugene Smith. I was 10 years old in 1979, a year after Smith died when my father said to me “ Gene Smith is the only American photographer who was worth a damn”. To this day the man’s dedication, talent and darkroom printing ability goes unmatched. Over the decades I’ve tried to read as many articles and books on Smith that I could find. I’ve spent countless hours listening to recordings and watching YouTube videos. There have even been a couple of movies based on him. The latest titled Minamata was extraordinary to say the least and Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Eugene Smith was absolutely incredible if not spooky accurate. They story of Minamata was the last great photojournalistic essay in Life magazine before they ended publication later that year in 1972.