According to Wikipedia, W. Eugene Smith has been described as “perhaps the single most important American photographer in the development of the editorial photo essay.” His major photo essays include World War II photographs, the dedication of an American country doctor and a nurse midwife, the clinic of Dr Schweitzer in French Equatorial Africa, the city of Pittsburgh, and the pollution which damaged the health of the residents of Minimata in Japan (now made into a film with Johnny Depp as Smith). His 1948 series, Country Doctor, photographed for Life Magazine is now recognised as “the first extended editorial photo story”.
He dedicated his life to photography, perhaps in a way no other photographer has. He used Minoltas, as the Japanese firm gave him a SR-T-101 camera to use. To see his Wikipedia entry click here.