William Eugene Smith was an American photographer who produced photographic projects that changed the way photographs were portrayed. Rather than a photo as 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 scenario might seem. His photographic methods differed from traditional methods, in that traditional photographs/photographic projects were a distortion of reality, so that it was more palatable to the public. Smith on the other hand showed what was really happening in the world or wherever he was taking photos. His photos basically showed the public what is happening in various parts of the world and showed people living their normal lives, no matter how depressing or graphic their real life 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, born to Nettie Lee Smith and Bill Smith on December 18, 1918 in Wichita, Kansas, would later revolutionize photography. His mother Nettie was passionate about photography, taking photos of her family, especially her two children as they grew up, photographing events from their lives (Hughes 2). Photography has been a part of Smith's life since he was young. At first he was always photographed by his mother, and then he became a photographer together with his friend Pete as he grew up. They often practiced developing photos in Nettie's kitchen, and she later began creating albums of her photographs. His photographs differ......middle of paper......and Smith died of a stroke in October 1978, a year after moving to Arizona to teach at the University of Arizona. His work, however, has lived on through his contributions to changing photojournalism. In 1980, the W. Eugene Smith Fund was founded to promote humanistic photography and carry on his legacy (Magnum Photos). This fund 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, a edited by Sam Stephenson