W. Eugene Smith 

(1918-1978)

William Eugene Smith  was an American photojournalist. He 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 visual stories of an American country doctor and a nurse midwife, the clinic of Albert Schweitzer in French Equatorial Africa, the city of Pittsburgh, and the pollution which damaged the health of the residents of Minamata in Japan. His 1948 series, Country Doctor, photographed for Life, is now recognized as "the first extended editorial photo story".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Eugene_Smith

 

The Walk to Paradise Garden. USA, 1946.

After being severely wounded in 1945 by Japanese mortar fire at Okinawa while covering World War II for LIFE magazine, W. Eugene Smith returned home to New York state for the long process of recuperation. He was unable to hold a camera properly or take photographs for another year. After multiple surgeries, his first attempt became iconic. Smith chose to photograph his two young children, Patrick and Juanita, scampering through the woods behind the house. The resulting image, entitled “The Walk to Paradise Garden,” became Smith’s most popular. Many have attributed its universal appeal to its perspective from behind, allowing viewers to imagine that Smith’s two children could be their own. Edward Steichen chose it as the final print in his landmark exhibition, The Family of Man, at the Museum of Modern Art in 1955. 

https://www.magnumphotos.com/shop/collections/collectors-prints/the-walk-to-paradise-garden-usa-1946/