“Pat saw something in the clearing. He grasped Juanita by the hand and they hurried forward. While I followed my children into the undergrowth and the group of taller trees, how they were delighted at every little discovery. As I observed them, I suddenly realized that at that moment, in spite of everything, in spite of all the wars and all that I had gone through, that day I wanted to sing a sonnet to life and to the courage to go on living it.”
~ W. Eugene Smith
Yes one of the most iconic images in the history of photography from one of the greatest photographers who ever lived. To say that Gene Smith was at rock bottom when he took this photo would be a vast understatement. Badly injured covering the war in the Pacific, in deep physical pain after several failed operations with his morale so low he hadn’t taken a photo in ages he had some internal instinct that all the great photographers have to just follow his children and watch and wait and then he was for sure blessed by the photo gods and in front of him he saw it unfold. Nothing more to say. The photo says it all.