An interview with W. Eugene Smith, well-known photographer and photographic essayist, is presented in this paper. The introductory section of the paper contains a biographical sketch of Smith and a discussion of his photographic essays on a number of topics, including World War II scenes, life in a Spanish village, the work of a black midwife in the backcountry of North Carolina, Albert Schweitzer, the city of Pittsburgh, and the town of Minamata, Japan, whose residents were poisoned by mercury. The interview itself deals with many issues related to Smith's photography and experiences. Among these are: the relationships among pictures that distinguish a photographic essay, the way Smith's photographic essays about Pittsburgh differ from photographs about Pittsburgh taken by"National Geographic" photographers, Smith's methods for approaching the making of a photographic essay, the role of the photographer in working with the people being photographed, the relationship of captions to the photographs in Smith's essays, and the importance of layout. (GT)