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: my half-brother Pat and half-sister 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 the rear, 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. Smith later described the photograph as his antidote to the devastation of World War II. As we endure another perilous year, this image once again points us on a path to a brighter future. Smith wrote: ‘And as I followed my children through the underbrush and the tall trees — what joy of discovery everywhere was theirs — and as I watched I knew again that in spite of all of it, and in spite of every war, and of every setback, that today, now, I wished to speak out a sonnet for life and of the worth of continuing, and in living it.’” – Kevin Eugene Smith, Estate of W. Eugene Smith © W. Eugene Smith | Magnum Photos