After W. Eugene Smith recovered from the injuries he sustained while producing powerful World War II reportage in the South Pacific, he rejoined Life magazine, which had been founded in 1936 to publish photo essays taken with a "mind-guided camera." With his Country Doctor series, Smith stretched the dimensions of the photo essay by adding an interpretive dimension to the traditional narrative content. The photographs not only documented what the doctor did, but also explored the emotional dimension of the physician's profession.

An advocate for moral responsibility in journalism, Smith sought to awaken the conscience of viewers through his photographs. By carefully selecting his subjects and then spending substantial periods of time with them to get a more intimate perspective on their lives, he created in-depth essays that evoke viewer sympathy. This process revolutionized the new field of photojournalism by expanding the scope of what a photo essay could be. Although Smith created several other seminal essays for Life, he felt that the photo essay should be largely managed by the photographer, a view that created friction with editors who were more text-oriented. He ultimately resigned and worked as an independent artist to further his causes.