As an orphan and a veteran, Dave Heath’s life had been far from easy, and his experiences resonate in his charged photographs. He portrayed loneliness and alienation in the USA from close up and in a personal manner. In 1959 he went to study with the celebrated photo-journalist W. Eugene Smith, whose humane and narrative style impacted Heath’s work. He wrote: ‘[Eugene Smith] chose, as an affirmative value of life, engagement in and commitment to the human spirit.’