Gandhi photographed by Margaret Bourke-White

Gandhi and his spinning wheel

It was the defining portrait of one of the 20th century’s most influential figures, 
but the picture almost didn’t happen. LIFE magazine’s first female photographer, Margaret Bourke-White was in India in 1946 to cover the impending Indian independence. She was all set to shoot when Gandhi’s secretaries stopped her: If she was going to photograph Gandhi at the spinning wheel (a symbol for India’s struggle for independence), 

she first had to learn to use one herself.

It was a rare photo-op and Bourke-White was not going to lose it. She learnt how to use the spinning wheel, but further demands followed–Gandhi wasn’t to be spoken to (it being his day of silence.) And because he detested bright light, Bourke-White was only allowed to use three flashbulbs. The humid Indian weather wreaked havoc on her camera equipment, too. She tried to take the picture without flash, but the bright Indian day hindered her further. 

When time finally came to shoot, Bourke-White’s first flashbulb failed. And while the second one worked, she forgot to pull the slide, rendering it blank.She thought it was all over, but luckily, the third attempt was successful. In the end, she came away with an image that became Gandhi’s most enduring representation.

(courtesy share: https://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/gandhi-at-the-spinning-wheel/)

In typed notes that accompanied Bourke-White’s film when it was sent from India to LIFE’s New York offices in the spring of 1946, the significance of the simple spinning wheel in the photo is made abundantly clear:

[Gandhi] spins every day for 1 hr. beginning usually at 4. All members of his ashram must spin. He and his followers encourage everyone to spin. Even M. B-W was encouraged to lay [aside] her camera to spin. . . . When I remarked that both photography and spinning were handicrafts, they told me seriously, “The greater of the 2 is spinning.” Spinning is raised to the heights almost of a religion with Gandhi and his followers. The spinning wheel is sort of an Ikon to them. Spinning is a cure all, and is spoken of in terms of the highest poetry.

Of the most famous portrait Bourke-White ever made of Gandhi, meanwhile, the memo to LIFE’s editors simply states: “Gh. [a common shorthand for Gandhi in the notes] reading clippings — spinning wheel in foreground, which he has just finished using. It would be impossible to exaggerate the reverence in which Gh’s ‘own personal spinning wheel’ is held in the ashram.” 

(courtesy share; http://time.com/3639043/gandhi-and-his-spinning-wheel-the-story-behind-an-iconic-photo/)

Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

A final note: Like many photographers, Bourke-White was not above occasionally allowing herself the liberty of a playful self-portrait. Here she is, then — the legendary photojournalist in India, posing with a loom of her own. (courtesy share: http://time.com/3639043/gandhi-and-his-spinning-wheel-the-story-behind-an-iconic-photo/)

Margaret Bourke-White—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Caption from LIFE. "Surrounded by his adoring disciples, Gandhi goes walking each morning. Here he is supported by his granddaughter Sita (left) and daughter-in-law Abha (right)."

Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Mohandas K. Gandhi, 1946.

Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Not published in LIFE. Mohandas K. Gandhi, 1946.

Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Not published in LIFE. Mohandas K. Gandhi, 1946.

Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Not published in LIFE. Mohandas Gandhi with his secretary, Pyarelal Nayyar, 1946.

Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Not published in LIFE. Mohandas K. Gandhi, 1946.

Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Not published in LIFE. Mohandas Gandhi stands near his nephew Kanu (right) and his wife Abha, as his secretaries (left to right) Sushila Pai, Raj Kumari and Pyarelal Nayyar sit at his feet during a twilight prayer meeting, 1946.

Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Not published in LIFE. Mohandas Gandhi (center, top) seated on bed-like platform at start of evening prayers, 1946.

Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Not published in LIFE. Mohandas Gandhi's bungalow retreat and the grounds surrounding it, India, 1946.

Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Not published in LIFE. Mohandas Gandhi (third from right) walks with (left to right) his secretary, Pyarelal, Dr. Horace Alexander of the Friend's Ambulance Unit. Also pictured: Abha Gandhi (second from right) and his son Manilal's wife, Sushila.

Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

LIFE magazine, May 27, 1946.

Margaret Bourke-White—LIFE Magazine

LIFE magazine, May 27, 1946.

Margaret Bourke-White—LIFE Magazine

LIFE magazine, May 27, 1946. 

Margaret Bourke-White—LIFE Magazine

LIFE magazine, May 27, 1946.

Margaret Bourke-White—LIFE Magazine

Margaret Bourke-White 

This picture of Life Magazine’s photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White atop the Chrysler Building was taken by her dark room assistant Oscar Graubner.

“Photography is a very subtle thing. You must let the camera take you by the hand, as it were, and lead you into your subject” Margaret Bourke-White led the rest of us by the hand on many occasions. In 1929, she did the lead story for the first issue of Fortune, and the next year was the first Western photographer allowed into the USSR. In 1936, she collaborated with future husband Erskine Caldwell on a book documenting the rural poor of the South. Later that year she became one of the four original LIFE photographers, and had the cover shot for the inaugural issue.

She was America’s first accredited woman photographer in WWII, and the first authorized to fly on a combat mission. She was one of the first to depict the death camps, and later became the last person to interview Gandhi, six hours before he was slain. Her hundreds of thousands of photos are about adventure, sensitivity, composition and courage.(share courtesy:https://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/tag/margaret-bourke-white/)

Reference link for more about the photographer

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/75883/Margaret-Bourke-White