Alma (Campanha Leica)

"CAN A CAMERA HAVE PAST LIVES? Like all the Leica cameras of my time, I was born in Wetzlar, in Germany. At that time, there were only a couple of factories in the region surrounding the medieval church. However, it was in Marseilles that I met the photographer who would guide my history. In 1948, we went together to document India’s independence. The photographer and Mahatma were friends. We knew it would be easy to arrange for a photo shoot. But what we didn’t know is that that great man’s hunger strike was to be his last, and that my lens was to record his last image still alive. Soon after we left home, we learned that he has been murdered. With my 50mm lens and my metal parts covered with black tape not to draw attention to ourselves, we were able to photograph Mahatma’s funeral, not as professionals, but as part of the mass of millions who accompanied his cortege to Kaj Chat. What we recorded was an entire nation in mourning, a country with no ground beneath its feet, with no light. People from all casts meshed together on the streets to find out if the news they had heard on the radio was really true: Mahatma had been cowardly murdered. I saw his slim body being put into weapons carrier with no engine. Four cables, each hauled by 50 people, were needed to pull the vehicle. This was the only way that everyone could do what I was also there to do: look at that great man one last time. I caught on 35mm the solders wielding their lances, riding their horses, trying to control a mob of over 2 million people walking side-by-side for 5 hours, alongside the greatest hero that India had ever seen. On the day that every heart became a dark room, I managed to take pictures that would go down in history. Back in France, my owner was robbed. I spent my last days in a pocketbook, until I slipped out and fell into the Mediterranean. Back then, I was a Leica IIIc. Now, my soul has reincarnated. My name is M-Monochrom, and I’d like very much to go back to taking photos." All Leicas have a soul. Leica M-Monochrom. Black & White reincarnated. Monochrom.com.br.