Margaret Bourke-White captured this image of Gandhi in 1946. She was first female photographer from Life magazine, commissioned to travel to Indian and photograph India's future leaders, during the partition of India, creation of Pakistan and their independence from the British.
By the time Margaret Bourke-White came to Gandhi’s compound for a life article on India’s leaders, spinning was so bound up with Gandhi’s identity that his secretary, Pyarelal Nayyar, told Bourke-White that she had to learn the craft before photographing the leader. When she remarked that both photography and spinning were handicrafts, they told seriously, “The greater of the two is spinning.” Spinning is raised to the heights almost of a religion with Gandhi and his followers. Spinning is a cure for all, and is spoken of in terms of the highest poetry." (Cosgrove)
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.
Later, the iconic Bourke-White’s picture of Gandhi reading the news alongside his charkha is recognized for its value when Life magazine runs a tribute to Gandhi after his assassination by a Hindu Nationalist. It soon became an indelible image, the slain civil-disobedience crusader with his most potent symbol, and helped solidify the perception of Gandhi outside the subcontinent as a saintly man of peace.