PHOTO: BNPS.CO.UK
If you take photos for a living – or simply love the craft – you are probably like me in that you’ve spent more of your hard earned dough on cameras and photographic gadgetry than the average Joe. But would you be willing to pay 2 million dollars for a camera? That’s a whole new level of love for the magic light-box.
I’m referring to David Douglas Duncan‘s Leica M3, a camera that captured some of the most well known war images along with incredible portraits of his good friend Pablo Picasso. It was just sold for $2.19 million – making it the most expensive commercially manufactured camera ever to be sold.
Although this camera is special because of who wielded it and the incredible images that passed through its innards, it is also unique in that it is one of four Leica M3Ds ever created – the D stands for Duncan. Leica created this battle hardened camera specifically for him, so that he could get in the midst of the action without compromising the integrity of this remarkable tool.
Scroll down for some of Duncan’s famous images and ask yourself the question: if you had all the money in the world, would YOU pay 2 million for a camera with such a deep and rich history?
Wouldn’t spend a penny over 1.9 million.
That is an easy question to answer. No, I wouldn’t.
If I was wealthy enough to buy that camera, it would give me a greater pleasure to donate 2 million to a deserving charity. I’m not at all caught up in material possessions.
Sure, though it be a chore to explain its worth to whoever came to visit.
It does not matter how much money I had, I would rather see the images captured with the camera, than have the camera.