It took a moment, but Churchill soon noticed the small, young photographer standing amid his mass of equipment.
On the tail of his impassioned speech, Churchill came striding into the chamber, arms outstretch, hands open: in one, somebody placed a glass of brandy, in the other, a Havana cigar. Wrangling hundreds of pounds of photography equipment, Karsh next waited patiently for the moment when Churchill would finish his speech and exit the House of Commons and enter the speaker’s chamber. He set up his equipment in the speaker’s chamber in the Canadian House of Parliament, a huge Tudor apartment that was used for the speaker to entertain guests. To prepare, Karsh practiced with a subject similar in stature to Churchill from the waist down. King asked Karsh if he would photograph Churchill during the Canadian visit, and Karsh agreed. MacKenzie King, former prime minister of Canada, had first noticed Yousuf when he was photographing a meeting with FDR. When Karsh took the iconic photo-the one that would grace the cover of Life magazine and launch his international career-he was a young man, excited but nervous about photographing the historic figure. Moments prior, he had stood in the Canadian parliament, hands on hips, and announced passionately: “ Some chicken! Some neck!” Staring straight into Karsh’s camera, Churchill’s eyes are steely, almost obstinate. The year was 1941 Churchill was visiting Canada, and the Nazi puppet government in France had just sworn to wring the neck of Britain like a chicken. A portrait of Winston Churchill photographed by Yousuf Karsh during the darkest days of World War II reveals a leader resolute in the face of crisis.
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