Being a photographer is a fulfilling and rewarding career. Aside from feeding the lensman’s soul with memorable moments, the illustrations delivered have the ability to symbolically freeze time. Whether one does photography as a profession or as a hobby, people are simply delighted with the fact that they can capture the beauty of everyday life in illustrations. Words can convey the meaning of a story, yet a photo can do it more effectively, if we are to judge based on the “A picture is worth a thousand words” saying. But sometimes, one needs the words to actually see the big picture.

The photographer stimulates our visual mind, being the bridge between the world they record and the emotions that embrace each and every one of us when admiring an expressive picture. Or as Leica Camera names them in its campaign made with the help of agency TBWA\Paris, “witnesses.” A century has passed since the brand invented the first 35mm camera and, during this time, people captured all sorts of events, big and small.

Through the “The World Deserves Witnesses” campaign, the company celebrates these witnesses, those who “see the everyday beauty, grace and poetry, and the never-ending irony and drama of our human condition, and bring their cameras to the eye in order to frame it and fix it forever,” says the brand. Supported by a one-minute-long video, the campaign captures the world as it is — sad, happy, silent, or beautiful — through a collage of photos. Via the camera lenses, we see the people, the friends, the ones we love, and the ones we don’t know. The narrator then says that this is our tiny world and “it deserves to be witnessed because it’s all that we’ve got.”

The campaign webpage hosts the video and some of the pictures seen in the short film. Also, users are invited to immerse themselves in the stories that stood at the birth of these photographs. Justin Mott, a wildlife photojournalist and the author of the rhino picture, is one of the people whose works have been featured in the video. “I’m extremely honored to have my photo of rhino caretaker Zacharia Kipkirui and northern white rhino Najin at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Central Kenya chosen to be featured in a global advertising campaign for Leica Cameras,” says Mott.

With this campaign, Leica reminds us how important photographers are in documenting the world’s spirit, proving that people can experience the world differently and in a more meaningful way just by catching a glimpse at the right image.

Credits:

Client: Leica Camera

Agency: TBWA\Paris