These famous photos are among the most iconic and powerful ever taken. Take a look at 28 images that changed history and shaped the world! If you are looking for the Famous Photos That Changed The World. You are in the right place.
“Iconic Famous Photos That Changed the World” is a collection of iconic and historically significant photographs that have had a profound impact on society, culture, and our understanding of pivotal moments in history.
These images capture powerful and emotional moments, from war and civil rights movements to scientific achievements and human triumphs, and they have the ability to evoke strong emotions and inspire change. This collection of photos serves as a testament to the power of visual storytelling and the enduring influence of photography in shaping our perception of the world.
This iconic famous photos that changed the world is a curated selection of photographs that have left an indelible mark on human history and consciousness. These images are not just snapshots frozen in time; they are windows into the past that have had a lasting impact on the way we view our world.
These iconic pictures have often played a pivotal role in shaping public opinion and policy. For instance, the photo of a napalmed Vietnamese girl during the Vietnam War exposed the horrors of war to a global audience, leading to increased anti-war sentiment. In a similar vein, the images of civil rights protests and figures like Martin Luther King Jr. contributed to the civil rights movement’s momentum, driving changes in legislation and attitudes. Here are the 28 Powerful images feature in Photos That Changed the World.
28. Titanic Leaves Port | 1912
Titanic was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States.
27. Fall of the Berlin Wall | 1989
The fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history that marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain.
26. The Wright Brothers First Flight | 1903
First flight: 120 feet in 12 seconds, on December 17, 1903. This photograph shows man’s first powered, controlled, sustained flight. Orville Wright at the controls of the machine, lying prone on the lower wing with hips in the cradle which operated the wing-warping mechanism. Wilbur Wright running alongside to balance the machine, has just released his hold on the forward upright of the right wing. The starting rail, the wing-rest, a coil box, and other items needed for flight preparation are visible behind the machine. Orville Wright preset the camera and had John T. Daniels squeeze the rubber bulb, tripping the shutter.
25. Stanley Forman’s Famous Photo Woman Falling From Fire Escape | 1975
Forman was a well-known photographer working for the Boston Herald when he attended the scene of a fire. What began as him documenting the rescue of a young woman and child quickly took a turn when the fire escape collapsed.
24. Kevin Carter’s Controversial Photo – Starving Child And Vulture | 1993
This image is another Pulitzer Prize-winning image. As famous for its social impact, as it is the ethical issues it raised. In 1993 South African photojournalist Kevin Carter traveled to Sudan to photograph the famine. His image of a collapsed child, with a vulture stalking over her, not only caused public outrage because of the horrific subject. It also stirred up a lot of criticism directed toward the photographer, for photographing the child, rather than helping her. That day, and the onslaught that came after continued to haunt Carter until he took his own life in 1994.
“By the time I got back to my camera, he looked so belligerent, he could have devoured me. It was at that instant that I took the photograph.” – YOUSUF KARSH
22. Margaret Bourke-White’s Famous Photograph – Gandhi And The Spinning Wheel | 1946
In 1946 Margaret Bourke-White, LIFE magazine’s first female photographer, was offered a rare opportunity to photograph Mahatma Gandhi. This dream opportunity quickly turned into a nightmare. She was made to overcome many challenges before gaining access to India’s ideological leader. Including to spin Gandhi’s famous homespun. This iconic image of Gandhi at his spinning wheel was captured less than two years before his assassination
21. Lewis Hine’s Famous Image – Cotton Mill Girl | 1908
Established in 1904, the National Child Labor Committee, existed to fight for the rights of child workers in the USA. They realized that the most powerful tool they had was to show the real face of these children. They believed that seeing these images of child labor would awaken the citizens to demand change.
20. The Iconic V-J Day In Times Square By Alfred Eisenstaedt | 1945
Alfred Eisenstaedt’s mission through this photograph was to “to find and catch the storytelling moment.” In this post-WWII photograph in Times Square, he did just that. His famous photograph of the soldier and dental nurse has become one of the most iconic images of the 20th century, signifying the joyous end to years of war.
Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Eddie Adams was on the streets of Saigon on the 1st of February 1968 photographing the devastation of the war. Believing he was witnessing a routine execution of a prisoner. He looked through the viewfinder of his camera, to capture the scene. But what he captured was the casual assassination of the prisoner. This iconic photo became one of the most powerful images of the Vietnam War. It helped fuel the anti-war movement and end US involvement in the war because it brought to life in a horrific visual, the magnitude of the violence occurring.
18. Alberto Korda’s Iconic Photo Of Che Guevara, Guerillero Heroico | 1960
Little did photographer Alberto Korda realize when it took two frames of Fidel Castro’s young associate, as an afterthought, that it would become such an iconic image. Upon his death 7 years later his portrait of Che Guevara would become the iconic image of rebellion and revolution for people around the world. Even still today it is prevalent in the Cuban culture and around the world. Controversial as Che was, whether you consider him a hero or a villain, the portrait stands the test of time.
17. Robert Capa | The Falling Soldier | 1936
Capa’s image of a Spanish militiaman being shot was taken without him ever looking through his viewfinder. Captured by holding his camera above his head while in the trenches this image took war photography to a different level. Soon after, journalists began to be formally embedded into army units as their importance in capturing and documenting the horrors of war was realized.
16. Harold Edgerton | Milk Drop Coronet | 1957
Electrical engineering professor Edgerton began a series of experiments in his MIT lab, inventing a camera that would photograph a fleeting moment in the dark. Combining high-tech strobe lighting and a camera shutter that would enable the photographer to capture a moment invisible to the naked eye. He set up a milk dropper next to a timer along with his camera. His stop-motion photograph was able to freeze the impact of a drop of milk on a table and cemented photography’s importance in the world of advancing the human understanding of our physical world.
15. The Burning Monk | Malcolm Browne | 1963
This photo of a monk protesting by self-immolation is one of the most powerful photos that.
14. Falling Man | Richard Drew | 2001
One of the many iconic images of the most significant event of the early 21st century. The Falling Man is a photograph taken by Associated Press photographer Richard Drew of a man falling from the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks in New York City.
13. Mushroom Cloud Over Nagasaki | Lieutenant Charles Levy | 1945
Mushroom cloud over Nagasaki, 9 August 1945. Twenty-six-year-old Lieutenant Charles Levy captured the photograph with his personal camera while aboard the B-29 aircraft The Great Artiste, an observation plane that flew near the strike plane Bockscar to record the power of the blast.
12. Pillars Of Creation | Nasa | 1995
These towering tendrils of cosmic dust and gas sit at the heart of M16, or the Eagle Nebula. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope made the Pillars of Creation famous with its first image in 1995. Credits: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Pillars of Creation is a photograph taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of elephant trunks of interstellar gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula, in the Serpens constellation, some 6,500–7,000 light-years from Earth.
11. Jewish Boy Surrenders In Warsaw | 1943
The photo was taken by a Nazi photographer. There are conflicting accounts of whether this boy survived the war. In the best-known photograph taken during the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a boy holds his hands over his head while SS-Rottenführer Josef Blösche points a submachine gun in his direction.
10. The Hindenburg Disaster | Sam Shere | 1937
Sam Shere was a photojournalist best known for his 1937 photograph of the explosion of the Hindenburg dirigible balloon as it returned from a transatlantic crossing. He said of the photo: “I had two shots in my big Speed Graphic [his camera] but I didn’t even have time to get it up to my eye. On May 6, 1937, while landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, on the second of its scheduled 1937 transatlantic crossings, the Hindenburg burst into flames and was completely destroyed. Of the 97 persons aboard, 35 were killed.
9. Hitler At A Nazi Party Rally | Heinrich Hoffmann | 1934
Hitler, flanked by the massed ranks of the Sturm Abteilung (SA), ascends the steps to the speaker’s podium during the 1934 harvest festival celebration at Bückeburg.
8. First Cell-Phone Picture | Philippe Kahn | 1997
On June 11, 1997, Philippe Kahn created the first camera phone solution to share pictures instantly on public networks. The impetus for this invention was the birth of Kahn’s daughter when he jerry-rigged a mobile phone with a digital camera and sent photos in real time.
7. A Couple Kisses On A Street After Riots Broke Out In Vancouver, British Columbia | 2011
The couple apparently kissed during the Vancouver riots. The man has been named as Australian Scott Jones. Riot police walk in the street as a couple kiss on June 15, 2011 in Vancouver, Canada. Vancouver broke out in riots after their hockey team the Vancouver Canucks lost in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. (Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)
6. United Airlines Flight 175 Approaches The South Tower Of New York’s World Trade Center | 2001
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001.
5. The Space Shuttle Endeavour | 2012
The space shuttle Endeavour is transported to The Forum arena for a stopover and celebration on its way to the California Science Center from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on October 12, 2012 in Inglewood, California. The space shuttle Endeavour is on 12-mile journey from Los Angeles International Airport to the California Science Center to go on permanent public display.
4. The First Photograph In History – By Joseph Nicéphore Niépce – View From The Window At Le Gras | Circa 1826
Interestingly the first permanent photograph ever taken was not by an artist but by inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. His fascination with printing led him to set up a camera obscura at his studio in France in 1826. The window scene was cast on a pewter plate and presented a crude copy of the scene outside his window. It was an 8-hour exposure and there is only one copy, a positive image.
3. Prince Charles & Princess Diana | Tim Graham | 1981
The 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, one of the most widely-watched royal events in history. Creator Peter Morgan and co. were far more interested in delving into the challenging marriage between the couple, played by Josh O’Connor and Emma Corrin, than the ceremony itself. Nevertheless, fans are treated to a glimpse of Lady Di’s wedding gown, complete with 25-foot train, at the end of episode 3; the dress was recreated by costume designer Amy Roberts from the original by David and Elizabeth Emanuel. Viewers also get to endure Charles and Diana’s cringeworthy engagement interview—”Whatever ‘in love’ means” shall forever live in infamy.
2. The Gadget | The World’s First Atomic Bomb | Los Alamos National Laboratory | 1945
On July 16, 1945, at exactly 5:29:45 a.m., the world entered the atomic age, with the successful testing of the most powerful weapon known to man. “Gadget,” the first atomic bomb — a 6-foot sphere with a grapefruit-sized Plutonium core, covered in cables — was born out of the Albert Einstein-inspired Manhattan Project, and was detonated in the desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico. Overseeing the project was US Brig. Gen. Leslie Groves and American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.
1. Buzz Aldrin Stands Next To The Motionless US Flag | 1969
At 02:56 GMT on 21 July 1969, Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon. He was joined by Aldrin 19 minutes later. The two spent about two hours together outside the lunar module, taking photographs and collecting 21.5 kg of lunar material to be tested back on Earth. All the iconic images of the astronauts from the Apollo 11 mission were taken by Neil Armstrong. Here, Buzz Aldrin stands next to the motionless US flag. Another fun fact about the Apollo 11 mission is the absence of picture of Armstrong posing for the camera. Except for the low-quality ladder video, all the famous shots feature the second astronaut, Buzz Aldrin. Only a few images show the commander in the background. In fact, the trash bag appears in more pictures than Neil Armstrong.
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