Moments in history frozen in time. Captured by accident, or planned down to the last detail. Photographs that are not easily forgotten, and that have even become subjects of study. We can talk a lot about those images, but what about the cameras? Below, we share twenty examples of historical photographs and the devices used to capture them.
Generally, a photographer must go out and search for their photographs, but there are isolated, special, unique occasions when an image manages to find them. A moment of peace, an outbreak of violence, armed conflicts, fatal accidents, pain, chaos. Windows to other regions, other worlds. But the photographer's desire and luck are not enough. They need a device, a camera, to make that unrepeatable shot.
Today we will see a total of 20 historical images and the cameras used to obtain them. In some cases, the information is not as precise as we would like, but the testimony of the photographer himself is usually strong evidence. Not everything you are about to see is pretty, so I recommend some discretion.
Historic shot from Apollo 8.
Did you know that that man survived?
2,996 confirmed deaths.
Thích Quảng Đức sacrificed himself in protest against the persecution of Buddhists.
Cover of NatGeo, June 1985.
The camera in the image is actually a later model.
The Great Depression, portrayed as rarely before.
Diana Bryant (19) and Tiare Jones (2) falling into the void while escaping a fire in July 1975. Jones survived, Bryant did not.
Only 11 photos survived out of 106.
Abbey Road sold four million copies in two months.
The 'Napalm Girl', Phan Thi Kim Phuc, is alive and resides in Ontario, Canada.
Taken during 'Operation Danube', the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact.
It is said that this is the second take, so that the flag would look better.
Yesterday, an iconic image. Today, accused of legitimizing sexual assault. The debate continues...
Moments before he was assassinated.
The identity of the photographer was hidden for decades.
Two days after the death of JFK.
Placed on t-shirts, pins, keychains, murals, drinks...
YouTube has a copy of the moment Inejiro Asanuma is assassinated. Sensitive images.
Boston was a racial chaos in 1976. This image says it all.
