Subscribe to ListverseAnother 10 Historical Photographs
- Published October 15, 2007 - 96 Comments
Following on from the 15 Incredible Historical Photographs list, we have another selection of 10. In no particular order:
1. Southern Sudan
Kevin Carter took this photograph in southern Sudan. The picture would later bring him the Pulitzer prize, but also death. The image shows a vulture waiting for a child to starve to death. This horrific sight affected the photographer so deeply that he committed suicide after winning the Pulitzer Prize.
2. Volcano Victim
Omayra Sánchez was 13 years old when the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted. She was trapped in the remains of her house for three days in water up to her neck. Photor-reporter Frank Fournier got this picture a few hours before her death. The Red Cross alerted the local authorities, but they could not get there in time and Omayra died of hypothermia.
3. Soweto Riots
A photo that managed to draw the attention of the world shows Hector Peterson, age 13, as he dies in the arms of Mbuyisa Makhubo, after he was shot by a police officer on June 16, 1976, during the Soweto riot in South Africa. Picture taken by Sam Nzima.
4. Construction Workers
“New York Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam” is a world famous photo, made during the construction of the GE Building in the Rockefeller Center in 1932. Photographer Charles C. Ebbets took the picture on September, 29, 1932. The workers are on level 69.
5. Soldier’s Despair
In the photo, American sergeant, just found his best friend in the body-bag beside him. He was killed during the Gulf War. The picture was taken by David Turnley, but shortly after it’s appearance it was restricted by the Pentagon.
6. Unknown Refugee
Steve McCurry took this photograph of a young refugee girl from war-torn Afghanistan. It first appeared in National Geographic Magazine in 1985 but was taken in 1983. The girl’s name is unknown.
7. Einstein
The famous scientist, Albert Einstein, shows us in this famous photograph, that he also had a good sense of humor. The picture was taken on March 14, 1951, by Arthur Sasse.
8. Churchill
The portrait of Great Britain’s wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, became famous all over the world. The photographer Yousuf Karsh, became famous for this picture. it is the most reproduced picture in history, and it also appeared on the cover of Life Magazine.
9. 9/11
American photograph Richard Drew captured this image during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre. He managed to photograph a man who, in panic, jumped from the upper floors of the building.
10. Marliyn
This iconic image of Marilyn Monroe comes from the film The Seven Year Itch. It is probably the most famous picture taken of this celebrated actress.
Contributor: Yaurt
Technorati Tags: history, photography
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October 15th, 2007 at 3:58 am
i seen a documentary on nation geographic where they actually found the unknown afghan girl and interviewed her and took an after photo!
October 15th, 2007 at 4:06 am
zubair: oh – how was she? Presumably she survived the whole ordeal.
October 15th, 2007 at 4:26 am
I saw that documentary too. I remember that she was older of course but still had the piercing eyes. Very interesting list Jamie!
October 15th, 2007 at 5:53 am
you added the picture i suggested!!!(number 6 the refugee)nd yea der was a follow up it was reli gud!
October 15th, 2007 at 6:00 am
bonjournickle: yep – I thought of it as soon as this list was submitted
Reea: Thanks
October 15th, 2007 at 6:16 am
you’ve presented a whole range of emotions here..
the 9/11 images of people jumping off is still quite chilling.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:11 am
Not quite sure the Churchill photograph is the most reproduced photograph in history. I think it belongs to another one that should be featured on this list.
i’m talking about the famous Che Guevara portrait by Alberto Korda.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:18 am
Etienne: I have featured Guevara on the top 10 famous corpses – and frankly, that is the only list I want to see him on
October 15th, 2007 at 7:19 am
As zubair and reea, i saw it too. At first some locals misguided the photografer to the wrong person. I think this was on purpose since the documentary is a little boring, they need to add a piece of drama. Just like Rocky movies, he lost the first fight, and then won the second one.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:26 am
yeah sure JF,
but still a list about famous photographs should still include one of the most famous portrait ever.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:27 am
The most chilling photo is number one.
October 15th, 2007 at 8:15 am
no wonder the photographer of picture 1 killed himself.
October 15th, 2007 at 8:21 am
They found out the girl’s name. It was Sharbat Gula. You can read about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharbat_Gula
October 15th, 2007 at 8:24 am
here eyes just pierce right through you…
October 15th, 2007 at 8:46 am
God, some of these are heart-wrenchingly sad, especially #1. Not a good way to start off the day
Still, great list, you managed to portray a lot of emotions.
October 15th, 2007 at 9:25 am
There is a CBC documentary based on picture #9 where they track down the identity of the jumper. The show is called ‘Falling Man’ and its really quite interesting.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:08 am
The angry expression on Churchill’s face came about because as Karsh was getting ready to take the shot, Churchill had a cigar in his mouth… and Karsh walked up to him and plucked it out!
True story.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:47 am
How about this photo?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man
October 15th, 2007 at 10:57 am
The girl in photo 6 is indeed Sharbat Gula, and years later National Geographic managed to track her down. Although she was not too keen on the attention, she allowed for her photo to be taken again.
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/afghangirl/
October 15th, 2007 at 11:07 am
ImplosiveFire: shame on you! If you looked at the list I mentioned in the opening paragraph you would see it is there
Marco: thank you so much for posting a link to the photo. Her hard life shows on her face!
October 15th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Oh, whoops, my bad
October 15th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
so did the photographers of the trapped girl and the starving kid do anything to help them? it sounds like the one who photographed the trapped girl just left her there to die.
October 15th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
80toy: I wondered the exact same thing – surely there was something he could have done!
October 15th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
80toy: Sadly, he did not help the starving girl for fear of disease and it is unknown if she lived or not.
October 15th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
thats too bad. Its probably why he killed himself.
October 15th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Well, he also took the first photograph of necklacing. That would depress and haunt anyone. He saw some terrible things in his photography career :\.
You can read about him here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Carter
October 15th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I think that I remember reading about the trapped girl in photo 2 and if I remember correctly, there was nothing that they could do to help her. I believe her body or legs were pinned and they could not get her out. How horrible it would be to watch a young girl dying and not be able to do anything to help her.
I’m not sure that I would agree with the characterization of the jumper in photo 9 being “in panic”. That sounds as if he did not make a clear, rational decision and he may well have. It is quite understandable why someone would prefer to leap to their death rather than dying of smoke inhalation or worse, being burned. It’s a horrible choice to have to make but that doesn’t mean that the poor man did not consciously make it.
October 15th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
jfrater: The reason the photographer of picture 1 killed himself was the controversy over the fact that he didn’t help the little girl. Or the other people he photographed. Because it was his job to take the photographs, and as samiam said, fear of disease.
I say people should go see the carnage in such places before they ask if he helped this one specific person. Is she more important than thousands of others because she made for a stunningly sad photograph? I say no. I think it’s a naive response to a photograph such as this. It oversimplifies the problem.
October 15th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
If only some of those pics were rarities. As much as I want to cry and fall apart over these pictures, I realize these are things that go on around the world all too often and I am glad they are being shown to gain awareness. I am referring to pictures 1,2,3,5 and 9. Thank you for this list, jfray. Glad you went there.
October 15th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
The story behind #2, as told by the photographer. Tragic…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4231020.stm
October 15th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Two pics are missing….the naked vietnamese girl running from her village and the vday photo of sailor kissing a girl in NYC after WWII
October 15th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Beth: Yes they are missing from this list…But that is because they are on this list 15 Incredible Historical Photographs
October 15th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
I recently did an essay on the girl who was trapped after the volcano. She spent days trapped in the cold muddy water. Her body temperature dropped so low that she suffered from a heart attack. They couldnt get her out because it was difficult to get a water pump in that part of the world in time to save her. The worst part about it was she couldnt get out because her legs were pinned under the remains of her house and also, her dead aunt was still holding on to her ankles. Its really sad =[
October 15th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Twyla: I think that it is too easy to say that there are thousands of others who are important too – as an excuse to not help the one person you can help. Yes, there are others suffering the same plight, but all people are equal and saving one person is better than saving none. I wondered if he had helped – I didn’t condemn him as I didn’t know the story behind it. Thanks for the comment though – it is good for us to see things from all sides I think
October 15th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Ayesha: Thanks for shedding more light on that photograph – how absolutely terrible that must have been. The poor girl. What I think is most interesting is that the look on her face is actually very serene – unusual given the circumstances.
October 16th, 2007 at 1:22 am
How should the photographer have helped the starving girl (from pic #1)? Taking her home with him? Not possible. Feeding her? With what? And even if he had some food in his pocket that he could give to her, then what? And how about the thousands of other starving people around? No wonder he killed himself.
Pic #1 makes me incredibly angry by the way. We should be ashamed of ourself letting this happen to people on our planet.
October 16th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
We should be ashamed of ourself letting this happen to people on our planet.
…
Yes, greed is a very dangerous thing..
October 17th, 2007 at 1:52 am
sakul: I totally agree – the problem is mostly in government I think – the nations afflicted need to take care of their people – they can’t just rely on the Western nations to front up and fix the problems. Maybe there should be an international law that abolishes any government that allows this kind of thing to happen.
October 17th, 2007 at 5:37 am
Looking at the construction workers on that beam gives me chills! I love how they aren’t even scared of the heights, probably because they had been working on it for 69 floors by then. What a great picture!
October 17th, 2007 at 10:27 am
the most reproduced picture in history is the picture of the boy who is on “kinder-schokolade” (kinder-chocolate)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder_Chocolate
October 17th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
The volcano victim picture is amazing.
October 18th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
jfrater said
That is certainly true, but I think that we should also remember that the Western nations (in this case, the UK) are at least partially responsible for their problems. Sudan, as are so many other countries that have civil strife, was a British colony. In 1946 the British decided that Northern and Southern Sudan would become one.
Why don’t we (the Western countries) ever seem to realize that you can’t just take a random group of people of different religions, ethnic backgrounds and cultures, and decide that they are going to be a “country” with some arbitrary borders that we have set, without it leading to internal strife and power struggles? Yes, their government should be doing more, but we should remember that their original government was put in place by us. Meanwhile, the common people suffer…
October 19th, 2007 at 2:27 am
Mathilda: you make a very good point there – I stand corrected. Thanks
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:47 pm
there was a documentary on the Fallin Man who jumped from the tower.
they got his name but you can probably search it somehow.
sorry if someones already mentioned it.
November 4th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
One photo I would add…
John-John saluting his father, JFK, during the funeral procession.
November 10th, 2007 at 10:14 am
What about the picture of The Raising of the American Flag in Iwo Jima?
November 10th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Some ((well…most)) of these are really sad. I was ready to cry when i saw the first one
November 15th, 2007 at 9:42 am
JFrater, you made a comment about Omayra Sanchez’s face, you said it was serene inspite of her condition. Serenity is so often found in death, my dear.
November 22nd, 2007 at 6:58 am
Your No No 6. Unknown Refugee has been found. National Geographic had a special program that showed her how she is today.
November 22nd, 2007 at 7:26 am
Ivor Berger: Thanks for mentioning that – though it was mentioned in comment 19 as well
It is good to know the ultimate conclusion to her story.
December 17th, 2007 at 12:23 am
The 9/11 photo made my stomach turn.
Some of these pictures are terrible to look at, but important as well.
December 27th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
pic 5 is really sad for me because my cousin and his friend were both shipped off to Iraq and when my cuz was looking for survivors he found his dead friend lying face down in a puddle of blood…
December 29th, 2007 at 6:15 am
it seems strange when pics like pic no 1 are shown…. life in this world doesn’t seem to have a value…. the leaders and everyone in this world talk about development and don’t actually realise the pain and misery of many others who are dying coz of this development……, no one is spared….. neither the infants
January 10th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
wow, that man falling from the world trade center is just one of the saddest things i have ever since. also the first one with the kid and the vulture. sometimes we take living in this country way too much for granted
January 20th, 2008 at 8:55 am
luckyaz: what country is that? Anyway, how can you say that the guy jumping from the World Trade center is so sad when there are people who jump off buildings to commit suicide anyway?
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:17 pm
i found out the afghan girls name , its Sharbat Gula
January 25th, 2008 at 1:06 am
No.1 tore me apart.OMG,no wonder the photographer committed suicide.that’s a horrifying sight to see,let alone do nothing about.
January 26th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Can anybody shed light on the construction workers on the beam picture.It cant be for real can it?It makes me glad I live in a bungalow.
thanks
January 26th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Pete,
Its a real photo. Back in the day no one really had any concern for safety and if I recall correctly, I think most of the men were Italian immigrants. If you look up most major construction projects of that period most of them have high death tolls because of the lack of safety regulations in place. And that was probably as good a place as any to eat, I mean, would you want to go down 69 flights and then go back up them just to eat lunch?
February 13th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Re #1 most likely nothing could be done to save to child, but my instinct would have been to hold her and comfort her.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:36 am
I can’t believe you left off the flag-raising on Iwo Jima which actually IS the most reproduced photograph in history. Also, people like Mathilda should try reading Thomas Sowell’s “Economic Facts and Fallacies” chapter on Third World economics before trying to lay the blame for all the world’s ills on Western governments. African governments are poor because they are more corrupt than the mafia not because of globalization
April 28th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
These are truly moving images. Talk about a thousand words.
It’s no good pointing fingers and calling down blame, who did not do what–even if the photographers didn’t help the people they took the pictures of, it can be argued that later on they did–they raised awareness for these people’s plights, and they made people like you and me looking at these images realise that there is something wrong with the world we live in. They make us realise we need to be the forces for change. They fight apathy. Surely that counts for something?
May 7th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
One image missing from these lists that I find fascinating is a picture taken at a rally in Munich in 1914 showing a then unknown Hitler in the crowd, oddly staring in the direction of the camera and clearly recognizable. The people around him are obviously oblivious to his presence (he was a nobody then) so this picture always makes me ponder the brushes with evil every day people could have had.
http://www.militaryimages.net/photopost/data/575/5hitler_in_the_crowd.jpg
June 6th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
The Afghan girl’s name is not unknown. Her name is Sharbat Gula.
June 13th, 2008 at 8:15 am
I would have thought that the photo of the lass running towards the camera after a napalm attack in vietnam would have been in the list, but a great list otherwise
June 13th, 2008 at 11:00 am
oh sorry just seen that, didnt realise this was another 10 historical pics!!! doh!
June 13th, 2008 at 11:17 am
The mentions of that photographer committing suicide reminds me of the airport worker who gave Mohammad Atta his plane ticket on 9-11. She had a bad feeling about him but didn’t act on it and after 9-11 happened she felt so guilty she killed herself. The other airport worker who gave him his other ticket in another airport told that story on Oprah, and he also lived with extreme guilt. It was sad, I felt bad for him.
July 28th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Number 1 and Number 9 made me cry
August 4th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
i was expecting also the photo of the the monk who sets himself on fire.. it has been an album cover of rage against the machine.
August 17th, 2008 at 9:53 am
godd morning and or any salam i want to say u can we see mohmads saw photo with internet
August 17th, 2008 at 9:58 am
can we use inter net facality with out any tension it is true that google gives us lot of informations about any thing we thank full to our
August 20th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
#6…National Geographic did a follow up story a couple of years ago about that photo. They found the girl and took another, similar picture of her. She’s now married with children. =)
August 21st, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Excellent collection
October 7th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Hey man, you forgot about Robert Capa !!!!!!!!!! His D Day pics!! Come on!
October 17th, 2008 at 5:56 am
There’s quite a few pictures of the 9/11 jumpers
The most chilling one to me is the one of the two people holding hands while falling
Great list though
Images like this need to be seen.
October 17th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
What about the pictures of the riots in the 60’s and 70’s? The girl holding her hand out to the tank, taken moments before it ran her over? Or the girl mourning over the body of her friend? Those should be included too.
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:39 am
I really think that the flag raising on Iwo Jima should be on the list because it is such a reproduced picture in the US. and there is that picture of the troops going up to the beach on D-Day that i think is in just about every history book.
November 25th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
They actually found the girl in #6, years ago the National Geographic did a follow up story on her. She’s got the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen.
December 4th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Not convinced by the follow up picture of the Afghan girl, check it out. Yes the eyes look the same but the face shape, even allowing for the passing years and particularly the nose are completely different. What do you think?
December 5th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Sharbat Gula is #6’s name.
December 7th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
oh my god the first one is awful!
December 23rd, 2008 at 4:17 pm
DurhamGooner: I can’t speak for the actual validity of the identity, but they say that they matched her irises, which is more accurate than fingerprints.
But hey, they might just be saying things.
January 7th, 2009 at 6:25 am
The name of the Afghan girl was Sherbat-gul. The photographer organized a search for her after Taliban’s fall.
February 5th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
How about Peter Fechter’s photo in the Berlin Wall? Or Bodhisattva Thích Quảng Đức’s self-immolation?
February 27th, 2009 at 12:23 am
Most of these being listed as “photographs” are pure bullshit. Many of them are actually a selective frame from motion picture film, some from 8 mm film.
The one of Churchill scowling was taken just after the photographer took his cigar away, which caused him to look grumpy. In other pictures taken minutes earlier in this posed sitting, he looked less serious.
May 7th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Just a small bit of information about #6
this is the NG article when they went looking for her again in 2002
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/index-text
June 13th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
I don’t understand how the photographers could not help the girl from the earthquake or the starving child. If it is because of some artistic ideal, god forgive our us for such a liberty we take.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:43 am
DAMMN PICTURE NO 1 MADE ME CRY
September 29th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
same here,pic number 1 made me cry. it was so shocking and because it is real it makes it so much harder not to cry. i saw it and instantly thought of my own daughter and realised just how lucky i am to live in the country i do.
October 13th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
pic 9 ! it’s super man ?
November 20th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
the 1st one was the sadest picture i have ever seen it really makes me think alot about how lucky i am.
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:14 pm
The one of Winston Churchill has him looking grumpy because the photographer had just plucked his cigar from his mouth, thinking it would not fit the picture.
January 14th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Wow, the 9/11 picture is so shocking. That’s absolutely terrible. And the first picture almost made me cry! )=
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:59 pm
I dont understand why the photographers didnt try to help out the children in the first two pics. Also NatGeo adds color to their pics. Its a fact. Hence the color of the girls eyes in #6.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:23 pm
The Afghan Girl’s name is Sharbat Gula, she is now living in her home country of Afghanistan and is a mother of 3 girls.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:25 pm
The Afghan Girl’s name is Sharbat Gula, she now lives in her home country of Afghanistan and she is a mother of 3 girls.