Photographs are more than just pictures; they represent captured moments in time, memories, and feelings. They take us back to when we first saw them or when they were taken. This is the strong emotional attraction that pictures have.
The efficiency with which this art form, entwined with technology, captures moments is amazing. We frequently concentrate on the events and narratives that led up to the pictures, but we hardly ever think about the photographer or the camera that enabled it all.
Every famous picture has a camera and a photographer who chose to capture that moment in time. Someone chose to record it on film, whether it's a classic magazine cover, a famous album cover, or a momentous occasion like D-Day.
We decided to offer some of the most famous images in history, along with the cameras that took them, because of the way these pictures take us back in time. These one-off shots have made a lasting impression in a world where millions of pictures are taken every day.
See these historic images that document important moments in human history, as well as the cameras that took them, by scrolling down...
#01 Lyle Owerko, 2001 / Fuji 645zi...
Photographer Lyle Owerko used a Fuji 645zi camera to document the terrible events of 9/11. Even the cover of TIME magazine featured one of his images from that day.#02 “Earthrise” By William Anders, 1968 / Modified Hasselblad 500 El..
William Anders, an astronaut, took this image, "Earthrise," on December 24, 1968, while on the Apollo 8 mission. A significantly modified Hasselblad 500 EL camera with an electric motor was utilized by the astronaut. On specially made 70 mm Kodal Ektachrome film, the picture was taken.#03 “Burning Monk” By Malcolm Browne, 1963 / Petri..
Malcolm Browne took the famous picture of Thích Quảng Đức, a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who burned himself alive in Saigon on June 11, 1963, using a basic Petri rangefinder camera.#04 “The Hindenburg Disaster” By Sam Shere, 1937 / Speed Graphic...
Sam Shere used a Graflex Speed Graphic camera to record the Hindenburg airship disaster that occurred in Manchester Township, New Jersey on May 6, 1937. Thirty-six of the 97 passengers on board perished during the journey.#05 “Tank Man” By Jeff Widener, 1989 / Nikon Fe2..
Photographer Jeff Widener used a Nikon FE2 camera to capture the image of an unnamed Chinese guy, known as Tank guy, who was standing in front of a line of tanks departing Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989.#06 “Afghan Girl” By Steve McCurry, 1984 / Nikon Fm2..
In 1984, photojournalist Steve McCurry used a Nikon FM2 camera to take the famous portrait of the Afghan Girl, Sharbat Gula. The girl's true identity was unknown until 2002, despite the fact that the picture appeared on the cover of the June 1985 issue of National Geographic.#07 Abbey Road Album Cover By Iain Macmillan, 1969 / Hasselblad..
Photographer Iain Macmillan took the iconic image of The Beatles on Abbey Road in 1969. The photographer utilized a 50mm wide-angle lens on a Hasselblad camera.#08 “Migrant Mother” By Dorothea Lange, 1936 / Graflex Super D ..
Photographer Dorothea Lange took this striking image of Florence Owens Thompson and her kids on March 6, 1936. After the crop was devastated by freezing rain, leaving the pea-pickers without a job or compensation, the picture was captured inside their camp on Nipomo Mesa.#09 “Raising The Flag On Iwo Jima” By Joe Rosenthal, 1945 / Speed Graphic..
Photographer Joe Rosenthal took this image on February 23, 1945, during the Battle of Iwo Jima, showing six US Marines hoisting the flag atop Mount Suribachi. Unfortunately, in the days that followed, three of the six troops lost their lives in combat.#10 “V-J Day In Times Square” By Alfred Eisenstaedt, 1945 / Leica IIIa ...
On August 14, 1945, photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt took this picture of a US Navy sailor kissing a stranger in Times Square, New York City. The actual subjects in the photos are unknown, despite the fact that several people claimed to be the ones in them.#11 “Tokyo Stabbing” By Yasushi Nagao, 1960 / Speed Graphic...
Photographer Yasushi Nagao documented the October 12, 1960, assassination of Japanese politician Inejiro Asanuma by Otoya Yamaguchi, then 17 years old. The photograph was named World Press Photo of the Year and earned the photographer a Pulitzer Prize.#12 “Invasion 68: Prague”, By Josef Koudelka, 1968 / Exacta Varex...
In 1968, photographer Josef Koudelka documented the military invasion of Prague. Under the letters P. P. (Prague Photographer), his negatives were published anonymously in The Sunday Times Magazine after being smuggled out of Prague...
