Photography has become such an everyday thing for us, that it’ll be quite easy for our descendants to imagine how life used to be. Only a few decades ago photography was a rarity, and every taken photo had a special value, every captured moment was unique and candid.
Each one of the following 20 photos has a special historical value and truly expresses the essence of the times they were taken in.
So, buckle up and be ready to take a memorable ride on a time machine. Don’t forget to tell us which photo or event has impressed you the most. Let’s go!
#1. Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy getting married to Greek magnate Aristotle Onassis, 1968
#2. A photograph by George N. Bernard of a slave trader’s business on Whitewall Street, Atlanta, Georgia in 1864; Colored United States troop infantryman sitting right by the door
#3. Mt St Helens on the 17th of May 1980 and 4 months later
#4. John Lennon signing an autograph for Mark David Chapman, the man who would kill him five hours later
#5. David Attenborough entertains Prince Charles and Princess Anne with a cockatoo, 1958
#6. Stacks of rifles surrendered by German Soldiers after the end of WWII, 1945
#7. 50 years ago today, at the end of their second EVA (extravehicular activity), the Apollo 15 astronauts set up an American flag on the Moon, 1971. A crossbar at the top gives the flag the appearance of flying in the wind
#8. Anti-British propaganda, Japan 1941
#9. Marilyn Monroe’s Concert for Turkish soldiers in Korea, 1954
#10. Soviet and American Soldiers share a dance upon their meet-up at the River Elbe near Torgau, Saxony, Germany. April 26th, 1945 (colourization)
#11. This photo was taken during Mahatma Gandhi’s funeral rally in New Delhi. Due to the massive crowd, some onlookers climbed poles to get a better view of Gandhi’s deceased Body, 1948
#12. This mirror portrait was taken 101 years ago in Japan, 1920
#13. George H.W. Bush, a life-long baseball fan, takes Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip to a Baltimore Orioles vs. Oakland Athletics game in 1991 – the first time the Queen had been to a baseball game.
#14. Elephant mounted with an M1895 Colt-Browning machine gun, WWI, c. 1914-18
#15. 13th December 1951: British politician and future Prime minister Margaret Thatcher on her wedding day to Denis Thatcher.
#16. Mobsters hide their faces at Al Capone’s trial, 1931
#17. Soviet peasants listen to the radio for the first time, 1928
#18. Las Vegas police facing Mike Tyson after he’d just bitten Holyfield’s ear off, 1996
#19. George H.W. Bush takes a toboggan ride with Arnold Schwarzenegger at Camp David, 1991
#20. The world’s last commercial ocean-going sailing ship – The Pamir – rounding Cape Horn, 1949
