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30 Important Historical Photos That Might Change Your Perspective On Things (New Pics)
Learning about the past is far from dull when you have access to social media. There are so many fantastic internet resources out there that can help make history even more interesting than it already is: some pages use memes, create witty threads, and share intriguing pics to make education truly entertaining.
One of those pages is the ‘Photos From History’ Instagram account, a fantastic project that shares iconic historical photos. And many of them might even change your perspective on things. We’ve collected some of the Instagram page’s most recent and most powerful features to share with you, Pandas, so scroll down and get ready to learn something new about everything that’s old.
Meanwhile, check out Bored Panda's interview with photographer Dominic Sberna, from Ohio, about the appeal of using film cameras, and how to embrace doing your own thing as a photographer.
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Stevie Wonder Visiting A Children's School For The Blind In London, 1970. Photo By Terry O'neill
He was only 20 years old and already realized how important it was to help the little children facing his same issues.
The ‘Photos From History’ page has just over 1.6k followers, and has an impressive archive: the curator of the account has shared over 2.8k photos and counting over the years, and continues to educate and entertain their followers with very frequent updates.
It’s history like you’ve (probably) never seen it before. And these photos are the perfect excuse to pick a time period and a topic, and delve deeper than you have before.
Gay Men Supporting Lesbians At The Dyke March, 1993
Gay men supporting lesbians at the Dyke March, 1993. This first Dyke March in Washington D.C. was quite monumental for the period, as gay men and lesbians didn't really get along for a long period of queer history - often due to misogyny, and clashes of feminism and gay liberation. This all changed during the HIV/AIDS epidemic when lesbians banded together to nurse, treat and be activists for gay men who were often refused by doctors and were on the end of increasing homophobia due to the epidemic.
"Suddenly, the hospitals were full of lesbians who were volunteering" Jon, a gay man living in San
Francisco during the HIV outbreak in the 1980s said. "I remember being so moved by them because gay men hadn't been too kind to lesbians. We'd call them fish and make fun of the butch dykes in the bars and yet, there they were."As a thank you, they changed the official signs at Pride to having Lesbian' first (Hence L first in lgbt). This shows some of the slightly later proclaimed support by gay men of lesbians.
Members Of The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion Preparing To Jump On A Wildfire In Oregon. In 1945, During Operation Fire Fly African American Paratroopers Made More Than 8,000 Individual Jumps To Fight Wildfires And Disarm Japanese Balloon Bombs In The Pacific Northwest
Bored Panda wanted to get photographer Dominic's thoughts on the potential advantages of using a film camera versus using a digital one. "Film cameras offer a more hands-on and in-depth approach," he told us.
"Film is so much more raw in every sense and is a true art form in today's day and age. It's because of this that I don't think film will ever be truly obsolete," the photographer shared his perspective.
"Sure, it won't be used commercially, but artists will always find a way to keep a medium alive and I think that's great," he said that film will continue to be used far into the future.
Noluyanda Mqutwana Dances Outside Her Two-Room Family Shack In Khayelitsha, One Of The Poorest Black Townships Outside Cape Town (South Africa 2000)
A Man And A Woman Hiding Under A Bridge Following The Tiananmen Square Massacre, 1989
(Fdr Funeral) Tears Stream Down The Cheeks Of Accordion-Playing Chief Petty Officer Graham Jackson As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Flag-Draped Funeral Train Left Warm Springs, Georgia, On April 13, 1945. Roosevelt's Fellow Polio Victims Sit Crying At Jackson's Side
Some photographers might feel shy or even scared of criticism, so they might not feel at ease about sharing their work in public or online. We were curious what advice photographer Dominic would give them to encourage them.
"Just do your thing. If you want to share your work, share your work. If not, keep it to yourself," he explained that creators ought to be honest with themselves about their goals.
"I went to high school with a great photographer whose work I rarely saw. He didn't have any interest in sharing things on social media or online. At the end of the day, you need to do what you're comfortable with and what's best for you and your situation," the photographer said.
"If your goal is to show your work to a wider audience, over time you will get there by creating a following."
A Woman On Omaha Beach, Normandy, France, In 1947, Three Years After Allied Forces Invaded German Occupied France. Photo By David Seymour
I keep overlaying Saving Private Ryan opening scenes. Heartbreaking
Legendary Irish Antarctic Explorer Tom Crean. Crean Was A Member Of Three Major Expeditions To Antarctica During The Heroic Age Of Antarctic Exploration, Including Robert Falcon Scott's 1911–1913 Terra Nova Expedition
This saw the race to reach the South Pole lost to Roald Amundsen and ended in the deaths of Scott and his party. During the expedition, Crean's 35 miles (56 km) solo walk across the Ross Ice Shelf to save the life of Edward Evans led to him receiving the Albert Medal, and is considered one of the greatest single feats of endurance of the era.
After his experience on the Terra Nova, Crean's third and final Antarctic venture was as second officer to fellow Irishman Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. After the ship Endurance became beset in the pack ice and sank, Crean and the ship's company spent 492 days drifting on the ice before undertaking a journey in the ship's lifeboats to Elephant Island. He was a member of the crew which made a small-boat journey of 800 nautical miles (1,500 km), plotting only by the stars, from Elephant Island to South Georgia Island to seek aid for the stranded party. This extreme effort saved the lives of all 65 members of the expedition.
20,000 Year Old Human Footprints Uncovered By Researchers In White Sands National Park. According To A New Study, These Tracks Date To Between 21,000 To 23,000 Years Ago—a Time When Massive Ice Sheets Are Believed To Have Blocked Human Migration Into The Americas. Photo By Dan Odess
...reopening the question of how and when humans came to the Americas, when for decades it was established that no human trod on American soil more than 12000 years ago (as far as I know). Yet another piece of prehistory that will have to be revised.
Many of these vintage photos are fascinating on two levels. On the one hand, you’ve got pure artistic merit and interesting aesthetics that are beyond intriguing. Few(er) photographers shoot in black and white or use ‘old school’ cameras these days, so it’s very interesting to see how pictures used to come out back in the day.
On the other hand, the pics shared by the ‘Photos From History’ account offer many before-unseen snapshots that shed light on the past in unusual ways. They pique your curiosity and you can’t help but want to learn more.
Lyndon B. Johnson Singing With His Dog Yuki In 1968
An Infant Colo, The First Ever Baby Gorilla Born In Captivity. When Colo Passed Away She Was The Oldest Known Gorilla At The Time. Colo Lived From 1956-2017
(1878) A Forest Of Totem Poles Crafted By The Haida People At Skidegate, British Columbia In 1878
The lower you were, the more important was your place in that community.
However, nobody should blindly trust what they stumble upon on social media, whether they’re dealing with photos, facts, or memes. First of all, you have to consider the reliability of the source. Then, if you have the time and energy, you can cross-reference the facts shared by the source so that you get a fuller picture of what happened in the past. You can also refer to sites like Snopes, which help debunk fake facts, for some extra help.
“When looking at ‘mindblowing’ facts on the internet a healthy sense of skepticism is essential—as is looking at the source. Is this being claimed by Twitter user @fakefacts420 or a Professor of History at the University of Oxford? Are you reading this on a university website or an email your nan has forwarded you?" a moderator from a popular subreddit, r/AskHistorians, recently shared with Bored Panda.
Mrs. Hale, The Wife Of A British Soldier, Plays The Accordion Outside Her House For A Group Of American Soldiers In England, 1944
Jimi Hendrix Playing For Wilson Pickett In 1966
The Story Of Richard Lasher's Incredible Photo Of The 1980 Eruption Of Mt St Helens
The story of Richard Lasher's incredible photo of the 1980 eruption of Mt St Helens. Everybody knew the mountain was gonna blow, but Lasher camped in the area. He planned to get up early the next morning and drive to Spirit Lake, but woke up late, and was driving towards the lake at 8:32am when Mt St Helens blew. The immediate sight, sound, and force of the blast must have been an almost unimaginable experience for Lasher. Desperately he turned his car in a hurry bending the forks of his Yamaha dirt bike. This is when he took this now world renowned photo.
Had Lasher made it to Spirit Lake, he'd almost certainly have died. According to journalist John P. Walsh, Spirit Lake "met the full impact of the volcano’s lateral blast. The sheer force of the blast lifted the lake out of its bed and propelled it about 85 stories into the air to splash onto adjacent mountain slopes." Had Lasher made it even over the next ridge, he'd almost certainly have died. According to Cooper's telling of the story, "Luckily for him, and he did not realize until later just how lucky, he was on the opposite side of that ridge in front, because the entire forest was flattened from the ridge down, and he was in the lee side and protected from most of the blast and the 640 degrees melting temperature."
As it was, he was soon driving blind through the ash, staying on the left shoulder as he could just see the trees a few feet away. His vehicle clapped out from the ash so he mounted his damaged Yamaha. This decision saved his life. Four campers near close to his position
that morning were not so lucky, and 57 people near the mountain died that day.
The following day he rode his motorcycle back up into the now so called hot zone with his camera to get what pics he could. He was well into the No-Go-Zone when a helicopter saw him and came right down and landed in his path. He was surprised to be arrested on the spot and flown out in the chopper and to jail. They left his motorcycle lay on the mountain. They also kept him in jail for a few days. When he was eventually relessed, he again went back up the mojntain, and was able to get his motorcycle.
Though many time periods have conspiracy theories associated with them, some eras are more ‘popular’ among the conspiracy crowd than others. "There are probably dozens of potential conspiracies surrounding Sumerian agriculture, but that topic isn’t in the public eye in the same way that something like the Second World War or the Roman Empire is," the mod from r/AskHistorians said that some people hope to “exploit past events to push a political point in the present day.”
Yves Saint Laurent At Christian Dior's Funeral, 1957. According To Dior's Wishes, Yves Saint Laurent Became His Successor And Was Named Artistic Director Of The Haute Couture House At The Age Of 21
Homeless Irishman, Spitalfields, London, 1970. In A 2012 Documentary, Mccullin Recalled Thinking This Man Looked Like Neptune As He Photographed Him
(1967) The Patrouille Suisse, The Acrobatic Team Of The Swiss Air Force, During A Loop In Front Of The Alps
Gives me vertigo just looking at, couldn't imagine being in one of those planes!
So you’re checking your facts, doing some background research, and evaluating the reliability of your sources. Good! What’s next, though? It helps tons if you can tell whether or not a picture has been digitally manipulated. Software that lets you alter photos, like Photoshop, is incredibly widespread these days. Some folks use it to rebalance colors and touch up important personal photos, while others might use it to change historical photos in subtle ways, whether to have fun or because they have an agenda.
A Russian Soldier Playing An Abandoned Piano In Chechnya, 1994
A Photo Of A Man Standing On The Lap Of A Statue Of Ramesses In Egypt, 1856
Walt Disney Explaining Mickey Mouse To A Cat In 1931
OK, now this one you don't eat. He's going to make me millions of dollars. Good girl.
According to ‘Insider,’ it’s fairly easy to tell whether a photo has been doctored. If you look at the background of the photo (and zoom in a bit), check whether parts of pic appear warped and out of ‘shape.’ If this is the case, it’s quite likely that someone has manipulated the image in some way.
In the meantime, if absolutely everything in the photo is in focus, the odds are that the pic might have been composed of several different images. So if the details far in the distance are perfectly crisp and clear, the image was likely enhanced. Having some areas out of focus, meanwhile, is far more natural.
Paris During The La Belle Époque, The Period (1871–1914) Between The End Of The Franco-Prussian War And The Outbreak Of World War I, Characterised By Relative Peacefulness In Western Europe And By Marked Advances And Productivity In The Arts, Literature, Technology, And Culture
A Technical Security Officer From The Us Diplomatic Security Service Crawls Out Of A Tunnel After The Discovery Of A Hidden Soviet Listening Post Inside The Us Embassy In Moscow In 1978
Gaston Rébuffat Mountain Climbing In France, 1944
Gaston Rébuffat was a French alpinist, mountain guide and author. He is well known as a member of the first expedition to summit Annapurna 1 in 1950 and the first man to climb all six of the great north faces of the Alps. Photography by George Tairraz
Something else to keep an eye on is people’s skin. If the folks in the photograph have weirdly smooth skin and you can’t see any lines or pores after you’ve zoomed in, then the pic has been photoshopped.
Though a dash of touching-up can help get rid of some incredibly unseemly blemishes that popped up last minute, some individuals go overboard, and you can hardly recognize them.
Anatoly Karpov Playing An Exhibition Chess Game, 1978
The 1895 Train Crash At Montparnasse Station Is One Of The Most Famous And Reprinted Images Of A Train Accident. Location: Paris
Emperor Minilik The 2nd Of Ethiopia, 1896
The Battle of Adwa (Amharic: አድዋ; Tigrinya: ዓድዋ;) was the climactic battle of the First Italo-Ethiopian War. The Ethiopian forces defeated the Italian invading force on Sunday 1 March 1896, near the town of Adwa. This victory signaled the decline of European colonialism in Black Africa.
In 1889, the Italians signed the Treaty of Wuchale. The “Treaty of Wichale agreed to in principle that Menelik II would provide to Italy land in the Tigray province in exchange for support in the form of weapons the Italians had been supplying him for some time, but the Italians wanted more.
There were two versions of the treaty to be signed, one in Italian, and one written in Amharic. Unbeknownst to the conquering King was the fact that the version in Italian had been altered by the translators to give Rome more power over Menelik II and his kingdom of Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Kingdom/Empire had been in existence since the 13th century
Ethiopia would go to war with Italy again when the king learned of the treason, beat them again and signed the more equal Treaty of Addis Ababa (with France and Britain making sure it was equal) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Addis_Ababa
Some more perceptive photography fans might also notice repeating patterns and textures in images. That likely means that whoever posted the photo edited parts of it by cloning, say, clumps of grass, sky, or something else. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is!
Meanwhile, ‘Gadgets to Use’ urges internet users to keep an eye out for pixelation and “imperfect coloring,” as well as checking the shadows in the pics for signs that something has been changed.
A View Over Berlin In 1920
Window Cleaners In New York City, 1958
Actress And Model Debra Jo Fondren Pictured At An L.a. Roller Disco Party In 1979
Note: this post originally had 63 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
As for the pros, they can always check the EXIF data of the image. For instance, if a slow shutter speed was used, the moving objects in the photo should be blurry. If they’re not, that means there’s something sneaky afoot! Of course, this applies more to modern, digital photography, not historical pics.
For some more fascinating, beautiful, and mind-blowing historical pics, check out Bored Panda's earlier posts about 'Photos From History' over here.
Not bad, BP. Anything is better than "AITA for refusing to let my mother-in-law wear a chicken costume to my wedding?"
Not bad, BP. Anything is better than "AITA for refusing to let my mother-in-law wear a chicken costume to my wedding?"
