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Social media platforms have turned photography into an almost universal skill —everyone is taking photos, editing them and trying to stand out. Our standards are higher than ever and we’ve become harder to impress.
But there are still some images that manage to stop us in our tracks — whether it’s the first moon landing, the Wright brothers’ first flight, or just a random picture of a soldier playing with a butterfly.
Recently, netizens were asked to share some of the most powerful photos that left them speechless, and honestly, their replies did not disappoint.
Not all of these iconic photos are perfectly framed or taken by professionals. Some are taken by amateurs, some are blurry and some technically imperfect.
What makes these photos so incredible is that everything just clicks at the right moment — the timing, the emotions and the people behind the camera.
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#2
I believe they were already married but couldn't afford to get any wedding photos, in fact I don't think they had any photos of themselves together at all. So a photographer took these photographs for them.
#3
As a linemen myself, and everyday having to put something in my hands that could potentially [end] me instantly. This picture gets to me.
The photo was taken in 1967 by Rocco Morabito called The Kiss of life.
J.D Thompson is the one giving the mouth to mouth, Randall G. Champion is the one who made contact. The photo was taken in 1967 by Rocco Morabito called The Kiss of Life. Champion went on to live an extra 35 years and died in 2002. Thompson is still alive today.
For those who don't know when someone makes contact, it means they made a simple mistake which can happen to anybody in this line of work and made contact with probably 7500 volts. Based on what it looks like to distribution, if it would have been transmission, he wouldn't be with us.
Scott Rackley 9 hours ago
My brother is a lineman. If it was transmission you might not have found him.
Some of these images are wonderful and some just horrific and heartbreaking — but what’s common among them is that they tell us a story and pull us into a moment we were never a part of.
Another similar pattern among these pictures is that they focus on emotional and very human moments.
Even though we might not be able to completely relate with the subjects or understand what they went through, the simplicity of these pictures makes it easier for us to form an immediate emotional connection
#4
Neil Armstrong after his moonwalk.
The look and emotion on his face brings me to tears sometimes.
#5
Luis Padillo and Soldier.
4 June 1962. Navy chaplain Luis Padillo was walking around giving last rites to soldiers as sniper fire surrounded him. A wounded soldier pulled himself up by linging to the priest’s cassock, as bullets chewed up the concrete around them.
#6
I'm not 100% sure where this is but I always thought it was amazing.
Huge wave hitting lighthouse.
When we see these images, it makes us think and question their background.
American photojournalist Ami Vitale says: “Images should have a story, meaning, and reveal truths. You have to go deep and show something original and unexpected, something that teaches and surprises, but also reveals those universal truths that everyone can understand and feel.”
#8
A boy tries to wake up his alcoholic father.
#9
Conrad Schumann's defection to West Berlin. He's jumping the wire between West and East Berlin in 1961, just as the Berlin Wall is being built.
Michael Largey 12 hours ago
When he returned to his home town in the former East Germany after Germany was reunited, he was treated by the residents as a traitor who had abandoned his family and community. A victim of depression, he hanged himself in1998.
These images also challenge us to respond — they can make us cry, laugh, feel heartbroken or even give us butterflies.
Contemporary photographer Anton Corbijn has put it simply but powerfully: “The best photographs are the ones that make you feel something, that evoke a strong emotional response… They can make us even feel a profound sense of awe.”
#10
American Soldier during Vietnam and his take on war.
#11
Afghanistan before it got ruined.
#12
Bruce McCandless making the first untethered spacewalk.
Shelley Keenan 12 hours ago
Can you imagine? Just floating out there, relying on others to bring you back to safety. That takes some balls.
Research shows that the most influential photos usually show conflict, struggle, or human suffering.
Photojournalism has always been closely linked with politics and violence because cameras usually go where history is unfolding — in wars, protests, revolutions.
It's because they show humanity at its most vulnerable and most real.
Even in this list, many people shared pictures of profound historic moments.
But not always. There are also pictures of the Woodstock music festival, or a picture of an old couple being lovey-dovey, and even one of a sky filled with beautiful lights.
A war-torn street and a couple holding hands may look worlds apart, but both make us pause and reflect, and feel connected to something larger than ourselves.
#13
The image used as proof that advanced shutter technology worked.
I saw this during a random trip to the Wisconsin Dells. Taken in 1886, the photographer had his son jump between two rock formations to prove his new photography invention actually worked.
I'm speechless when I see it now and I can't even imagine how I would feel if this was the first moving image I had ever seen.
Karl der Große 12 hours ago
I wonder if it looks less scary from a different angle. From this angle - yeeeesh.
#14
The Thousand-Yard Stare. Just [pains] me every time to think what these guys must have gone through. It looks as if they all lost a piece of themselves.
#15
The text of the speech Nixon planned on giving to the American people if the crew of Apollo 11 were stranded on the moon.
It's chilling to think of the collective sorrows of an entire planet going up at that news.
TotallyNOTAFox 10 hours ago
With all the s**t that went wrong that could have been a real outcome - Broken landing computer on descent forcing Armstrong to land manually, broken thrust lever that was fixed by using a pencil etc. The NASA itself gave them a 50/50 chance to survive back then
Sometimes, what makes a photo iconic has nothing to do with planning. A lot of the images in this list are completely spontaneous — someone just happened to be in the right place at the right time with a camera.
This might not be so hard to believe in today’s world, where we can click a picture with our phone anytime, anywhere.
#16
Are we allowed to submit original photos? Here is a homeless man I took in Milwaukee.
Photographer: Collin Rodefer
#17
Hubble Extreme Deep Field
Why-so-delirious:
This is the best picture, but it needs more context.
The Hubble Extreme Deep Field is a picture taken by NASA over several weeks. They aimed the Hubble Telescope at a completely black spot in the night sky. A tiny, tiny area that is only a thousandth of the night sky, where they can't detect any stars. No light comes from that patch of night sky. There are no stars there.
And then they waited weeks for the telescope to collect all the light that it could, and it returned that image.
That is an image of a fraction of the night sky, a tiny, tiny portion, where there is already no visible light, and it is literally teeming with far-off galaxies.
Each speck of light, each pixel in that picture that isn't black is another galaxy, just like our Milky way.
So think about that for a minute. That view, except multiplies by literally thousands, and that is the scope of the universe close to us.
Or even just imagine that this picture was taken by an alien race in a galaxy far away, and one of those specks in the distance is the Milky Way. And in the Milky Way are a hundred billion stars. And of those stars we are just a single planet orbiting a regular ol' samey star.
The universe is mind-numbingly huge and we are mind-numbingly small.
#18
The astronaut who took this photo is the only human, alive or [not] that isn't in the frame of this picture, pretty amazing when you think about it.
Photo taken by astronaut Michael Collins.
Giraffe Sitter 11 hours ago
Collins also had the distinction of being the first human to be completely cut off from the human race when the command module was on the far side of the moon and out of radio contract with NASA and the lunar module.
It’s extraordinary to see that most of the pictures in the list are old, some of them even black and white, when cameras were few and far between and not everyone was a pro photographer.
What’s more astonishing is that the pictures come without any filters or AI editing, and that’s what makes them even more powerful and awe-inspiring.
#19
Pale blue dot.
Just the fact that all of life as we know it, and everybody's problems and loved ones are in this little tiny dot in a huge universe.
#21
In 1987, Ferrato rode along with the Minneapolis police as they responded to 911 calls. A boy named Diamond made a call saying that his father was physically attacking his mother. He was the first child Ferrato had seen stand up for his mother at a moment when most children would be afraid. The image of his bravery not only left an impression on Ferrato and the police, but was hailed as one of the most influential photographs in the world by Life Magazine. Twenty years later, Ferrato searched for and found Diamond. His parents are still together and maintain a healthy relationship with their son.
#22
Hopefully not too late, but a photo I took for my local paper (Tulsa World) of a homeless man with the most amazing eyes.
#24
So much of this is depressing... Here's some clouds I don't know how to respond to.
princessrat:
Thank you. One of the most beautiful images of clouds I've ever seen. I appreciate this after so many depressing posts.
#25
Before and after picture of a town after a tornado ripped right through it. Always makes you realize how powerful nature can be sometimes. Despite all of humanity's achievements, we're ultimately little specks of dust that can be wiped out at any time.
#26
Robert Landsburg was about 7 miles from Mt St Helens when it erupted in 1980. He had only enough time to take a few photos before realising he was doomed. In an effort to protect his pictures his final act was to rewind the film in his camera, pack it in his bag and lay down on top of it before the fatal ash cloud reached him. These are the two most intact pictures of the three shots he had time to take.
#28
"The pictures that were put on the voyager spacecraft. If the human race manages to [destroy] itself, this is the only thing other life in the universe will be know about us. This would be the imprint we leave on the entire universe."
All 116 images.
TotallyNOTAFox 10 hours ago
There are also golden discs on board and record player needles + the manual to build one. THey contain music, voices speaking different languages and other sounds as well. Finding Earth would be hard using the map on them though as we will be in a complete different location if they are found within the next few thousand years
#29
Einstein's legs in this pic leave me speechless.
#30
After winning the coin toss but crashing the plane on his attempt, Wilbur Wright looks on as his brother Orville makes history.
I love the body language that Wilbur has as he watches his brother make the first heavier-than air, powered, manned flight (very specific, yes, but also pretty historic). You can see the footprints he left in the sand as he ran along, holding the wing of the glider up during its takeoff run. The photo has amazing quality, given the circumstances it was taken under.
Gavin Johnson 12 hours ago
Kitty Hawk is the town nearby that’s credited with being the location that the first flight took place at. I feel sad that the dunes that actually witnessed the flight are rarely mentioned. K**l Devil Hills is such a cool name, I wish they had taken the honour!
#31
Woodstock. All of these people... All of them coming together for the sake of music amazes me.
#32
Selfie in space.
nazligelincik@hotmail.com 5 hours ago
facing home with his back to the pitch black void...this picture gives me the chills
#33
Statue in the center of Stalingrad during the battle - this is one of the most famous photos from the Battle of Stalingrad which is known as one of the bloodiest battles in human history. 1 to 1.5 million [casualties] in the battle lasting from August of 1942 to January of 1943. It was the turning point on the Eastern Front and the photo exemplifies the brutality and inhumanity experienced by both Russian and German alike.
#34
Shell shocked soldier.
Grace Sssssss 12 hours ago
Mustard gas! This soldier just got a face full of mustard gas and they're trying to wash / wipe it off him and out of his eyes before it damages them further.
#35
D day troops landing on the beaches.
You can see the cliffs ahead, and coupled with the fog it really gives you a sense of oncoming [doom]. Capa was by far one of my favorite photographers.
Robin Roper 9 hours ago
My father in law was in the first wave of soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach - 29th Division, 116th Reg., G Company. He carried a Bangalore torpedo to the shale wall, up the cliff and cleared the way for men coming after him. He survived the entire war and later landed in the Incheon Invasion and served in Vietnam.
#36
On a lighter note, this is believed to the oldest documented wheelie. Some soldiers coming home in 1936.
And it makes me happy to no end.
#37
Bridge Telephone (look at the sign above).
#38
Bison extinction.
Edit: Yes, I know they are not extinct.
Oskar vanZandt 12 hours ago
Disgusting pointless slaughter of these great beasts... "With an estimated population of 60 million in the late 18th century, the species was culled down to just 541 animals by 1889 as part of the subjugation of the Native Americans, because the American bison was a major resource for their traditional way of life (food source, hides for clothing and shelter, and horns and bones for tools)[Source: Wikipedia]
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