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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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#1
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.
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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
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.
#5
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.
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.”
#7
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.
#8
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.
#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.
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.”
#11
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.
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 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.
#14
Neil Armstrong after his moonwalk.
The look and emotion on his face brings me to tears sometimes.
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.
#17
I'm not 100% sure where this is but I always thought it was amazing.
Huge wave hitting lighthouse.
#18
Are we allowed to submit original photos? Here is a homeless man I took in Milwaukee.
Photographer: Collin Rodefer
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
Hopefully not too late, but a photo I took for my local paper (Tulsa World) of a homeless man with the most amazing eyes.
#20
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.
#21
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.
#23
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.
#24
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.
#25
Woodstock. All of these people... All of them coming together for the sake of music amazes me.
#26
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.
#27
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.
#28
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.
#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.
#31
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.
#33
"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.
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