“Utterly Unique Pictures”: 40 Rare And Interesting Historical Pics You Probably Haven’t Seen
Interview
Photographs can have several functions. We can use photography to capture and communicate emotions. We can also document the present so we can look back on it later and call it ‘past.’ The Internet is full of enthusiasts of the former and the latter.
Here, we are covering an online community called Utterly Unique Photos. They describe themselves as a group that posts photographs “that can sometimes be odd or surreal but are always unique.” We’ve scoured the subreddit and found the most fascinating historical pictures for you to check out. So scroll down and let us know your favorites by upvoting them!
Bored Panda reached out to one of the moderators of this community. The Redditor u/dannydutch1 was kind enough to tell us more about the subreddit and his love for all things music, art, and history. Check out our conversation below!
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Prisoners At Dachau Concentration Camp Greet Their American Liberators From A Barbed-Wire Fence.(Germany, April 1945)
The person behind the Utterly Unique Photos community and the username u/dannydutch1 is a Welsh man named Daniel Holland. On social media, he refers to himself as Danny Dutch. You can find him on almost all social media platforms: he shares interesting pictures and facts on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and TikTok.
Utterly Unique Photos is one of three communities that Danny moderates. The other two are r/UtterlyBizarre and u/UtterlyInteresting. In name, they might seem quite similar, but they do differ in content.
The latter is "a home for all those things we see that could be described as interesting," according to the community itself. The latter deals more with the strange and weird things in this world. It's a home "for the strangely interesting or bizarrely surreal."
A Lady From The Ouled Naïl Tribe In Algeria, Photographed By Rudolph Lehnert In 1904
Six-Year-Old Anne Frank Holding A Jumping Rope Next To Her Friend, Sanne Ledermann, On A Pavement In Amsterdam. 1935
Danny tells us the story of how the Utterly Unique Photos group came to be. Or rather, how one subreddit eventually evolved into three. "Initially, I created r/UtterlyBizarre at the end of 2022 to mirror what I was posting on my Twitter channel. But it was pointed out that some of the content I posted was more interesting than bizarre."
Danny said he didn't think that Reddit users took the subreddit titles so literally. "So I set up r/UtterlyInteresting a month later to share articles and videos that interest me," the Redditor continues.
"One of my key areas of interest is photography and history, and I felt I was posting quite a lot of this to the r/UtterlyInteresting subreddit, and it would probably sit better on its own subreddit, hence r/UtterlyUniquePhotos, which I set up about 4 months ago."
A Studio Portrait Of Hattie Tom, A Young Chiricahua Apache Woman, Photographed At The U.S. Indian Congress Of The Trans-Mississippi And International Exposition In Omaha, 1898
May 3rd 1960, Otto Frank Standing In The Annex That He And His Family Hid In During Wwii. Until They Were Found And Arrested By The Gestapo In 1944
Imagine how many stories like Anne Franck just happened but without any trace. So gut-wrenching...
1968. My Grandfather In The Second Korean War, Dmz
You might think: "Why go through all the trouble and create a new group when there are communities for that already?" Danny wanted a place to share what he thinks is fascinating without adhering to someone else's rules. "One of the reasons I set them up was because I wanted to be free of the rules employed by more established subreddits."
An Enthusiast For Men's Dress Reform Walking Down The Strand In London. The Mdrp (Men’s Dress Reform Party) Was Formed In The Interwar Years In Britain, 1930
A Beach Party In The 1970s
Physicists And Nobel Prize Winners Marie Curie And Pierre Curie Shortly After Their Wedding. France (1895)
Yet the troubles of bigger subreddits might soon catch up to Danny. "As they've grown, I realize I may need to implement submission rules, as all the subreddits are completely open to submissions, and spreading myself across 3 subreddits containing 100k members can be a challenge," the Redditor admits.
British Military Equipment Disguised As Elephants, India, Wwii
As military strategy goes, well let's just say it's a good thing Germany never invaded India.
Last Known Photograph Of A Barbary Lion Before Presumed Extinction, In The Atlas Mountains In North Africa, Taken In 1925 By Marcelin Flandrin
Breakfast Tea Being Passed Between Cars On A Train From Peshawar To Lahore In 1983. Photographed By Steve Mccurry
Danny also wanted a space to share what he features on his personal blog. That's a place where he can share longer stories, not just quick snippets or pictures. "Some of the bigger pages on Reddit saw this as self-promotion, so I thought I'd set up my own pages and not be concerned about Reddit moderators," the creator explains.
Punk Rock Girl London, 1979
British Hurdler Percy Hodge Demonstrates The Perfect Obstacle Jump While Carrying A Bottle And A Glass On A Tray. Percy Hodge Became An Olympic Champion In The 3000m Hurdles In 1920
Oldriev’s New Tricycle. Photo By Chas. W Oldrieve, 1882
"I'm not sure you'll find a theme in these images, or the blog posts, or even this website, but if you do, please tell me what it is – I'd love to know," Danny writes in the 'About' section of his personal blog. "I might even get a theme song written to go on the website, a 70's cop show sort of theme."
Lucille Ball, Once Called The Greatest Pair Of Legs On Broadway, In A 1930s Publicity Still As A Blonde
Wyatt Earp (March 19, 1848 - January 13, 1929) Photographed By His Wife Josephine Earp
A Champagne Inspector Wearing A Special Mask To Protect Against Accidental Discharges, Ca. 1933
By "accidental discharges" they actually mean exploding bottles. If you mess up the dosage, the amount of sugar you add per bottle to generate the carbonation and fizz, kaboom. Glass shrapnel is not good for the face or the rest of the body for that matter.
As a creator of three separate communities and a blog about art, music, media, and history, Danny comes across as quite the fan of all things fascinating. "I've always liked to share things I find of interest, and my subreddits reflect that," Danny says. "They've grown into quite active communities now and are a great place to spend some time."
Around 1890, A Mother And Her Son Were Captured In A Photograph Taken In Lisdoonvarna, Ireland. The Son, Who Was A Ballad Singer, Can Be Seen Holding A Printed Poem In His Hand
Two Kashmir Giants Posing With The American Photographer James Ricalton, 1903. One Of The Giants Was 7’9” Tall While The “Shorter” One Was A Mere 7’4” Tall
Husband And Wife, Sunday Morning, Detriot, Michigan, 1950 By Gordon Parks. He Had Been Sent Back To Fort Scott (Where He Lived Until He Was 16) By Life Magazine To Find 11 Members Of His Segregated Elementary School And See What Became Of Them. The Story Was Never Published
Google: The Gordon Parks Foundation gives an outline of the story.
What is it with our fascination with history, especially when we see it in old-timey pictures? In an earlier interview, writer, visual artist, and photographer Margaret Sartor told Bored Panda that "all historical photographs are a window into the past, but beyond the facts (or a nostalgia for the past), they may indicate little else."
Old Vennel, Glasgow. From Thomas Annan’s Photograph Series Of ‘The Old Closes And Streets Of Glasgow’ 1868
The Coffin Of The Red Baron Being Carried By Members Of The Australian No. 3 Squadron, Lead By An English Priest, For Burial In Northern France. The Ace Pilot Of World War I Germany Was Shot Down On April 21, 1918, And Given A Full Military Funeral By The Australian Unit Who Recovered His Body
I believe his real name should be mentioned. Manfred von Richtofen was not an aggressive combatant. Instead he was a skilled military tactician. He died April 21 1918, as SCamp says, likely by a ground AA shot. He is considered an ace of aces in WWI, credited with 80 kills. He flew with the Albatros D. I, II, III, and V models, before switching to his famous Fokker Dr.1 triplane. His plane was scrapped, and the largest remains can be seen at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra as well as the Imperial War Museum in London
An Ultra Light Horse-Drawn Car In Traffic Paris (1943)
However, in some cases, they also might change our minds about a thing or two. "Some historical photographs have the power to subvert familiar narratives and carry with them the possibility of expanding or upending our understanding of our own history," Sartor explained back then.
Charles Godefroy Flies Through The Arc De Triomphe In Paris. The Height Of The Opening Is 29.42 M, The Width Is 14.62 M. The Wingspan Of The Aircraft Is 9 Meters Wide, 1919
Plenty of room considering the stall speed of that plane is about 40kph.
Children Playing With A Toy Guillotine, France, 1959
G.o.e Herbert Tea & Dining Rooms, 10 New Street, Chipping Norton, England. 1910
She also told us that it doesn't take a professor to be a master at photography. "Anyone could be a photographer, just like anyone can draw or write a sentence if they can hold a pencil; the camera is simply a machine, a tool, a medium."
"A photographer, in any era, is someone who chooses to use the camera as a way to explore or discover something about the world or their place in it. You can capture an authentic moment even with an iPhone – it's the idea behind it, the feeling that it gives the viewer that matters."
Taken During The Sinking Of The Estonia In The Baltic Sea, 1994. The Photographer Was Using The Camera Flash To Try Signaling For Help. He And The Man Pictured Are Clinging To The Exterior Overturned Keel Of The Sinking Ferry. Both Men Survived. 852 Of The 989 Onboard Perished
A French Civilian Woman Pours A Drink Of Cider For A British Soldier With Bren Machine Gun In Lisieux, 1944
Puritan Demonstrates Against Too Revealing Swimwear On A Florida Beach, 1985. USA
Photographs aren't the truth, but they can help us get to it, Sartor told Bored Panda. "As human beings and citizens, we are constantly trying to see ourselves and our ever-changing, often conflicted world as clearly as we can—hoping it matters, hoping we matter, wondering what happens next."
"The magic of photography is that photographs move us in ways we can neither control nor can we fully explain, and in that sense, they remind us that ordinary life is suffused with mysteries."
Riders On The New York Subway Sit Without Newspapers During A Newspaper Strike In The City (1953)
An Iron Man Of The Past In A Diving Suit. The Suit’s Name Was ‘Iron Man’ Too. It Had Electric Charging And Pressure Protection Systems. New York, 1907
When you have to go deep and they hadn't discovered pre-breathing yet. They discovered when constructing the Brooklyn Bridge that when you breathe compressed air for a significant time at around 50m below sea level, you get really sick when you come back up. They called it Caisson Disease.
A Piglet Which Is Being Treated By The Pdsa (People’s Dispensary For Animals) In Ilford With A Sun Ray Lamp, To Cure A Skin Ailment, 1938
A Soviet Light Bath: An Ultraviolet Light For Children To Get Enough Vitamin D During The Long Winters Without Much Sunlight
By Alfred Eisenstaedt. Student Nurses Getting Lessons, Roosevelt Hospital NY, 1938
Because Of The Influenza Epidemic, Open-Air Police Court Being Held In Portsmouth Square, San Francisco. To Prevent Crowding Indoors, Judges Held Outdoor Court Sessions. (1918-1919)
1963: A Clown At The Lunch Counter
‘Coffin Beds’ At A Salvation Army Shelter In London. Operated By The Salvation Army, They Are One Of The First Homeless Shelters Created For The People Of Central London. Aka "Four Penny Coffin", For Four Pennies, A Homeless Client Could Stay At A Coffin House, C.1900
Seeing Two Mickeys On A Parisian Street In The Early 1930’s Either Elicited Pure Delight Or Sheer Terror
Dr. Lewis Sayre Treating Scoliosis, Checking The Curvature Of The Spine - 1870s
Note: this post originally had 81 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
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