The Most Famous Photos in the World and the Cameras that Captured them

September 4, 2023 3:17 PM

The Most Famous Photos in the World and the Cameras that Captured them When looking at old pictures, we rarely think about the photographers that took them, let alone the cameras they used. From album covers to unnerving pictures of War, get the stories behind the most famous photos in the world and see the cameras that were used to capture them. CONTENT WARNING: images of violence, injury, and death
posted by robbyrobs (24 comments total)

I love this so much and I also wish 80% of the photos weren't documenting terrible acts of violence.

Here's a cool video I encountered recently: An Inside Look at Ansel Adams' Darkroom Magic
posted by gwint at 4:02 PM on September 4, 2023 [3 favorites]

“F/8 and be there.”
posted by Marky at 4:15 PM on September 4, 2023 [5 favorites]

I'd never seen that fire escape photo before and it is amazing. To have captured it with an F even more so.
posted by Mitheral at 5:09 PM on September 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

That fire escape photo got me, too. Damn.
posted by mollweide at 6:54 PM on September 4, 2023

What's the attachment atop Alfred Eisenstaedt's Leica?
posted by bryon at 6:57 PM on September 4, 2023

No one knows for certain who took that "Lunch Atop A Skyscraper" photo that's hanging up in half the bars in the world, but evidence points to Charles C. Ebbets, shown here balancing a Speed Graphic on a high beam.
posted by Western Infidels at 7:02 PM on September 4, 2023

What's the attachment atop Alfred Eisenstaedt's Leica?

It's an optional viewfinder ("Leica VIOOH Universal Viewfinder") that lets you switch the eyepiece view for the specific lens you have attached, from 35mm to 135mm (?).
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 7:31 PM on September 4, 2023 [5 favorites]

The sadly defunct Newseum had a permanent exhibit near the entrance showing the Pulitzer Prize winning photos for every year. Being able to spend more time with that exhibit alone was one of the reasons I made the effort to travel to DC in the final weeks of that museum's operation.

Many of the photos in the OPP's link are part of that exhibit, because of course they won Pulitzers. It appears that this Flickr collection is a replication of that exhibit. For each photo, don't miss the text below.
posted by intermod at 8:44 PM on September 4, 2023 [8 favorites]

Love this :-) I guess many of those cameras were state-of-the-art at the time, but they look so ungainly and cumbersome now.
posted by dg at 8:49 PM on September 4, 2023

I loved the book The Instant It Happened when I was a kid. It has most of these and a bunch more, each with about a page of text about the photo.
posted by rhizome at 11:58 PM on September 4, 2023

In my student days (70s) when I started to get an interest in photography it went without saying that I wanted an SLR. Lusted after Nikon because it was what Don McCullin used but practicality meant that I got a 2nd hand Topcon. Eventually bought a Nikon FE.

So many of these taken with Nikon, we forget now just how dominant Nikon was in photojournalism back in the day.

When I get a time machine one of the lesser things I will do is steer younger me towards a Leica-alike.
posted by epo at 2:02 AM on September 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

The "Raising a flag over the Reichstag" is both staged (the photographer supplied the flag and asked some nearby soldiers to pose with it) and was also edited prior to printing -- the smoke is copied from another picture to make it more dramatic and the (possibly looted) second wrist watch was removed from the person supporting the flag bearer.
posted by autopilot at 2:25 AM on September 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

> The "Raising a flag over the Reichstag" is both staged (the photographer supplied the flag and asked some nearby soldiers to pose with it) and was also edited.

At least half of the images featured here have the same IIRC:

- Afghan Girl: Eyes edited in post
- Migrant Mother: a thumb removed in post, and the story about the subject(s) misleading
- Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima: the photographer missed the original raising and asked them to do it again to capture it
- V-J Day In Times Square: staged / subject was effectively directed by the photographer (see the Wiki page)
- Abbey Road Album Cover: Paul was dead wasn't he? (I'm kidding)

I don't have any qualms with the above as that's photography, which is a constructed truth in most cases.
posted by lawrencium at 2:59 AM on September 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

Great photos, interesting technical info, maybe the post should have CW: images of violence, injury, and death. Or something similar.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:06 AM on September 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

no mention of Bliss? I guess "most famous" doesn't necessarily mean "possibly most viewed ever (according to one estimate)" and might not fit in with the historical collection but would maybe lighten up an otherwise somewhat grim list
posted by okonomichiyaki at 4:18 AM on September 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Mod note: Content warning added.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 4:53 AM on September 5, 2023

Interesting idea, but I wish they had said more about the equipment. In some cases they didn’t even give much info about the photo itself. The picture of John Lennon signing an autograph for his soon-to-be assassin could use some more explanation. Some of the technical details that are given are somewhat suspect; as one of the commenters on the article pointed out, the Abbey Road photographer must have had some really special film or lighting to shoot it at 500 and f/22.
posted by TedW at 7:32 AM on September 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

In the Oswald photo, I can't make sense of what the man whose face is obscured by Jack Ruby is wearing on his head? It looks like a black and white cloth beanie with an asymmetrical brim?
posted by Rumple at 10:01 AM on September 5, 2023

Two men, two heads, two hats. One black, one white.
posted by pracowity at 10:10 AM on September 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Isn't that just a white and black patrolman's hat?

I've always liked this Photoshopped version of that shot.

I've got a Nikon FE2 and a 105 2.5. Guess it's not just the equipment holding me back...
posted by St. Oops at 10:14 AM on September 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

Ah sorry, the guy behind the guy behind Ruby. Looks like a bowler that's partly obscured by the shadows. I've always thought the cop guy escorting Oswald looking surprised (or on keys depending on the version) had a sharp looking hat.
posted by St. Oops at 10:19 AM on September 5, 2023

Two men, two heads, two hats. One black, one white.


OK it took a while but I see it now, thanks pacowity.
posted by Rumple at 10:31 AM on September 5, 2023

Migrant Mother stands out to me versus what I am capable of with 85 more years of technology on my smart phone. I wish I could take photos that good.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 7:41 AM on September 6, 2023

I expected to see Reid Blackburn's camera and his last photo of Mount St Helen erupting.
posted by hat_eater at 5:17 PM on September 7, 2023