Most Famous/iconic photographs in history

[HangingBasketCase]

Does anyone else enjoy photogtaphy? I've been looking at some of the most iconic photographs of all time, and I have a few favourites. I'll share three of them with you now.

Firstly lunch a top a skyscraper. Taken in New York during the building of the Rockerfeller Centre. I can't get my head around how they were able to sit on a metal beam, so high up without anything to secure them! If you ever visit the Rockerfeller centre you can recreate this photo, it's become that famous!

Secondly St Paul's Cathedral taken early in the morning following a devastating air raid on the city of London. All of the buildings around the cathedral were destroyed, yet almost miraculously St Pauls survived. How inspirational this image must have been to people at the time, seeing the dome of the Cathedral rising from the smoke like a Phoenix from the flames.

Finally "The Kiss", taken on VJ Day 1945, in Time Square. I believe the identities of the couple are unknown, but they weren't actually a couple. They were random strangers, he just grabbed hold of her and kissed her in happiness because the war was over. Wonder what we'd make of that now?

I immediately thought of the Times Square kids

Father Reid waving a white hanky during Bloody Sunday

Tommie Smith and John Carlos' black power salutes on the Olympic podium in 1968

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is meant to be one of the most famous photographs in history.

ALMOSTMRSG I love the Gorbals Boys one by by Bert Hardy -the boys look like typical happy, cheeky boys going about their business regardless of the poverty and fall out from the war.

Families, there is also an interesting story behind Peter Norman, the Australian medalist in that picture. He supported Tommie Smith and John Carlos, and was apparently ostracised by the Olympic Committee when he returned home, effectively ruining his career. Smith and Carlos were pall bearers at his funeral when he died.

I didn't know that, Suburban

I think the best photos have a story behind them, as well as being aesthetically pleasing.

I loathe that The Kiss photograph.
But every other photograph on this thread, whether previously known or unknown to me, is incredibly powerful.
One photo that underscores the horror of the 9/11 attacks is The Falling Man. I saw a documentary once about someone trying to uncover the identity of the man. Very sad.

The first wave of West Indian immigrants arriving on Empire Windrush in 1948. You can only imagine the enormity of them leaving their sunny island, the fear, the hope, the massive cultural shock - imagine seeing snow for the first time or being faced with hostility in a country that needed you here to support the post war labour shortage - and ultimately the massive change in the social landscape here and of course the impact on Jamaican society.

I saw that documentary too Rabid, it was about how some people felt shame because their relatives had jumped.

I also like this class divide one.

Am I being oversensitive in wishing that if people want to nominate disturbing photos like the falling man that they post a link rather than the picture? I've made a decision not to look at 9/11 photos like that as they are of people in the process of being murdered - the footage of the planes crashing has been banned from broadcast on TV at the relatives' insistence for that very reason - so it was a shock to me to see it.

Sorry Zombie don't mean to have a go at you, I just feel like I need to leave the thread now because I just don't want to see that picture of that poor man.

Life span of the world trade centre

I know it's a frivolous photo compared to many on here but Tennis Girl is certainly famous and/or iconic.

To me it seems to represent the start of the 'Athena' type posters and images that started to appear on walls everywhere, the start of striking, powerful, aesthetic images (many of dubious taste ) that young people and students decorated their rooms with.

Every Freshers week in the 80s had a Poster Fair with images like Tennis Girl, various black and white images of muscular men with babies in their arms, iconic shots of films and celebrities etc.

This one always pulls me up.

This is of a child at the Lansdowne Road in 1995 during the riots.

There's that photo of Jim Morrison that is just so beautiful and iconic.

I love it and want to have taken it.

Love this picture. Bobby Moore and Pele

I've just come across this pinterest page of iconic photos whilst looking for the one of the starving Ugandan child's hand that I remember being moved by in the 80s.

Disclaimer - There are some amazing ones on there but also some very upsetting ones

All of these are remarkable
www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/most-powerful-photographs-ever-taken?s=mobile

Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima, especially knowing what happened to Ira Hayes after the war.

On a lighter note, Bobby Moore being carried by the rest of the team after England won the World Cup and also the cover of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA album.

Cinnabar, what a link - I cannot help but think that what unites all these very different photos from different eras and situations is their humanity.
Which makes me wonder: if we can document how much all humans have in common (rather than what divides us) why can we not remember that in times of conflict??

For some reason the people reunited with their dogs got to me the most.

I can't remember where it was - I think it might have been Haiti - but who remembers the picture of the little boy pulled from the rubble with his arms outstretched and this huge grin on his face?

TBH, that WW2 Kissing photo actually makes me very uncomfortable now - I read an article about it which made it clear it was very much unasked for. I've tried googling but can't find the exact piece, but it was clear that she's been put in the position of having to grin and bear it over the whole thing, being as how it's 'iconic' and symbolises the end of the war...

This is a quote from a fairly positive article and it's still not right

"While George says he was too drunk to even remember the kiss, Greta recalls being grabbed clearly.

‘That man was very strong. I wasn’t kissing him. He was kissing me,’ she told the paper.

Lawrence Verria, co-author of The Kissing Sailor, jokily cautions about grabbing strangers today adding, 'But in Times Square, 1945, they hear the war’s over — it’s not such a bad idea.' "

He was drunk, very much stronger than her and grabbed her without permission - not a picture I can look at with any fondness.

I can't link, but the photo of Christina Schmid clapping as the hearse carrying her husband Olaf passes by her in Wotton Bassett. The courage she displayed that day equals the courage shown by her husband when on duty.