A collection of iconic photographs from the past 100 years that showcase
the grief of loss and the triumph of the human spirit...

An Australian kisses his Canadian girlfriend. Canadians rioted after the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup.

Three sisters, three "lengths" of time, three photos.

Two legendary captains Pele and Bobby Moore exchange jerseys as a sign of mutual respect. FIFA World Cup, 1970.

1945 Petty Officer Graham Jackson plays "Goin' Home" at President Roosevelt's funeral on April 12, 1945.


1952. 63-year-old Charlie Chaplin.

Eight-year-old Christian accepts the flag during a memorial service for his father. Who was killed in Iraq just a few weeks before he was due to return home.

A veteran near the T34-85 tank, on which he fought during the Great Patriotic War.

A Romanian child hands a balloon to a police officer during protests in Bucharest.

Police Captain Ray Lewis arrested for participating in the Wall Street protests in 2011.

A monk next to an elderly man who died suddenly while waiting for a train in Shanxi Taiyuan, China.

A dog named "Leao" sits for two days at the grave of his owner, who died in terrible landslides.
Rio de Janeiro, January 15, 2011

African American athletes Tommy Smith and John Carlos raise their black-gloved fists in solidarity. Olympic Games, 1968.

Jewish prisoners at the time of their release from the camp. 1945

The funeral of President John F. Kennedy, which took place on November 25, 1963, the birthday of John F. Kennedy Jr.
Footage of JFK Jr saluting his father's coffin was broadcast around the world.

Christians protect Muslims during prayer. Egypt, 2011.

A North Korean man (right) waves from a bus to a weeping South Korean man after a family reunion at Mount Kumgang October 31, 2010. They were separated by the 1950-53 war.

The dog met with his owner after the tsunami in Japan. 2011.

"Wait for me, dad" - photo of Polk's march British Columbia. Five-year-old Warren "Whitey" Bernard ran from his mother to his father, Private Jack Bernard, yelling "Wait for me, Dad." The photograph became widely known, was published in Life, hung in every school in British Columbia during the war, and was used in war bond issues.

Priest Luis Padillo and a soldier wounded by a sniper during an uprising in Venezuela.

A mother and son in Concord, Alabama, near their home, which was completely destroyed by a tornado. April, 2011

A guy looks at a family album he found in the rubble of his old house after the earthquake in Sichuan.

4-month-old girl after the Japanese tsunami.

French citizens at the entrance of the Nazis to Paris during World War II.

Soldier Horace Greasley confronts Heinrich Himmler while inspecting the camp in which he was imprisoned. Surprisingly, Greasley left the camp many times to meet the German girl he was in love with.

A fireman gives water to a koala during wildfires. Australia 2009.

Father dead son, at the 9/11 memorial. During the tenth annual ceremonies, on the grounds of the World Trade Center.

Jacqueline Kennedy at the swearing-in of Lyndon Johnson as President of the United States. Immediately after the death of her husband.

Tanisha Blevin, 5, holds the hand of Hurricane Katrina survivor Nita Lagarde, 105.

A girl, who is in temporary isolation to detect and clean up radiation, looks at her dog through the glass. Japan, 2011

Journalists Yuna Li and Laura Ling, who were arrested in North Korea and sentenced to hard labor for 12 years, reunited with their families in California. After successful US diplomatic intervention.

Meeting mother with her daughter, after serving in Iraq.

Young pacifist Jane Rose Casmere, with a flower on the bayonets of the Pentagon guards.
During a protest against the Vietnam War. 1967

"The Man Who Stopped the Tanks"...
An iconic photo of an unknown rebel standing in front of a column of Chinese tanks. Tiananmen, 1989

Harold Whittles hears for the first time in his life - the doctor has just installed a hearing aid for him.

Helen Fisher kisses a hearse carrying the body of her 20-year-old cousin, Private Douglas Halliday.

US Army troops making landfall during D-Day. Normandy, 6 June 1944.

World War II prisoner released by the Soviet Union meets his daughter.
The girl sees her father for the first time.

A Sudan People's Liberation Army soldier during a rehearsal for the Independence Day parade.

Greg Cook hugging his lost dog after he was found. Alabama, after a tornado in March 2012.

Photo taken by astronaut William Anders during the Apollo 8 mission. 1968

Take a closer look at this photo. This is one of the most remarkable photographs ever taken. The baby's tiny hand reached out from the womb to squeeze the surgeon's finger. By the way, the child is 21 weeks from conception, the age when he can still be legally aborted. The tiny pen in the photo belongs to a baby who was due to be born on December 28 last year. The photo was taken during an operation in America.

The first reaction is to recoil in horror. Similar to close-up some terrible incident. And then you notice, in the very center of the photo, a tiny hand grasping the surgeon's finger.
child in literally words grab for life. Therefore, this is one of the most remarkable photographs in medicine and a record of one of the most extraordinary operations in the world. It shows a 21-week-old fetus in the womb, before the very spinal surgery that was required to save the baby from severe brain damage. The operation was performed through a tiny incision in the mother's wall and this is the youngest patient. At this time, the mother may choose to have an abortion.

The most famous photograph, which no one has seen,” is how Associated Press photographer Richard Drew (Richard Drew) calls his picture of one of the victims of the World Trade Center, who jumped out of the window to her death on September 11
“On the day that was captured on camera and film more than any other day in history,” Tom Junod later wrote in Esquire, “the only taboo by common consent was taking pictures of people jumping out of windows.” Five years later, Richard Drew's "falling man" remains a terrible artifact of that day that should have changed everything but didn't.

Photographer Nick Yut took a photo of a Vietnamese girl running away from the exploding napalm. It was this picture that made the whole world think about the war in Vietnam.
A photo of 9-year-old girl Kim Fook on June 8, 1972 went down in history forever. Kim first saw this picture 14 months later in a hospital in Saigon, where she was being treated for terrible burns. Kim still remembers running from her siblings on the day of the bombing and can't forget the sound of the bombs falling. A soldier tried to help and doused her with water, unaware that this would make the burns worse. Photographer Nick Yut helped the girl and took her to the hospital. At first, the photographer doubted whether to publish a photo of a naked girl, but then he decided that the world should see this picture.

The photo was later named the best photo XX century. Nick Yut tried to keep Kim from becoming too popular, but in 1982, when the girl was studying at a medical university, the Vietnamese government found her, and since then Kim's image has been used for propaganda purposes. “I was under constant control. I wanted to die, this photo haunted me,” says Kim. She later managed to escape to Cuba to continue her education. There she met her future husband. Together they moved to Canada. Many years later, she finally realized that she couldn't run away from this photo and decided to use it and her fame to fight for peace.

Malcolm Brown, a 30-year-old photographer (Associated Press) from New York, received a phone call and was asked to be at a certain intersection in Saigon the next morning, as something very important is about to happen. He went there with a reporter from the New York Times. soon a car drove up, several Buddhist monks got out of it. Among them is Thich Quang Duc, who sat in a lotus position with a box of matches in his hands, while the rest began to pour gasoline on him. Thich Quang Duc struck a match and turned into a living torch. Unlike the weeping crowd watching him burn, he didn't utter a sound or move. Thich Quang Duc wrote a letter to the then head of the Vietnamese government asking him to stop the repression of Buddhists, stop the detention of monks and give them the right to profess and spread their religion, but did not receive a response


On December 3, 1984, the Indian city of Bhopal suffered from the largest man-made disaster in the history of mankind. A giant poisonous cloud, released into the atmosphere by an American pesticide factory, covered the city, killing 3,000 people that same night, and 15,000 more in the coming month. In total, more than 150,000 people were affected by the release of toxic waste, and this does not include children born after 1984.

Surgeon Jay Vacanti of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston is working with microengineer Jeffrey Borenstein to develop a technique for growing artificial livers. In 1997, he managed to grow a human ear on the back of a mouse using cartilage cells.

The development of a technique that allows culturing the liver is extremely relevant. In the UK alone, there are 100 people on the waiting list for transplants, and according to the British Liver Trust, most patients die before they get a transplant.

A picture taken by reporter Alberto Korda at a rally in 1960, in which Che Guevara is also visible between a palm tree and someone's nose, claims to be the most widely disseminated photograph in history

The most famous photograph of Steve McCurry, taken by him in a refugee camp on the Afghan-Pakistani border. Soviet helicopters destroyed the village of a young refugee, her whole family died, and before getting to the camp, the girl made a two-week journey in the mountains. After its publication in June 1985, this photograph becomes an icon national geographic. Since then, this image has been used everywhere - from tattoos to rugs, which turned the photo into one of the most replicated photos in the world.

At the end of April 2004, the CBS program 60 Minutes II aired a story about the torture and abuse of inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison by a group of American soldiers. The story showed photographs that were published in The New Yorker a few days later. This became the loudest scandal around the presence of Americans in Iraq.
In early May 2004, the leadership of the US Armed Forces admitted that some of the methods of torture were not in accordance with the Geneva Convention and announced their readiness to publicly apologize.

According to the testimonies of a number of prisoners, american soldiers they were raped, ridden on horseback, forced to scoop food from prison toilets. In particular, the inmates said: “They made us walk on all fours like dogs and yelp. We had to bark like dogs, and if you didn't bark, then you were beaten in the face without any pity. After that, they left us in the cells, took away the mattresses, poured water on the floor and forced us to sleep in this slush without removing the hoods from our heads. And all this was constantly photographed”, “One American said that he would rape me. He drew a woman on my back and forced me to stand in a shameful position, to hold my own scrotum in my hands.

The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 (often referred to simply as 9/11) was a series of coordinated suicide terrorist attacks that took place in the United States of America. According to the official version, the Islamist terrorist organization Al-Qaeda is responsible for these attacks.
On the morning of that day, nineteen terrorists, allegedly related to Al-Qaeda, divided into four groups, hijacked four scheduled passenger airliners. Each group had at least one member who completed basic flight training. The invaders sent two of these aircraft into the towers of the World Trade Center, American Airlines Flight 11 into WTC 1, and United Airlines Flight 175 into WTC 2, causing both towers to collapse, causing severe damage to surrounding structures.

White and colored
Photo of Elliott Erwitt 1950

The photograph of an officer shooting a handcuffed prisoner in the head not only won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969, but also completely changed American attitudes towards what was happening in Vietnam. Despite the obviousness of the image, in fact, the photograph is not as unambiguous as it seemed to ordinary Americans, filled with sympathy for the executed. The fact is that the man in handcuffs is the captain of the Viet Cong "revenge warriors", and on this day he and his henchmen shot many unarmed civilians. General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, pictured left, has been haunted by his past all his life: he was refused treatment at an Australian military hospital, after moving to the US, he faced a massive campaign calling for his immediate deportation, the restaurant he opened in Virginia, every day was attacked by vandals. "We know who you are!" - this inscription haunted the general of the army all his life

Republican soldier Federico Borel Garcia is depicted in the face of death. The picture caused a huge uproar in society. The situation is absolutely unique. During the whole time of the attack, the photographer took only one picture, while he took it at random, without looking into the viewfinder, he did not look at all in the direction of the “model”. And this is one of the best, one of his most famous photographs. It was thanks to this picture that already in 1938 the newspapers called the 25-year-old Robert Cap "The Greatest War Photographer in the World"

The photo, which depicted the hoisting of the Banner of Victory over the Reichstag, spread around the world. Yevgeny Khaldei, 1945

By the early summer of 1994, Kevin Carter (1960-1994) was at the height of his fame. He had just received the Pulitzer Prize, job offers from famous magazines poured in one after another. “Everyone congratulates me,” he wrote to his parents, “I can’t wait to meet you and show you my trophy. This is the highest recognition of my work, which I did not dare to dream of.

Kevin Carter won the Pulitzer Prize for his photograph "Famine in Sudan" taken in early spring 1993. On this day, Carter flew to Sudan specifically to shoot scenes of hunger in a small village. Tired of shooting people who died of starvation, he left the village in a field overgrown with small bushes and suddenly heard a quiet cry. Looking around, he saw a little girl lying on the ground, apparently dying of hunger. He wanted to take a picture of her, but suddenly a vulture vulture landed a few steps away. Very carefully, trying not to startle the bird, Kevin chose the best position and took a picture. After that, he waited another twenty minutes, hoping that the bird would spread its wings and give him the opportunity to get a better shot. But the damned bird did not move, and in the end, he spat and drove it away. In the meantime, the girl apparently gained strength and went - more precisely crawled - further. And Kevin sat down near the tree and cried. He suddenly terribly wanted to hug his daughter ...

November 13, 1985. Eruption of the volcano Nevado del Ruiz - Colombia. Mountain snow melts, and a mass of mud, earth and water 50 meters thick literally wipes everything in its path from the face of the earth. The death toll exceeded 23,000 people. The disaster received a huge response around the world, thanks in part to a photo of a little girl named Omaira Sanchez. She was trapped, up to her neck in slush, her legs trapped in the concrete structure of the house. Rescuers tried to pump out the dirt and free the child, but in vain. The girl held on for three days, after which she became infected with several viruses at once. As journalist Christina Echandia, who was nearby all this time, recalls, Omaira sang and talked with others. She was frightened and constantly thirsty, but she was very courageous. On the third night, she began to hallucinate.

Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898-1995), a photographer working for Life magazine, strolled around the square photographing the kissers. He later recalled that he noticed a sailor who “rushed around the square and kissed indiscriminately all the women in a row: young and old, fat and thin. I watched, but the desire to photograph did not appear. Suddenly he grabbed something white. I barely had time to raise the camera and take a picture of him kissing the nurse.”
For millions of Americans, this photograph, which Eisenstadt called "Unconditional Surrender", became a symbol of the end of World War II...

The year 1939 is considered to be the year of the invention of photography. Since that time, the technique of photography and the concept itself has changed dramatically. Regardless of when the photograph was taken, some of them have left an unforgettable mark on history. We present to you the most famous photos.

National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry captured on his famous photo Afghan girl. In 2002, the girl was found and her name became known - Sharbat Gula. In 1985, a photograph of a refugee girl appeared on the cover of National Geographic, after which she gained worldwide fame and became a symbol of the suffering of refugees around the world.

The photo of the Legendary Liverpool Four was taken on August 8, 1969. The photo was created as a cover for the last 12th album of the group. And interestingly, it took exactly 6 minutes for this frame. Impressive fans saw in the photo a lot of signs that confirmed the death of Paul Macartney. According to them, the photo shows a double of the musician, and Paul himself died. The photo composition itself is a symbolic presentation of the funeral. Closed gas musician, he goes barefoot and out of step with the other participants. Paul was left handed and couldn't hold a cigarette in right hand. Well, the cigarette itself is a sign of a nail in the coffin lid. But in reality, the photograph symbolized only one death. The Beatles were in the process of breaking up the band. The 12th album is the last collaboration.

The photograph is titled The Torment of Omaira. A girl, Omaira Sanchaz, was trapped in a concrete wall after the volcanic eruption of Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia) in 1895. For 3 days, rescuers tried to save the child. The photo was taken a few hours before her death.

The photograph of John Lennon and Yoko Ono became famous for being taken hours before the musician's murder. The photo became the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. The picture belongs to the famous American photographer Annie Leibovitz, who has worked with Rolling Stone since 1970.

Mike Wells, UK. April 1980 Karamoja region, Uganda. A starving boy and a missionary.

For this picture, photographer Kevin Carter was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. The photo is titled "Hunger in Sudan". After the photo was published in the New York Times on March 26, 1993, it became a symbol of the tragedy of Africa. Probably everyone has a question what happened to the girl next? Why didn't they help her? HER fate is not known. Kevin Carter didn't help the dying girl. In 1994, the author of the photo committed suicide.

Rhine II by Andreas Gursky. The picture was taken in 1999. The photo shows the Rhine between the dikes under an overcast sky. An interesting fact is that the photo was taken with Photoshop. Gursky deleted
power plant, port facilities and a dog walker. At the Christie's auction in New York, they gave $4,338,500 for the picture. This is the most dear photo in history.

Albert Einstein with his tongue hanging out. The reason for this act of the scientist was his attitude towards annoying journalists and photographers. The photo was taken at the celebration of the scientist's 72nd birthday in 1951. Photography is a kind of symbol and calling card Albert Einstein, able to joke and rejoice.

Switzerland. The photo shows the effects of freezing rain. If you do not take into account how much destruction this rain brought, this phenomenon is of extraordinary beauty.

The legendary photo "Lunch on a skyscraper". At a skyscraper construction site, eleven workers have lunch at a height of 200 meters. None of them express even an ounce of concern. Early publications do not include the photographer's name. But some experts claim that the author of the work is Lewis Hine. His portfolio includes many shots of the construction of Rockefeller Center.

This amazing photo was taken in 1948 without the use of Photoshop and technology. It is customary to call her Dali and cats. Photographer Phillip Halsman has been friends with Dali for 30 years.

The photograph is the most replicated photograph in history. The creator of the masterpiece is Alberto Korda. A photo with Che Guevara has become a kind of brand. The image of the Cuban revolutionary can be found on all sorts of items: clothes, dishes, badges, etc.

November 25, 1963 The funeral of President John F. Kennedy and the birthday of his son. In the photo, John F. Kennedy Jr. salutes his father's coffin.

Dolly the Sheep is the world's first successfully cloned mammal. Dolly was born on July 5, 1996 as a result of an experiment by Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell. Her life lasted 6.5 years. In 2003, Dolly was euthanized and her effigy is on display at the Royal Museum of Scotland.

A boy with a grenade in his hand. The work of photographer Diana Arbus. In the photo is the son of tennis player Sidney Wood, Colin Wood. In his right hand, the boy holds a toy grenade. It seems that the child is terribly frightened, but in fact the photo did not work out for a long time and the boy shouted in hysterics “Take it off already!”. $408,000 in 2005, an unknown collector paid for the photo.

An old man and a dog met after a US tornado in March 2012.

A Sudan People's Liberation Army soldier during a rehearsal for the Independence Day parade. Strong photo.

David Barnett has been a photojournalist for 40 years. His camera is not hunting beautiful landscapes and cats - it is aimed at important events, which become symbols of the era. David's photographs allow you to look at the world from the outside. His works are a living textbook of history, which, instead of dry facts, demonstrates the bright events of our time.

I like David. While other pros are buying their own, he's wearing an ancient 60 year old Speed ​​Graphic camcorder. Of course, he has expensive professional equipment. But, apparently, he understands very well: an expensive camera is a nice bonus, and not a prerequisite for good shot. A real master can make a good shot even with a "soap box" for 30 bucks.

  • A simple example: in 2000, David won the Eyes of History competition by taking a picture with a cheap $30 Holga plastic camera.

When Helmut was a teenager, the Gestapo arrested his father. Newton fled Germany and moved to Australia, where he served in the Australian army until the end of the Second World War ... This seems to be the way to write a description if you were bitten by a Wikipedia moderator.

Biographies talented people often look too immaculate, like a VIP room in a private clinic - just as sterile and far from real life. German-Australian photographer, worked for Vogue magazine, sometimes shot in the nude genre ... This sparse retelling does not give any idea of ​​who Newton Hellmuth was.

And he was a sincere snob without delusions of grandeur, who loved the glitter of high society. He preferred to shoot rich people and stay in luxury hotels. And he spoke honestly about this, considering himself a rather superficial, but truthful person.

Until he suffered a heart attack in 1971, Hellmuth smoked 50 cigarettes a day and could party for a week. But a heart attack revealed an incredible truth to the 50-year-old photographer: it turns out that a rampant “youthful” lifestyle can end very sadly with age.

Having been on the verge of death, Helmut quit smoking, began to lead a more measured life and promised himself to shoot only what was interesting to him.

Helmut Newton on things he hates:

  • I hate good taste. This is a boring phrase, from which all living things suffocate.
  • I hate it when everything is inside out - it's cheap.
  • I hate dishonesty in photography: pictures taken in the name of some artistic principles are fuzzy and grainy.

Yuri Arkurs is one of the most successful stock photographers in the world. Instead of photographing sunrises and fog in a city park, he photographs what is for sale: happy families and pills, money and students. And on special sites called photo stocks, all this is sold and bought. And in this area, Arkurs became a real guru, who showed by personal example how you can earn money, achieve heights and even enjoy doing commercial stock photography.

Yuri was born and raised in Denmark. He began to earn money on photo stocks in his student years in order to pay for his studies. At that time, the only model he could shoot was his girlfriend. But soon Additional income became the main one for Yuri: a few years later, in 2008, he earned up to $ 90,000 per month on photo stocks.

Today this guy is selling his work large companies: MTV, Sony, Microsoft, Canon, Samsung and Hewlett Packard. His shooting day costs $6,000. And this whole story has become a real fairy tale about Cinderella for freelancers with a camera.

How realistic is it to repeat such a path to success? Who knows. We can only state that today Yuriy Arkurs is one of the most successful stock photographers.

Irving Penn liked to take pictures, but did not give this hobby special significance. His main job was art design: Irwin designed magazine covers and even got a job as an assistant art editor at the popular Vogue magazine.

But cooperation with eminent photographers of this publication did not work out. Penn was constantly dissatisfied with their work and could not explain to them what he needed. As a result, he waved his hand and took up the camera himself. And how he took it: the pictures were so successful that the authorities persuaded him to retrain as a photographer.

Irwin was the first to shoot models on a white or gray background - there was nothing superfluous in the frame. Incredible attention to every detail earned him a reputation as one of the best portrait photographers of his day. This allowed Penn to shoot various celebrities, including Al Pacino and Hitchcock, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso.

Gursky inherited his love for photography from his father: he was an advertising photographer and taught his son all the intricacies of his craft. Therefore, Andreas did not hesitate with the choice of profession: he graduated from the school of professional photographers and the State Academy of Arts.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about this because I've got the wiki moderator syndrome back on track. It's just that Andreas is one of the few photographers from our rating who thoroughly approached this occupation, and did not shoot by chance.

After completing his studies, Gursky began to travel the world. Experimenting and gaining new experience, he found his own style, which is now his calling card: Andreas takes huge pictures, the dimensions of which are measured in meters. Looking at their reduced copies on a computer screen, it is difficult to appreciate the effect that they produce in full growth.

Whether Gursky shoots a panorama of a city or a river landscape, people or factories, his pictures are striking in their scale and peculiar monotony of details in the photo.

For most of his life, Ansel Adams has photographed nature in the Western United States. He traveled a lot, photographing the wildest and most inaccessible corners. national parks. His love for nature was expressed not only in photography: Ansel actively advocated the preservation and protection of the environment.

But what Adams did not like was pictorialism, popular in the first half of the 20th century, a method of photography that made it possible to take photographs that looked like paintings. In contrast, Ansel and a friend founded the f / 64 group, which professed the principles of the so-called “straight photography”: shoot everything honestly and realistically, without any filters, post-processing or other bells and whistles.

Group f/64 was founded in 1932, at the very beginning of Ansel's career. But he was true to his convictions, so he retained his love for nature and documentary photography until the end of his life.

  • You must have seen the screensaver on your desktop, which depicts the Teton Range and the Snake River against the backdrop of the setting sun:

So, Adams was the first to capture this landscape from this angle. His black-and-white photograph was included in 116 images that were recorded on the Voyager gold plate - this is a message from earthlings to unknown civilizations sent into space 40 years ago. Now the aliens will think that we do not have color cameras, but there are good photographers.

I like Sebastian's biography. This is a natural evolution that happens to any idealist throughout life.

Salgado himself told this story in an interview when he visited Moscow in February 2016. At 25, he, along with his wife, moved from Brazil to Europe. From there they planned to go to Soviet Union and enter the Peoples' Friendship University in order to build a society without social inequality. But in 1970, their dreams were destroyed by a friend from Prague - the Czechs tasted plenty of communism in 1968.

So, this guy dissuaded the spouses, explaining that in the USSR no one is building communism. Power does not belong to the people and if they want to fight for happiness ordinary people, they can stay and help immigrants. Salgado listened to his friend and stayed in France.

He trained as an economist, but quickly realized that this was not his. His wife, Lelia Salgado, had more creative profession- she was a pianist ... but also became disillusioned with her occupation and decided to become an architect. It was she who bought their first camera to shoot architecture. As soon as Sebastian looked at the world through the viewfinder, he immediately knew that he had found his true passion. And after 2 years he became a professional photographer.

According to Salgado himself, economic education gave him knowledge in the field of history and geography, sociology and anthropology. A huge store of knowledge opened up opportunities for him that are inaccessible to other photographers: an understanding of human society in the most different corners our planet. He has traveled to over 100 countries, taking an incredible amount of documentary photography.

But do not think that Sebastian photographed exotic beaches and funny animals while relaxing on tropical islands. His travels are completely different. Initially, an idea is born: "Workers", "Terra", "Renaissance" - these are just some of the names of his albums. After that, preparations for the trip begin and the trip itself, which can take several years.

Many of his works are devoted to human suffering: he photographed refugees in African countries, victims of famine and genocide. Some critics even began to reproach Salgada for presenting poverty and suffering as something aesthetic. Sebastian himself is sure that the matter is different: according to him, he never took pictures of those who look pathetic. Those he photographed were in distress, but they had dignity.

And it would be fundamentally wrong to think that Salgado was "promoting" on someone else's grief. On the contrary, he drew the attention of mankind to those troubles that many did not notice. The situation when Sebastian completed Exodus in the 1990s is indicative: he was filming people who had escaped the genocide. After the trip, he admitted that he was disappointed in people and no longer believes that humanity can survive. He returned to Brazil and took some time off to recover.

Fortunately, this story has a happy ending: the old idealist regained his faith in beauty, and is now busy with another project, photographing the untouched corners of our planet.

If you start typing in a search engine , then Google will display a drop-down box with the option "Steve McCurry Afghan Girl". This is rather strange, because McCurry is too mustachioed for a girl, albeit an Afghan one.

In fact, the "Afghan Girl" is Steve's most famous photograph to feature on the cover of National Geographic magazine. Even the Wikipedia article about this guy starts with a story about this:

  • “Steve is a mustachioed American photojournalist who photographed an Afghan girl”. (Wikipedia)

Most articles about this photographer begin with a similar phrase, including our story about him. One gets the impression that he is a one-man actor, like Daniel Radcliffe or Macaulay Culkin. But it is not so.

Steve's career as a professional photographer began during the war in Afghanistan. He did not travel around the country in a Hammer, hiding behind the backs of the military, but stayed among ordinary people: he got local clothes, sewed rolls of photographic film into them and traveled around the country like an ordinary Afghan. Or as an ordinary American spy disguised as an Afghan - someone could consider this option. So Steve took a risk, but thanks to him, the world saw the first photos of that conflict.

Since then, McCurry has not changed his approach to work: he wandered around the world, taking pictures of different people. Steve captured many military conflicts and became a true master of street photography. Although in fact McCurry is a photojournalist, he managed to blur the line between documentary and art photography. His photographs are bright and attractive, like a postcard, but at the same time truthful. They do not require any explanations or comments - everything is clear without words. To create such photos, you need a rare flair.

Annie Leibovitz is a real specialist in portrait photography of stars. Her photographs graced the covers of the most popular magazines, causing stormy emotions and discussions. Who else would have thought to take a picture of Whoopi Goldberg grimacing in a bath of milk? Or a naked John Lennon cuddled up against Yoko Ono in a fetal position? By the way, this was the last picture in his life, taken a few hours before Chapman's fatal shot.

Annie's biography looks quite smooth: after studying at the San Francisco Art Institute, Leibovitz got a job at Rolling Stone magazine. She worked with him for over 10 years. During this time, Annie has earned a reputation for being able to photograph any celebrity in an interesting and creative way. And this is quite enough to achieve success in modern show business.

Having gained some fame, Annie moves to New York, where she opens her own photography studio. In 1983, she began working with Vanity Fair magazine, which sponsored her subsequent outrageous celebrity shots. Shooting naked Demi Moore at the last stage of pregnancy or smearing with clay and exposing Sting in the desert is quite in the spirit of Leibovitz. Like forcing Cate Blanchett to ride a bike or forcing a goose to take pictures with DiCaprio. No wonder her work is so popular!

Who else can boast that he photographed the Queen of England, Michael Jackson, Barack Obama and many, many other celebrities? And, mind you, he didn’t shoot as a paparazzi, hiding behind a bush, but arranged a full-fledged photo shoot? That is why Annie Leibovitz is considered, if not the best, then the most successful contemporary photographer. Although somewhat poppy.

1. Henri Cartier-Bresson

Craving for art Henri inherited from his uncle: he was an artist and got his nephew hooked on painting. This slippery slope eventually led him to a passion for photography. What did Henri do that made him different from hundreds and thousands of other photographers?

He comprehended a simple truth: everything must be done honestly and for real. Therefore, he refused to staged photos, never asked someone to act out a certain situation. Instead, he kept a close eye on what was going on around him.

In order to remain inconspicuous during the shooting, Henri sealed the shiny metal parts on the camera with black electrical tape. He became a real "invisible", which allowed him to capture the most sincere feelings of people. And for this, it’s not enough not to attract attention - you need to be able to determine the decisive moment for a photo. It was Henri who coined the term, "the decisive moment," and even wrote a book with that title.

To summarize: Cartier-Bresson's photos are distinguished by lively realism. For such work, some professional skills are not enough. It is necessary to sensitively understand the nature of a person, to capture his emotions and mood. All this was inherent in Henri Cartier-Bresson. He was honest in his work.

Don't be a snob... Repost!

We have already talked about people's predilection for deriving all sorts of ratings and top lists, on the "best", "great", "famous", etc. We talked about and. Today we will talk about the most, in our opinion, the most influential photographers of all time. Let's talk about ten photographers who have had the greatest influence on the development of photography as an art.

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Richard Avedon

In the first position of influential photographers is an American photographer - Richard Avedon (Richard Avedon). Avedon is an American fashion and portrait photographer who defined the American style, image, beauty and culture of the second half of the 20th century with his work. Avedon was the epitome of a modern photographer - charming and elegant. He easily mixed photographic genres and created successful, commercial, iconic, memorable images. He was the first to take a wide-format portrait, against a stark white background, using two images in one frame, allowing the portrait story to be told in one shot.


Official site

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - William Eugene Smith

American photojournalist William Eugene Smith continues the list of influential photographers. Smith was obsessed with his work, he refused to make any professional compromise. He went down in history as truthful, cruel and compromising black and white photographs times of World War II. Member of the photo agency "". During the Second World War, he worked as a military photojournalist and correspondent. The author of amazing reportage black-and-white photographs.

Official site

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Helmut Newton

On the third position, already known to us the German "seller of sex" Helmut Newton (Helmut Newton). Newton had an undeniable influence on the development of erotic photography, creating a powerful image of a woman. With his work, he defined the main canons of fashion photography. He was the first to use ring flash for fashion photography.


Photographer website

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Irving Penn

This is followed by an American fashion photographer, portraitist Irving Penn (Irving Penn). It is believed that every photographic portrait or symbolic still life owes something to Pen. He was the first photographer to make the most of the simplicity of black and white in photography. Considered a leading genius photographer for Vogue magazine.


Photographer website

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Guy Louis Bourdin

On the fifth position is the French photographer Guy Bourdin (GuyLouis Bourdin). No fashion photographer has been more copied by others than Bourdain. He was the first photographer to create storytelling complexity in his work. Many epithets are needed to characterize the work of a photographer. They are sensual, provocative, shocking, exotic, surreal, sometimes sinister. And Bourdain brought all this to fashion photography.


Photographer website

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Henri Cartier-Bresson

The ten influential photographers are continued by the founder of the greatest photographic agency "", a French documentary photographer, the father of documentary photography and photojournalism, in general, the greatest. One of the first who began to use 35 mm film when shooting. Creator " The Decisive Moment», the so-called "decisive moment". He believed that a real photograph cannot be subjected to any change. He worked on the creation of the "Street photography" genre, in which he defended the principles of sudden, non-staged photography. He left behind a great photographic legacy, which today is educational material for anyone who wants to become a professional documentary and photojournalist.




10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Diane Arbus

The only female photographer on our list is an American photographer. During her short, fast-paced life, Arbus was able to say so much that her photographs are still the subject of controversy and discussion. She was the first to pay close attention to people outside the norm, per se.

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Elliott Erwitt

This is followed by French advertising photographer, documentary photographer Elliott Erwitt. Elliott is one of Henri Cartier-Breson's "decisive moment" masters. Member of the photographic agency Magnum Photos. Has an unsurpassed sense of humor with which he approaches the creation of each photo Everyday life. Master of documentary street photography. Big dog lover.




Photographer website

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Walker Evans

In the ninth position of our influential ten is an American photographer, known for a series of works devoted to the Great Depression - Walker Evans (Walker Evans). He is considered a chronicler of American life, who created order and beauty in the frame through composition.

10 Most Influential Photographers of All Time - Martin Parr

Rounding out the top 10 most influential photographers is British photographer and photojournalist Martin Parr. A member of the photographic agency Magnum Photos, Martine Parr had a major influence on the development of documentary photography in the late 20th century. Unlike classic black and white genre photography, Parr uses intense colors, thereby elevating the ordinary everyday shot to the level of art. Considered the leading chronicler of daily life in England.


The image can speak all languages. And their language is understood not only by photographers, but also by photography lovers, just grateful viewers. Photography has witnessed the evolution of cameras, from the traditional camera obscura to the modern digital one. All of them were used to obtain an excellent image. When you think of some of the most famous photographers from past years and the present, you understand that photography is an art, and not a simple “freezing” of a moment.

When William Henry Fox Talbot invented the negative/positive photographic process, he probably had no idea how popular his invention would be. Today, photography, and therefore the specialty of photographers, is divided into different categories that range from fashion, wildlife, interiors, portraits, travel, food to ... The list is endless. Let's take a look at some of the most famous photographers in the most popular photography categories. See also examples of their work.

Fashion

Irving Penn
This American photographer is known for his chic and elegant shots, especially from the post-World War II era. Since 1938, he has collaborated with Vogue magazine and actively uses the technique of white and gray backgrounds. It is the use of this technique that makes him the greatest photographer of the time. Penn's photography has always been one step ahead of its time. A series of nude shots made a lot of noise.

Terence Donovan
This British photographer was known for his photographs of the fashion world in the 60s. His indefatigable thirst for adventure was reflected in his work, and in order to obtain beautiful images, the models performed rather daring stunts. Approximately 3,000 advertising images, this man was in the homes of the richest residents of London and was popular photographer at celebrities.

Richard Avedon
It was he who moved away from the traditional understanding of models. Born in New York and set up his own studio in 1946. Richard Avedon showed models in natural light, and many of his works have been published in the pages of Vogue and Life magazines. As a photographer, he received many awards in his time and the images he created were recognized all over the world.

Nature and Wildlife

Ansel Adams
Born in the city of San Francisco. Made a huge contribution to the development black and white photography. He was interested in questions related to nature. Ansel Adams is the author of several epic photographic frescoes. Received three Guggenheim Fellowships.

Frans Lanting
Frans was born in Rotterdam. His work could be seen on the pages of such magazines as National Geographic, Life, Outdoor Photographer. Frans traveled a lot and his photographs clearly express his love for the flora and fauna of the rainforests.

Galen Rowell
For many years, Galen conveyed the relationship between man and the desert. His photographs, like nothing else, conveyed the fascinating and magnetic beauty of these sultry places. 1984 award winner. Collaborated with many well-known publications of the time. Rowell's work was distinguished by its depth and coverage of everything new in the displayed topic.

Photojournalism

Henri Cartier-Bresson ( Henri Cartier—Bresson)
French photographer who influenced the development of photojournalism for many years. Received international recognition for covering Gandhi's funeral in India in 1948. He traveled extensively around the world and firmly believed that the art of a photojournalist was to capture the “right” moment. Some call him the father of the photo essay.

Eddie Adams
Pulitzer Prize winner and winner of more than 500 prizes. His photographs depicting the Vietnam War from the inside shocked the whole world. Adams also took portraits of celebrities, politicians and military leaders of the time. He believed that the photographer should be able to manipulate the scene in order to reflect the truth.

Felice Beato
Famous "war photographer". His penchant for travel has allowed him to capture many moods and moments in different corners of the earth. Traveled to India, Japan, China. It was Felice who captured the Indian uprising of 1857 and the events of the second Opium War. His powerful and immortal work is still a source of inspiration for photojournalists.

Portrait shooting

Ueno Hikoma
Born in Nagasaki. Fame brought portrait work and landscape photography. He started with his own commercial studio, where he gained tremendous experience in portrait photography. The author of portraits of many famous and famous people that time. In 1891 he made a portrait of the Russian heir to the throne.

Philippe Halsman
Although Halsman suffered some early setbacks in his personal life, this did not stop him from becoming a great portrait painter of his time. His photographs were somewhat sharp and dark and differed significantly from the portraits of the time. Portraits were published in many magazines of that time, including Vogue. After meeting the surrealist artist Salvador Dali, he decides to make a surreal portrait of Dali, a skull and seven nudes. Three hours were spent on the implementation of the planned work. It was he who developed the philosophy of displaying a person in motion, in a jump. He believed that this was the only way to show a “real” person from the inside. At the peak of his career, he took portraits of celebrities such as Alfred Hitchcock, Marilyn Monroe, Winston Churchill, Judy Garland and Pablo Picasso.

Hiro Kikai ( Hiroh Kikai)
The popularity of this Japanese photographer brought monochrome portraits of the inhabitants of the Asakusa district (Tokyo). IN early years he witnessed many clashes and spent all free time taking pictures of visitors to Asakusa. Perfectionist by nature, could spend several days looking for right person- subject of shooting.

aerial photography

Talbert Abrams
The first pictures in this category were taken while serving in the Corps marines USA during World War II. Photographic images of the squadron during the period of insurgency in Haiti helped decide to continue this art.

William Garnett ( William Garnett)
Born in Chicago in 1916, he began his career as a photographer and Graphic Designer in 1938. Assisted the US Army in the production of training films for US troops. By 1949, he had already acquired his own aircraft and switched to aerial photography.

Underwater photography

Dustin Humphrey
A surfer and photography enthusiast who has his own photography studio in Bali. His passion for surfing helped him take some amazing photos for which he received the Sony World Photography Award in 2009. It's amazing how he managed to gather so many people and film it all without a single cut!