Photography is the best tool to immortalize a moment in time. It’s amazing to think that in a box full of pictures hides a whole another world, history and time. But today is a whole different situation when we compare it to the past. Everywhere we go, we are surrounded by cameras. Growing up in a world of technology it’s hard to imagine the world without it. But back in the day, you had to rely on notes, people’s tales in order to learn something, and then visualize it as your brain wondered.
The first Kodak camera was placed on the market in 1888. It was a simple handheld box camera containing a 100-exposure roll of film that used paper negatives. Eventually, that was the moment that our life’s memories took another turn.
Today we use the camera all the time, to take boring selfies, pictures of the environment around us, people, and basically everything. However, an earlier camera was used to document only the important events. There are a lot of these images that reflect the past exactly as it was. Although disturbing, these documentations of the past shape your opinion about it.
We have selected some of these pictures that bring back forgotten moments in time. Get ready to ride on an emotional rollercoaster as you scroll down the gallery below to see what we have prepared for you. Enjoy!
1. At 4:31 AM, an unauthorized photo taken of Stalin inside of the Kremlin shows the very moment he was informed that Germany had began their invasion of the Soviet Union. It was taken by Komsomolskaya Pravda, editor in chief. He was ordered to destroy it, but instead saved it. June 22, 1941
2. In 1969, when black Americans were still prevented from swimming alongside whites, Mr.Rogers decided to invite Officer Clemmons to join him and cool his feet in a pool, breaking a well-known color barrier.
3. The “Hasanlu lovers” died around 800 B.C. and were discovered in 1972. They died in what seems to be an embrace or kiss, and remained that way for 2800 years.
4. Today in 1945, the Auschwitz death camp was discovered and liberated by the Red Army.
5. Mobsters hide their faces at Al Capone’s trial 1931.
6. Photo of James Zwerg, a college student from Wisconsin, after he was beaten by a white mob in Alabama for being a Freedom Rider. He passed out shortly afterwards and was ignored by white ambulance crews for hours until an ambulance for blacks picked him up. Montgomery, AL, 1961
7. 100,000 Iranian Women March Against The Hijab Law, Tehran 1979
8. Wedding rings that were removed from holocaust victims before they were executed circa 1945
9. Anne Frank’s father Otto, revisiting the attic where they hid from the Nazis. He was the only surviving family member. (1960)
10. Iron Workers Pose For A Photo Atop The North Tower Of The World Trade Center, 1973
11. Acrobats Balance On Top Of The Empire State Building (1934)
12. 7’3” Jakob Nacken (221 cm) the tallest Nazi soldier ever chatting with 5’3” (160 cm) Canadian corporal Bob Roberts after surrendering to him near Calais, France in September of 1944 (colorized by me)
13. Soviet peasants listen to the radio for the first time, 1928.
14. Cetshwayo, King Of The Zulu Who Defeated The British At The Battle Of Isandlwana, 1878
15. New Yorkers stop to watch the “Seinfeld” finale, Times Square, 1998
16. A policeman in San Francisco scolds a man for not wearing a mask during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, 1918
17. Soldiers returning home from WWII 1945
18. The 9 Kings of Europe gather for the first and only time for a photograph at the funeral of King Edward VII in London. May 20th, 1910
19. Members of Dutch Resistance celebrate the news of Adolf Hitler’s death, April 1945
20. A Ukrainian-American family celebrates the death of Stalin, 1953
21. Statue of David by Michelangelo, encased in bricks to prevent damage from bombs, during world war 2
22. Survivors of 1972 of the Infamous Andes plane crash. The passengers resorted to cannibalism to survive 72 days in the snow
23. In 1941, the photo on the left was taken of soviet soldier Eugen Stepanovich Kobytev on the day he left to go to war. The photo on the right was taken in 1945 after the end of the war, just 4 years apart
24. A red cross nurse writing down last words of mortally wounded soldier, taken around 1917
25. Coal miners coming up a coal mine elevator after a day of work in 1920’s Belgium
26. Hitler rehearsing a speech in front of a mirror, taken by his personal photographer Heinrich Hoffman, 1925.
27. John Lennon and Yoko Ono bought a large billboard in Times Square in 1969 declaring that ‘War is over if you want it’ Colourised
28. A group of frontiersmen with an advertisement. United States, Montana, 1901.
29. Two autistic kids tied to the radiator of an asylum. Spain, 1982.
30. David Isom, 19, broke the color line in a segregated pool in Florida on June 8, 1958, which resulted in officials closing the facility.
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