‘Photos From History’: 96 Must-See Historical Pictures, Ranging From Wholesome To Heartbreaking

by admin April 12, 2023

It’s every photographer’s dream to take a picture so powerful that it ends up being enjoyed by future generations. The deeper you delve into the past, the more you realize how many wonderful photos have been taken, but perhaps haven’t been given the time in the spotlight that they deserve. They’re full of character, and just as good—if not better than—some of the most iconic pics we know from textbooks and the internet.

The ‘Photos From History’ Instagram page does exactly what it says on the tin and features aesthetic pics from the past. We’ve collected some of the top ones to share with you, Pandas, and some of them are bound to change the way you view history. Don’t forget to upvote the ones that impressed you the most!

Bored Panda reached out to professional photographer Dominic Sberna, from Ohio, for a chat about high-quality photos, how photography has become more accessible over time, and how AI might affect the art form in the future. Read on for our full interview with him.

‘Photos From History’: 96 Must-See Historical Pictures, Ranging From Wholesome To Heartbreaking

#1 The Couple On The Woodstock Album Cover Is Still Together 50 Years Later In 2019

#2 August 23, 1989: 2 Million People Form A Human Chain Through Latvia, Estonia, And Lithuania, Uniting All 3 Countries To Show The World Their Desire To Escape The Soviet Union

#3 Barbra Streisand By Cecil Beaton, 1969

#4 Helen Mirren, 1967

#5 David Bowie Performs To A Huge Crowd At Milton Keynes Bowl In 1983

#6 Family Friend Went Camping 30 Years Ago And Heard A Noise. She Stuck Her Camera Outside Her Tent And Snapped This Picture

#7 Leonardo Dicaprio, Johnny Depp & Brad Pitt In The Flush Of Youth

#8 Ukrainian Refugees In Germany In 1945

#9 Björk By Laura Levine In 1991

#10 The Rolling Stones' First Photo Shoot 4 May, 1963

#11 Grace Jones By Jean-Paul Goude, 1981

#12 King Arthur's Statue Overlooking The Atlantic Ocean On The Cliffs Of Tintagel In Cornwall, England

#13 David Bowie And Wife Iman

#14 Casting Polaroid Of Salma Hayek In 1995

#15 Archeologists Unearth 2,200 Year Old Mosaics In An Ancient Greek City Named Zeugma In Gaziantep Province, Turkey

#16 (Studio 54) Ballet Icon, Rudolf Nureyev, Initiates Nine-Year-Old Actor Ricky Schroder Into The Delights Of Disco Dancing At Studio 54 In New York On Sunday, April 2, 1979

#17 Esso Hibernia Tanker Under Construction, Wallsend, England, 1970

#18 A Bank Robber Shooting His Pistol At The Surveillance Camera, Cleveland, Ohio, 1977

#19 East German Soldier Helps A Little Boy Sneak Across The Berlin Wall The Day It Was Erected In 1961

#20 Sigourney Weaver And Rick Moranis On Set Of The First Ghostbusters In 1984

#21 Pink Floyd Concert In Venice In 1989

#22 (1980) Punk Legend Viv Albertine Of The Slits Performs At Alexandra Palace In London

#23 Andy Fletcher From Depeche Mode At The Hill 16 Pub, Dublin, 1983

#24 Ornithologist Jerry Mcgahan Holding A 6-Month-Old Andean Condor In 1971

#25 Ava Gardner, Age 19. Photo From Her Mgm Employment Questionnaire In 1942

#26 Audrey Tautou On The Set Of Amélie In 2001

#27 Anthony Bourdain On Dublin - "If You've Got Any Kind Of A Heart, A Soul, An Appreciation For Your Fellow Man, Or Any Kind Of Appreciation For The Written Word, Or Simply A Love Of A Perfectly Poured Beverage, Then There's No Way You Could Avoid Loving This City."

#28 Iggy Pop Raised By The Crowd In A Messianic Pose Live In Cincinnati In 1970

#29 (1940) Father Christmas Handing Out Presents To Evacuees From Peckham, London

#30 Croatians Ira And Marijan Kiss Near The End Of The Croatian War Of Independence In 1995

#31 A Vehicle Hovering Over A Crevasse During The Trans-Aantarctic Expedition Of 1954

#32 Young Couple Kissing Before The Fall Of The Berlin Wall In 1989

#33 Heath Ledger And Rose Byrne In Las Vegas, 1999

#34 As The Tour De France Enters The Alps, Another Look Back At The History Of The Greatest Race Of Them All

#36 Michael Rockefelle, Son Of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, In Dutch New Guinea, May, 1960. He Went To Explore The Jungle And Went Missing In 1961. His Body Was Never Found

#37 A Box Lot Of Debbie Harry

#38 Forging The Chain For Titanic's Anchor In 1910

#39 Carolyn Jones' Morticia Addams Wishes You A Ghoulishly Good Weekend

#41 Arnold Schwarzenegger In College, 1979

#42 Jacques Cousteau And His Crew Relax In A Submersible After Work During The Conshelf Two Expedition, 1963

#43 American Soldiers Talk To A Pontifical Swiss Guard From The Vatican, June 1944

#44 Light From Billions Of Years Ago Detected By The James Webb Telescope

#45 A Factory Worker In Rute, Gotland, Sweden, Posing For A Photograph. Photograph Taken By Måns Birger Bruzelius In 1920

#46 'youth And Maturity', Photo By Henri Cartier-Bresson In Paris

#47 Al Capone With His Son "Sonny" Capone In 1925

#48 Dutch Girls Ria Vermeulen And Ineke Van Wijck Write Messages On A Polish Armoured Division Tank After The Liberation Of Breda, Their Hometown, Noord-Brabant Province, The Netherlands, 1944

#49 Nurses In Their Bomb Trenches Between Hospital Wards In France, 1918

#50 Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, And Bunny Wailer Started A Ska Band In 1963 Called The Teenagers, Before Renaming Themselves The Wailing Rudeboys, Then The Wailing Wailers And Finally The Wailers. I Wonder What Became Of Them?

#51 “When I’m In Nature, Everything Falls Into Place. I’m Just One Tiny Piece Of A Big Jigsaw Puzzle And I Like That.” - Björk, 2008

#52 The Last Public Appearance Of Laurel & Hardy In 1956

#53 Iconic Traditional Irish Folk Band The Dubliners In 1972

#54 Nancy Sinatra Pictured With Her Father Frank And Family Friend Yul Brynner At The Sands Hotel In Las Vegas, 1965

#55 Aztec Sun Calander Stone, National Museum, Mexico, 1964

#56 Rory Gallagher, Age 11

#57 Alec Guinness As King Faisal 1 & Director David Lean On The Set Of Lawrence Of Arabia

#58 Joy Division Lead Singer Ian Curtis. Kevin Cummings Captured The Band’s Complete Journey, From Their Original Work Under The Name Warsaw, Through To The Heyday Of Joy Division

#59 Elijah Wood With His Scale Double Kirann Shah On The Set Of Fellowship Of The Ring In 2001

#60 The Face Of War By Salvador Dali In 1941

#61 The Swedish Warship Vasa Sank In 1628 Less Than A Mile Into Its Maiden Voyage And Was Recovered From The Sea Floor After 333 Years Almost Completely Intact

#62 Richard Jack At Work On His Iconic Painting, The Second Battle Of Ypres, 1917

#63 Clint Eastwood & Shirley Mcclaine On The Set Of 2 Mules For Sister Sara, In 1969

#64 Greek Partisans Pose For A Photograph Following The German Invasion Of The Island Of Crete In 1941

#65 The Clash Riding On Their Way To Shea Stadium, New York (1982)

#66 Westminster Silhouetted By The Fires Of The Blitz In London, 1940

#67 'the Thinker', By Hiromu Kira. Los Angeles, C. 1930

#68 The Discovery Of An Ancient Maya Statue In The Jungles Of Honduras, 1885

#69 (1914) Germans In Front Of The Reichstag The Day After The Declaration Of War On Russia

#70 A Shirtless Benito Mussolini Harvesting Wheat In Aprilla In 1938

#71 Superman On The Set Of Superman

#72 Cult Hero Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards Soars Above The 1988 Winter Olympic

#73 A Wheat Field In Manhattan Showing The Twin Towers

#74 Surgeon After Open-Heart Surgery On A Chernobyl 'Liquidator'

#75 Winona Ryder On The Set Of Beetlejuice In 1988

#76 Harvey Ball And The Smiley Face He Created In The 1960s

#77 Marilyn Monroe In The Late 40's

#78 Russian Soldiers Sunbathe On A Rooftop While A Sniper Stands Guard In Grozny, Chechnya, 9 May, 2000

#79 An Armed Guard Provides Both Service And Security To White Golfers At A Golf Course At The Hotel Leopard In Rhodesia, 1978

#80 Father, Son, And Grandfather, New Guinea, 1970

#81 "Kombat" By Max Alpert: A Soviet Officer Leads His Men In A Counterattack Against German Lines In Ukraine, 12 July 1942. The Officer In Question, Alexey Yeryomenko, Was Killed Soon After This Picture Was Taken