Photography is the best way to capture a moment of life, and ever since the first camera was invented in the 11th century, photography has influenced a lot of people. Thanks to advancements in technology, now cameras have become more hi-tech and user-friendly, resulting in clearer and sharper?pictures.
To pay the tribute to the art of photography, August 19th is observed as World Photography Day. It is an annual celebration of art, science, and the history of photography. The objective of the day is to inspire more and more photographers, both experts and amateurs, to talk about a profession that is a fine blend of art and technology.
If one looks back at history, World Photography Day was first celebrated in 1837. This day has its roots in the invention by Frenchman Louis Daguerre in association with Joseph Nicephore Niepce. They developed a photographic process called daguerreotype. Two years later, the French Academy of Sciences acknowledged the invention, calling it?'a gift to the world¡¯.?
The French government bought the patent of the daguerreotype and since, photography witnessed many key changes including the introduction of colour photography in 1861.
On the occasion of World Photography Day, here are some of the most influential photographs of all time:
This iconic image was captured in 1946, when LIFE magazine¡¯s first female photographer, Margaret Bourke-White was in India to cover the nation¡¯s impending independence. One of the most influential figures of the 20th century, Gandhi was the face of saintly peace, with the charkha or spinning wheel symbolising India¡¯s struggle for independence.
On December 16, 1971, Pakistan ultimately called for a unilateral ceasefire and surrendered its entire four-tier military to the Indian Army¨C hence ending the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971. On the ground, Pakistan suffered the most, with 8,000 killed and 25,000 wounded.
Indian army soldiers hoist the National flag from the strategic hill in the Drass-Kargil area. It was on July 26, 1999, the Indian Army had declared a successful culmination of 'Operation Vijay', declaring a victory after nearly three-month-long battles against Pakistan on the icy heights of Kargil.
One of the popular archival images from ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is that of the APPLE (Ariane Passenger PayLoad Experiment) communication satellite being carried on a bullock cart for telemetry test in 1981. The humble bullock cart was chosen since the scientists wanted a non-magnetic environment.
Captured on June 8, 1972, by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut, this famous photograph presents the stark and harrowing reality of innocent victims of war.?
The Pulitzer Prize-winning image shows Vietnamese children running, injured from a napalm attack during the Vietnam War. The image was controversial for its full-frontal nudity, but many newspapers relaxed their policies on nudity to spread the anti-war image.?
At the centre of the photo is nine-year-old Kim Phuc, who ripped off her burning clothes while running. Nick Ut took the children to a hospital after photographing them, thereby saving their lives.
The most reproduced image of the 20th century, Alfred Eisenstaedt beautifully captured a moment that poetically showcases human emotions of joy, wonder and anguish, on the streets of New York, when World War II came to an end on August 14, 1945. In one of the most defining moments of history, a sailor can be seen swooping up a dental nurse and kissing her ¨C it was later known that the nurse was taken completely by surprise by the stranger in what could have been a serious case of sexual assault.
One of the most haunting photographs in history, this image was captured by South African photojournalist Kevin Carter, when he travelled to Sudan to photograph the famine in 1993. The photograph earned Carter worldwide attention and criticism, raising questions on why he didn¡¯t carry the toddler to the nearby feeding centre that he claimed to have phoned.
In one of the strongest statements of dissent, an unidentified Chinese man stood in front of a column of tanks on June 5th, 1989 ¨C the morning after the Chinese military had suppressed the Tiananmen Square protests.?
The crackdown had resulted in the deaths of hundreds of student demonstrators in Beijing. Captured by at least five famous photographers including Stuart Franklin, the image became a symbol of resistance in the face of oppression. Franklin won the World Press Photo Award for Spot News for the image, which still faces heavy censorship in China.
Often referred to as the father of modern photojournalism and a master of street photography, Henri Cartier-Bresson¡¯s skilful images are marked by his speed and instinct. The perfect exemplification of the two combined can be seen in his famous photograph, Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare. Bresson captured a man leaping across a puddle of water, through a fence behind the Saint-Lazare train station in Paris, in 1932. The photograph came to be known as the perfect illustration of the ¡°decisive moment,¡± when a photographer captures a fleeting moment.
Photographer Alberto Korda captured this iconic image of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara at a memorial service that was held for victims of the La Coubre explosion in Havana, Cuba, in 1960. The image, widely circulated ever since Guevara¡¯s death (he was killed seven years later leading a guerrilla movement in Bolivia) is one of the most easily recognized images of all time, and an enduring symbol of revolution, rebellion and resistance.
Captured by Joe Rosenthal on February 23rd, 1945, this iconic photograph depicts U.S. troops raising a flag in the Japanese island and military base, Iwo Jima, during World War II. The photograph earned Rosenthal a Pulitzer Prize and is one of the most recognized images to date. While the photographer was suspected to have staged the patriotic scene, it was later reported as a genuine event that took place.
The war in Syria had been going on for more than four years when Alan Kurdi¡¯s parents lifted the 3-year-old boy and his 5-year-old brother into an inflatable boat and set off from the Turkish coast for the Greek island of Kos, just three miles away. Within minutes of pushing off, a wave capsized the vessel, and the mother and both sons drowned. On the shore near the coastal town of Bodrum a few hours later, Nilufer Demir of the Dogan News Agency came upon Alan, his face turned to one side and bottom elevated as if he was just asleep.
It was on December 24, 1968, exactly 75 hours, 48 minutes and 41 seconds after the Apollo 8 spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral en route to becoming the first manned mission to orbit the moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve of what had been a bloody, war-torn year for America. At the beginning of the fourth of 10 orbits, their spacecraft was emerging from the far side of the moon when a view of the blue-white planet filled one of the hatch windows.
Three days after an atomic bomb nicknamed Little Boy obliterated Hiroshima, Japan, U.S. forces dropped an even more powerful weapon dubbed Fat Man on Nagasaki. The explosion shot up a 45,000-foot-high column of radioactive dust and debris.
On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first humans ever to land on the moon. About six-and-a-half hours later, Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon.
17. Hitler At A Nazi Party Rally, Heinrich Hoffmann, 1934
Spectacle was like oxygen for the Nazis, and Heinrich Hoffmann was instrumental in staging Hitler¡¯s growing pageant of power. Hoffmann, who joined the party in 1920 and became Hitler¡¯s personal photographer and confidant, was charged with choreographing the regime¡¯s propaganda carnivals and selling them to a wounded German public.?
So much of great photography is being in the right spot at the right moment. That was what it was like for sports illustrated photographer Neil Leifer when he shot perhaps the greatest sports photo of the century.