As another year comes to and end, now is the time for reflection. While last year brought us Stranger Things 4, the World Cup, and the release of the first images from the Webb Space Telescope, a singular year is only a drop in the bucket of humanity. Some of the human race’s most daring, heartbreaking, and emotional moments have been captured on film as lessons and reminders of things to come. As we are a tech website, let us walk down memory lane and revisit some of history’s most famous photographs and the cameras they were taken on.
Jack Ruby Murders Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was shot exiting the Dallas Police Headquarters on November 24, 1963 after being arrested for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy two days prior. Photographer Robert H. Jackson caught the scene of Jack Ruby murdering Oswald for the Dallas Times Herald.
Photographed with: Nikon S3
Migrant Mother
Photographer Dorothea Lange took this famous portrait of a mother and her two children at the Resettlement Administration in Nipomo, California in 1936.
Photographed with: Large Format Graflex
Earthrise
Apollo 8 was the first crewed mission to land on the Moon, landing on December 21, 1968. Astronaut William Anders took this photograph of the Earth rising above the horizon of the Moon.
Photographed with: Hasselblad 500 EL
Buzz Aldrin on the Surface of the Moon
This portrait of Buzz Aldrin was taken by fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong when the two walked on the surface of the Moon in 1969 as part of the Apollo 11 mission. The Hasselblad camera that this image was taken with was actually attached to Armstrong’s suit, and was fitted with a Réseau plate, leading to the cross-hatches seen.
Photographed with: Hasselblad 500 EL Data Camera
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
This famous image actually depicts the second flag raised on Iwo Jima following the Battle of Iwo Jima toward the end of the Pacific War — photographer Joe Rosenthal missed the first flag and had to stand on a pile of rocks for this shot.
Photographed with: Graflex Speed Graphic
The Manhattan Project Trinity Test
The Trinity nuclear test, part of the Manhattan Project, was the most important scientific experiment in modern physics. The 1945 detonation was so fast and so bright that photographer Berlyn Brixner set up an array of cameras to capture the moment for Los Alamos Laboratory.
Photographed with: 50 different types of cameras, including a Mitchell camera and a Fastax camera
Guerrillero Heroico
This portrait of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara in 1960 is actually a cropped version of the wider image, which depicts a palm tree and the profile of Argentine journalist Jorge Masetti.
Photographed with: Leica M2
The Hindenburg Disaster
The Hindenburg was a feat of engineering like no other, until it’s untimely demise in May 1937, captured by photographer Sam Shere.
Photographed with: Graflex Speed Graphic