“A picture is worth a thousand words”—a phrase most of us have heard before. And for a reason. Photographs can capture loads of information in just a split second and immortalize it for years to come. By freezing moments, photographers enable us to travel to places and times we’ve never witnessed ourselves. They allow us to see the world exactly as it was, whether it was yesterday or a hundred years ago.
The Instagram account called Historical Pix boasts a beautiful collection of pictures from various points in time. Their uploads cover a multitude of topics, from war to technology, from sport to fashion; you name it, it’s there. As they themselves describe, “It's just history. The good, the bad, and the ugly.”
We have gathered some of the most impressive photographs shared by the account. Scroll down for the images and feel free to browse this list of historical pics or this one, if you’d like to see more.
#1 1945. 10-Year-Old Stoic Japanese Boy Standing At Attention Having Brought His Dead Younger Brother To A Cremation Pyre, Nagasaki
Years Later, Joe O’donnell, The American Photojournalist Who Took This Photo, Spoke To A Japanese Interviewer About This Photograph: “I Saw A Boy About Ten Years Old Walking By. He Was Carrying A Baby On His Back. In Those Days In Japan, We Often Saw Children Playing With Their Little Brothers Or Sisters On Their Backs, But This Boy Was Clearly Different. I Could See That He Had Come To This Place For A Serious Reason. He Was Wearing No Shoes. His Face Was Hard. The Little Head Was Tipped Back As If The Baby Were Fast Asleep. The Boy Stood There For Five Or Ten Minutes. The Men In White Masks Walked Over To Him And Quietly Began To Take Off The Rope That Was Holding The Baby. That Is When I Saw That The Baby Was Already Dead. The Men Held The Body By The Hands And Feet And Placed It On The Fire. The Boy Stood There Straight Without Moving, Watching The Flames. He Was Biting His Lower Lip So Hard That It Shone With Blood. The Flame Burned Low Like The Sun Going Down. The Boy Turned Around And Walked Silently Away.”
Image credits: historicalpix
Photography allows us to travel all the way back to the 1820s—that’s when the first-ever picture was taken. The French scientist Joseph Nicéphore Niépce did that by using heliography—a process of applying sunlight to draw—and a pewter plate. Taking the picture took several hours, but the image, titled View from the Window at Le Gras, marked the beginning of modern photography.
Back in the day, taking a picture required a bit more than a split second. Roughly until the 1840s, you would have had to stand still for 20 minutes for someone to photograph you. Can you imagine trying to take a family portrait or a picture of your cat under such circumstances?
#2 1961. East German Soldier Ignores Orders To Let No One Pass By Helping A Young Boy Cross The Newly Built Berlin Wall, To Reunite With His Family
Image credits: historicalpix
#3 Anna Coleman Ladd Was An American Sculptor Who Is Best Known For Her Work Creating Prosthetic Masks For Soldiers Who Were Disfigured During World War I
Ladd, Who Was Born In 1878 And Died In 1939, Worked With A Team Of Assistants At The American Red Cross In Paris To Create The Masks, Which Were Made Of Copper And Other Materials And Were Designed To Be Worn Over The Soldiers' Faces In Order To Restore Some Of Their Appearance And Self-Confidence. The Masks Were Highly Realistic And Were Often Painted To Match The Soldiers' Skin Tones. Ladd's Work Was Praised For Its Artistic And Technical Skill, As Well As For Its Humanitarian Purpose
Image credits: historicalpix
Nowadays, you can take a picture in the blink of an eye. You can also do it nearly anywhere, anytime, as most people now use camera phones. Able to fit in your pocket, they are undeniably more convenient than dragging around large pieces of equipment or trying to force the world to stop for 20 minutes so you can take a photograph.
The cameras on phones developed in leaps and bounds over the years. The first one was the SCH-V200 model introduced by Samsung back in 2000. It allowed users to take up to 20 pictures at 0.35-megapixel resolution. Now, just over a couple of decades later, the average resolution of a phone camera is 12 megapixels, and the number of pictures one can store is way higher than 20.
#4 1959. A Young French Girl Poses With Glee As She Cradles Her Cat
Image credits: historicalpix
#5 The Kiss Of Life. 1967
Utility Lineman Jimmy D. Thompson Giving Mouth-To-Mouth Resuscitation To Fellow Worker Randall G. Champion, After Champion Was Knocked Unconscious By An Electric Shock. Because Of Thompson's Intervention, Champion Survived And Lived Until 2002. Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photograph By Rocco Morabito
Image credits: historicalpix
According to Phototutorial, an average smartphone user has roughly 2,100 pictures on their device. The number is not that shocking, considering that people take nearly 93% of photos with their cellphones and only 7% use a camera.
Taking photographs was mostly a job for professionals years ago when it required working with certain chemicals. But now, more people can capture beautiful moments with the help of constantly developing technology.
#6 1976. Soviet Explorer, Nikolai Machulyak, Feeding A Polar Bear And Her Cubs With Condensed Milk And Meat, Near Cape Schmidt Off The Coast Of The Chukchi Sea
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#7 1954. Cats Stand Up On Their Hind Legs To Catch Squirts Of Milk During Milking At A Dairy Farm. Photo By Nat Farbman
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#8 Beatles Fans In 1964 And 2013. Ringo Starr Took The Top Photo From Car Window, After The High School Friends Skipped School To See The Beatles During Their First Trip To The Us In 1964
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Phototutorial also revealed that people worldwide take an astonishing number of 57,246 pictures per second, which equals roughly 5 billion per day. So far, 12.4 trillion photos have been taken throughout the years, some of them capturing significant historical events.
#9 C. 1910. Native American Blackfoot Warriors At Glacier National Park, On The Shore Of St. Mary Lake, Montana. Photo By Roland W. Reed
Image credits: historicalpix
#10 Members Of The Red Warriors – A French Youth Anti-Fascist Street Gang That Used Violent Force To Combat The Surge Of Neo-Nazi Violence From France In The Mid To Late 1980s
The Red Warriors Often Acted As Security For Punk Shows And Left-Wing Activist Groups, Who Were Often Targeted With Violence By White Power Skinheads. Over Time, The Red Warriors, And Other Youth Gangs With Similar Goals, Became Well-Known In France For Their Confrontational Methods For Resisting Fascists
Image credits: historicalpix
#11 1839. The Oldest Known Photographic Portrait Of A Human In The USA, Taken As Self-Image By Photography Pioneer Robert Cornelius. He Had To Remain Motionless For 10 To 15 Minutes To Capture The Photograph
Image credits: historicalpix
Some images portraying significant historical events or periods became known all over the world. For instance, the picture of a couple kissing taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt in 1945, titled V-J Day In Times Square. Or the Tank Man—a photo taken by Jeff Widener in 1989.
#12 Eruption Of Mount St. Helens, 1980, By Richard Lasher
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#13 Graffiti On Troops’ Helmets During The Vietnam War
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#14 C. 1910. Child Miners Photographed By Lewis Hine. Hine’s Photographs Were Instrumental In Bringing About The Passage Of The First Child Labor Laws In The United States
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Some of the globally well-known images immortalized important moments of pop culture as well. One of the greatest examples of that was the cover for the Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover. It was taken by Iain MacMillan in August of 1969 as the band members were crossing Abbey Road in London.
#15 C. 1929. A Little Girl Hands Lilies To A Police Officer On Duty At The Porte Saint-Denis In Paris
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#16 1967. Kangaroo Hits A Photographer For Trying To Photograph Him, England. Photo By Voller Ernst
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#17 1975. John Cleese On The Set Of Monty Python And The Holy Grail
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Certain historical pictures mark significant milestones in developing the process of photography itself. The first self-portrait, which could be considered the predecessor of the selfie, is a great example of that. Robert Cornelius, a chemist from Philadelphia, is believed to have taken the first portrait of such a kind back in 1839.
#18 1911. The Wreck Of The Arden Craig Off The Isles Of Scilly, West Of Cornwall. Photo By Francis James Mortimer
Image credits: historicalpix
#19 September 1945. Australian Soldiers Catch Up On News From Home After Their Release From Japanese Captivity In Singapore
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#20 1954. A Young Boy Carrying Two Bottles Of Wine Under His Arms, Rue Mouffetard, Paris. Photo By Henri Cartier-Bresson
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Whether it’s a portrait or not, you might have noticed that not many people would smile in photographs back in the day. Now, it is typical to put on a happy face for taking a picture (followed by a moment of awkward silence after everyone is done saying “cheeeeeeese”), but it wasn’t always like that, and there are several versions of why. Some say that it was based on poor dental hygiene, while others believe it was related to the time it took for one shot—smiling for 20 minutes straight can be quite a challenge.
#21 Great Blizzard Of 1888, New York City
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#22 1894. Archaeologists And Workers Pose In Front Of The Near-Perfectly Preserved And Still-Upright Statue Of Antinous, Unearthed Near The Temple Of Apollo In The Sanctuary At Delphi, Greece
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#23 1920s. Traditional Rwandan Hairstyle Of Amasunzu
Amasunzu Hairstyle Is Traditionally Worn By Rwandan Men And Unmarried Women, With The Hair Styled Into Crests, Often Decorated With Beads And Cowrie Shells. It Is Frequently Described As Crescent-Shaped. The Style Is Associated With The Rwandan People's Cultural Identity And Has Been Passed Down Through Generations
Image credits: historicalpix
Some pictures age like fine wine—they become even more influential or appreciated as time goes by. And most such images undoubtedly deserve an award. One of the greatest photo competitions is held by the World Press Photo Foundation. It attracts thousands of spectacular submissions each year that immortalize our life as it is—the good and the bad—for future generations to see. Needless to say, choosing a winner is never easy.
#24 1945. Boys Hanging On A Full Train After The Liberation Of Holland. Photography By Menno Huizinga
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#25 Grand Central Terminal In New York City, C. 1954
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#26 1909, Wakefield, Massachusetts. Young Members Of The Payro Family Being “Photographed” By Their Cat. Photo By Joseph C. Payro
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Some other photo competitions that present attention-worthy shots include but are definitely not limited to the International Photography, the Sony World Photography, and the Big Picture Natural World Photography awards. For those interested in the wonders one can do with a camera phone, the iPhone Photography Awards might be something worth delving deeper into.
#27 1931. German Photographer Willi Ruge Took This Photograph Seconds Before Landing During His Seven-Minute Parachute Jump From An Airplane Over Berlin
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#28 C. 1930s. A Turkish Fisherman Returns With His Booty
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#29 1961. Audition For A Black Cat Role In A Low-Budget Hollywood Horror Movie
More Than 150 Cats Showed Up For The Audition. The Lead Role Was Filled By A Professionally Trained Black Cat. Additionally, Seven More Cats Were Chosen For Publicity Based On How “Mean” The Look In Their Eyes Was. Photography By Ralph Crane
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#30 Powerhouse Mechanic, 1924, By Lewis Hine
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#31 Listening To The Birds, 1885, By John Dumont
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#32 C. 1910. Portraits Of Immigrants At Ellis Island, New York, By Augustus F. Sherman
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#33 1889. A Blind Man Carrying A Paralyzed Man With Dwarfism In Damascus, Syria. Photo By Italian Photographer Tancrède Dumas
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#34 1930s. A Chinese Buddhist Monk Walking On A Chain Bridge At Jiangyou Figure Hill Temple In China
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#35 1928. A War Veteran Sells Matches On The Street In Canterbury, Kent, England. Photo By Clifton R. Adams
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#36 C. 1911. Mexican Revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, Cuernavaca, Mexico
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#37 1910. Paris Motor Show At The Grand Palais In Paris
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#38 Queen Elizabeth II (1926 - 2022)
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#39 1936. The New York Central Railroad Streamliner 'Mercury' Passes Through Syracuse City Hall
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#40 1954. Marilyn Monroe On Stage Performing For Thousands Of American Troops In Korea
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#41 9/11
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#42 Hong Kong, 1950s-60s By Fan Ho
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#43 1932. Sailing Ship S.v. Penang In Millwall Docks, London, Towers Above The Poverty Of The Surrounding Housing
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#44 C. 1917. Frozen Fountain, Washington Boulevard, Detroit
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#45 1930. Worker Smoking Cigarette And Carrying Bag Across Shoulders Pauses In The Middle Of Steel Beam High Above City Streets, During Construction Of The Manhattan Company Building At 40 Wall Street, New York City. Photo By Arthur Gerlach
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#46 C. 1860s. Studio Portraits Of Samurai Warriors
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#47 June 6, 1944. D-Day In Color
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#48 1972. A Burning Wall Crumbles Down, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Photo By A. Abbas
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#49 Golden Gate Bridge Under Construction, C. 1935
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#50 1970s. Girl Licking Ice Cream And Playing With The Tip Of The Gun’s Bayonet To Elicit A Reaction From A Royal Guard Outside Stockholm Palace, Stockholm, Sweden
Image credits: historicalpix