Photographs everyone should see

Sometimes words aren't enough

I am a firm believer in the power of photographs. I only wish I had the ability to capture moments, emotions, intangibility in a picture.

I recently stumbled upon LIFE Magazine's collection of Photographs the Changed the World and was so moved by them that I wanted to share them with you.

Some are disturbing but I think that's what makes a wonderful photograph: something powerful, something that engenders incredible emotion. That reminds us we are human.

Dead on the Beach

George Strock, 1943

Dead on the Beach - George Strock, 1943

When LIFE ran this stark, haunting photograph of a beach in Papua New Guinea on September 20, 1943, the magazine felt compelled to ask in an adjacent full-page editorial, "Why print this picture, anyway, of three American boys dead upon an alien shore?" Among the reasons: "words are never enough . . .

Buchenwald

Margaret Bourke-White, 1945

Buchenwald - Margaret Bourke-White, 1945

LIFE photographer Margaret Bourke-White was with Gen. George Patton's troops when they liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp. Forty-three thousand people had been murdered there. Patton was so outraged he ordered his men to march German civilians through the camp so they could see with their own eyes what their nation had wrought.

Mexico City Olympics

John Dominis, 1968

Mexico City Olympics - John Dominis, 1968

Sociologist Harry Edwards had been urging black athletes to boycott the Olympics to protest civil rights inequities in the U.S. The boycott didn't happen, but Edwards struck a chord with many, including San Jose State teammates Tommie Smith and John Carlos. As the national anthem played, they held up their gloved fists. The runners were booted from the Games, but their gesture resonated.

South of the DMZ

Larry Burrows, 1966

South of the DMZ - Larry Burrows, 1966

"The color photographs of tormented Vietnamese villagers and wounded American conscripts that Larry Burrows took and LIFE published, starting in 1962, certainly fortified the outcry against the American presence in Vietnam," Susan Sontag wrote in her essay "Looking at War," in the December 9, 2002, New Yorker. "Burrows was the first important photographer to do a whole war in color — another gain in verisimilitude and shock."

Sites Referenced

OhMyWeird.com- Cool Site For Online People. » 9 Historical Pictures That Changed The World.
Art, Game, Fashion, Invention, Money Online, Internet Business, Celebrity, Animation, Affiliate, Hobby, Lifestyle, Internet Marketing, Funny Video, Weird Site, Technology, Gadget.
Life Books: 100 Photographs that Changed the World
The book including all 100 photos

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