List of photographs considered the most important explained

This is a list of photographs considered the most important in surveys where authoritative sources review the history of the medium not limited by time period, region, genre, topic, or other specific criteria. These images may be referred to as the most important, most iconic, or most influential—but they are all considered key images in the history of photography.

19th century

Before 1850

!Image!Title!Date!Photographer!Location!Notes!Cited survey(s)

	View from the Window at Le Gras ()	1826	Nicéphore Niépce	Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, France	Considered the oldest surviving camera photograph.
	Windows From Inside South Gallery	August 1835	William Henry Fox Talbot	Lacock, England, United Kingdom	The earliest surviving photographic negative and the earliest surviving paper photograph.
	Boulevard du Temple	1838	Louis Daguerre	Paris, France	The earliest surviving photograph depicting people: a person working as a shoeshiner and an individual having his shoes shined.
	Self‐Portrait as a Drowned Man	18 October 1840	Hippolyte Bayard	Paris, France^[1]	Possibly the earliest known staged photograph, created in protest to the French government's apparent neglect of the invention of his photographic process.
	The Haystack	1844	William Henry Fox Talbot	Lacock, England, United Kingdom^[2]	A photograph that appeared in The Pencil of Nature, the first photographically illustrated book to be commercially published.^[3]

1850s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	The Mime Charles Deburau as Pierrot	1854	Nadar	Paris, France	The photograph is part of a series taken during the 1850s.
	Valley of the Shadow of Death	23 April 1855	Roger Fenton	Sevastopol, Crimea	Fenton's pictures during the Crimean War were one of the first cases of war photography, with Valley of the Shadow of Death considered "the most eloquent metaphor of warfare" by The Oxford Companion to the Photograph.
	Sergeant Dawson and his Daughter	1855	Unknown; attributed to John Jabez Edwin Mayall^[4]	Unknown
	The Brig	1856	Gustave Le Gray	Normandy, France
	Portrait of Nariakira Shimazu	17 September 1857	Shiro Ichiki	Satsuma Domain, Japan	Oldest daguerreotype by a Japanese author;^[5] first photo designated an Important Cultural Property by the government of Japan in 1999.^[6]
	Isambard Kingdom Brunel Standing Before the Launching Chains of the Great Eastern	November 1857	Robert Howlett	London, England	Landmark environmental portraiture and iconography of the Industrial Revolution and 19th century.
	Two Ways of Life	1857	Oscar Gustave Rejlander	Wolverhampton, England^[7]
	La Vallée de l'Huisne (River Scene)	1857	Camille Silvy	Nogent-le-Rotrou, France
	Fading Away	1858	Henry Peach Robinson	Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom^[8]

1860s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	Abraham Lincoln	27 February 1860	Mathew Brady	New York City, United States	Taken shortly before Lincoln's Cooper Institute speech. Widely used in his campaign during the 1860 presidential election, both Brady's photo and the speech helped him become president.^[9]
	Cathedral Rock	1861	Carleton Watkins	Yosemite National Park, California, United States
	The Dead of Antietam	1862	Alexander Gardner	Antietam, Maryland, United States	Showing the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam — the deadliest single day in the American Civil War
	The Scourged Back		McPherson & Oliver	Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States	One of the most widely distributed photos of the abolitionist movement.
	Execution of the Lincoln Conspirators at Washington Arsenal	7 July 1865	Alexander Gardner	Washington, D.C., United States
	Portrait of Sir John Herschel	1867	Julia Margaret Cameron	Hawkhurst, England, United Kingdom	Herschel would later be the godfather to Cameron's firstborn.^[10]
	Beckoning West	10 May 1869	Andrew J. Russell	Promontory, Utah, United States

1870s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	Great Falls of the Yellowstone River	1871	William Henry Jackson	Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States
	Ancient Ruins in the Canyon de Chelly	1873	Timothy O'Sullivan	Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, United States
	The Horse in Motion	June 1878	Eadweard Muybridge	Palo Alto, California, United States	Series of cabinet cards regarded as a precursor to motion pictures. Pictured left is the variant Sallie Gardner at a Gallop, which further captured a horse's motion.

1880s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	Water Rats	1886	Frank Meadow Sutcliffe	Whitby, England, United Kingdom
	Bandits' Roost, 59 1/2 Mulberry Street	1888	Jacob Riis	Mulberry Bend, New York City, United States	Part of How the Other Half Lives, an early photojournalist publication pursuing better conditions for the lower class of New York City. The photo and publication's impact was such that they contributed to the crimeridden Bend's replacement with Columbus Park.^[11] ^[12]

1890s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	The Hand of Mrs. Wilhelm Röntgen	1895	Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen	Würzburg, Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany	The first X-ray, taken by its inventor, featured his wife's hand and ring.
	Portrait of Emil Racoviță	1899	Louis Boutan	Banyuls-sur-Mer, France	First underwater portrait, and the first taken by a camera designed for underwater photography.^[13]

20th century

1900s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	A Sea of Steps	1903	Frederick H. Evans	Wells Cathedral, England, United Kingdom	One of Evans's finest works in architectural photography.
	First Flight	17 December 1903	John T. Daniels	Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, United States	Captured flight of the first airplane, the Wright Flyer, flown by inventors Orville and Wilbur Wright.
	The Vanishing Race–Navaho	1904	Edward S. Curtis	Arizona, United States^[14]	Taken during the cultural assimilation of Native Americans while also popularizing the Vanishing Indian stereotype.
	The Pond—Moonlight	1904	Edward Steichen	Mamaroneck, New York, United States	Pictorialist hand-colored photograph; only three versions exist. In 2006, a print became the most expensive photo sold.^[15] ^[16]
	The Steerage	1907	Alfred Stieglitz	Aboard the SS Kaiser Wilhelm II, possibly anchored at Plymouth, England, United Kingdom	Landmark modernist photo depicting immigrants on the SS Kaiser Wilhelm II.
	Child Laborer in Newberry, South Carolina Cotton Mill	1908	Lewis Hine	Newberry, South Carolina, United States	Part of a series by the National Child Labor Committee to have child labor laws passed.
	Cactus Hot Air Balloon	1909	Lumière Brothers	Paris, France

1910s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	Breaker Boys	1911	Lewis Hine	Pittston, Pennsylvania, United States	Part of a series by the National Child Labor Committee to have child labor laws passed.
	Triangle Shirtwaist Fire	25 March 1911	Brown Brothers	New York City, United States
	Girl with a Mirror	1912^[17]	Clarence H. White	New York City, United States
	Storyville Portrait	1912	E.J. Bellocq	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
	Une Delage au Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France de 1912	1912	Jacques-Henri Lartigue	Dieppe, France	This photo depicts, with his riding mechanic.^[18] ^[19] ^[20] ^[21]
	Abstraction, Porch Shadows	1916	Paul Strand	Salisbury, Connecticut, United States
	Blind Woman, New York	1916	Paul Strand	New York City, United States

1920s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	Armco Steel	1922	Edward Weston	Middletown, Ohio, United States
	Le Violon d'Ingres	1924	Man Ray	Paris, France	The photograph depicts Alice Prin, known as Kiki de Montparnasse, from the back and nude to below her waist. Two f-holes are painted on her back to make her body resemble a violin.
	Movement Study	1926	Rudolf Koppitz	Vienna, Austria
See article	Bricklayer	1928	August Sander	Cologne, Germany
	The Pastry Cook	1928	August Sander	Cologne, Germany
	Woman of Tehuantapec	1929	Tina Modotti	Tehuantepec, Mexico

1930s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	Pepper No. 30	2 August 1930	Edward Weston	Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, United States	With carefully crafted tones of light, this photo of a pepper emphasizes third-dimensional depth while defying conventional interpretations of form.
See article	Larmes	1930	Man Ray	Paris, France	The photograph is an extreme close-up of a woman's upturned face with glass droplets placed on her cheeks to imitate tears.
	The Hague	3 January 1930	Erich Salomon	The Hague, the Netherlands
	Al Capone Mug Shot	8 May 1930	Miami Police Department^[22]	Miami, United States
See article	Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare	1932	Henri Cartier-Bresson	Paris, France
	Brussels	1932	Henri Cartier-Bresson	Brussels, Belgium
	Couple in Raccoon Coats	1932	James Van Der Zee	New York City, United States
	Io + gatto (I + Cat)	1932	Wanda Wulz	Trieste, Italy
	Lunch atop a Skyscraper	20 September 1932	Photographer cannot be attributed with certainty – see article	New York City, United States
	Girl with a Leica	1934	Alexander Rodchenko	Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russia
	Hitler at a Nazi Party Rally	1934	Heinrich Hoffmann	Bückeburg, Germany
	Surgeon's photograph	1934	Ian Wetherell	Loch Ness, Scotland, United Kingdom
	Lady Milbanke as 'Queen of the Amazons	1935	Yevonde Middleton	London, England
	Migrant Mother	6 March 1936	Dorothea Lange	Nipomo, California, United States	The photograph depicts Florence Owens Thompson, a destitute mother during the Great Depression.
	Fort Peck Dam	1936	Margaret Bourke-White	Fort Peck, Montana, United States
See article	The Falling Soldier	1936	Robert Capa	Espejo, Spain	The photograph depicts the death of Republican soldier Federico Borrell García in the Spanish Civil War.
	Goldfish Bowl	1937	Herbert List	Santorini, Greece
	The Louisville Flood	1937	Margaret Bourke-White	Louisville, Kentucky, United States
	The Lambeth Walk	1937	Bill Brandt	London, United Kingdom
	The Hindenburg Disaster	6 May 1937	Sam Shere	Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States	The photograph depicts the Hindenburg Zeppelin on fire at the mooring mast of Lakehurst.
	Bloody Saturday	28 August 1937	H. S. Wong	Shanghai, China	The photograph depicts a baby in bombed-out ruins in Shanghai.
See article	Juvisy, France	1938	Henri Cartier‐Bresson	Juvisy-sur-Orge, France
	Mainbocher Corset	1939	Horst P. Horst	Paris, France
	Aerial View of Manhattan	1939	Margaret Bourke-White	New York City, United States
	Mulberry Street	1939	Weegee	New York City, United States

1940s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico	1 November 1941	Ansel Adams	Hernandez, New Mexico, United States
	The Roaring Lion	30 December 1941	Yousuf Karsh	Ottawa, Canada
	Grief	1942	Dmitri Baltermants	Kerch, Ukraine
	The Tetons and the Snake River	1942	Ansel Adams	Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, United States
	American Gothic	August 1942	Gordon Parks	Washington, D.C., United States
	Betty Grable	1943	Frank Powolny	Los Angeles, California, United States
	The Critic	1943	Weegee	New York City, United States
	Three American Soldiers Ambushed on Buna Beach	1943	George Strock	Buna, Papua New Guinea
	Warsaw Ghetto boy	1943	Unknown	Warsaw, Poland	Originally titled Mit Gewalt aus Bunkern hervorgeholt ("Forcibly pulled out of bunkers")
	Into the Jaws of Death	6 June 1944	Robert F. Sargent	Omaha Beach, France
	The Magnificent Eleven (collection of 11 photographs)	6 June 1944	Robert Capa	Normandy, France
	Atomic Destruction	1945	Bernard Hoffman	Hiroshima, Japan	The photograph was in the first collection depicting the aftermath of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima.
	Tide Pool, Point Lobos	1945^[23]	Edward Weston	Point Lobos, California, United States
	Return to the Philippines	9 January 1945	Carl Mydans	Lingayen Gulf, Philippines
	Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima	23 February 1945	Joe Rosenthal	Iwo Jima, Japan	The photograph depicts the raising of the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
	Inside Buchenwald	16 April 1945	Unknown	Ettersberg, Germany
	Raising a Flag over the Reichstag	2 May 1945	Yevgeny Khaldei	Berlin, Germany	The photograph depicts the raising of the Soviet flag during Battle of Berlin.
	Atomic Cloud Rises Over Nagasaki	9 August 1945	Charles Levy	Nagasaki, Japan
	V-J Day in Times Square	14 August 1945	Alfred Eisenstaedt (pictured: same event taken by Victor Jorgensen)	New York City, United States	The photograph depicts a U.S. Navy sailor embracing and kissing a total stranger on Victory over Japan Day.
	Gandhi at his Spinning Wheel	1946	Margaret Bourke-White	India	The photograph depicts Mahatma Gandhi reading beside his spinning wheel.
	The Dead Sea Scrolls	1947	Amit Shabi	Israel	The photograph depicts the Dead Sea Scrolls, the most important collection of Biblical manuscripts.
	Route 66	1947	Andreas Feininger	Route 66 in Arizona, United States
	Barn Owl with Vole	1947	Eric Hosking	Suffolk, England, United Kingdom
	Babe Ruth Bows Out	13 June 1948	Nat Fein	New York City, United States
	Dalí Atomicus	1948	Philippe Halsman	New York City, United States
	Country Doctor	1948	W. Eugene Smith	Kremmling, Colorado, United States
	Career Girl	1948	Leonard McCombe	New York City, United States
	Provençal Nude	1949	Willy Ronis	Gordes, France
	Nuns Watching Television	1949	Ralph Morse	Erie, Pennsylvania, United States
	Clarence Hailey Long	1949	Leonard McCombe	Texas, United States

1950s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	The Kiss at the Hôtel de Ville ()	1950	Robert Doisneau	Paris, France
	Albert Einstein	1951	Arthur Sasse	New York City, United States
	Photo 51	May 1952	Raymond Gosling and Rosalind Franklin	London, England	The photograph depicts an X-ray diffraction image providing key to DNA structure.
	Moving to the Suburbs	1952	J.R. Eyerman	Lakewood, California, United States
	The Announcement of Stalin's Death	6 March 1953	Dmitri Baltermants	Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russia
	Camelot	1953	Hy Peskin	Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States
	Atop Mount Everest	1953	Alfred Gregory	Mount Everest, Koshi Province, Nepal
	Monroe	9 September 1954	Matty Zimmerman	New York City, United States	The photograph depicts Marilyn Monroe while her white dress blows upwards during a shot for a scene in the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch.
	Emmett Till's mother at his funeral.	1955	David Jackson	Chicago, Illinois, United States^[24]
	Dovima with Elephants	1955	Richard Avedon	Paris, France
	TrolleyNew Orleans	1955	Robert Frank	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
	Hot Shot Eastbound at Iaeger Drive‐In	1956	O. Winston Link	Iaeger, West Virginia, United States
	The New King	1956	Charles Trainor	Miami, Florida, United States
	Milk Drop Coronet	1957	Harold E. Edgerton	Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States	Two drops of milk imaged by fast-film stroboscopic photography
	First Digital Photo	1957	Russell Kirsch	Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States
	Elizabeth Eckford	1957	Will Counts	Little Rock, Arkansas, United States	Eckford as one of the Little Rock Nine who faced opposition while attending a formerly segregated high school.
	Aspens, Northern New Mexico	1958	Ansel Adams	New Mexico, United States

1960s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	Guerrillero Heroico	5 March 1960	Alberto Korda	Havana, Cuba	The photograph depicts Che Guevara at a funeral for the victims of the La Coubre explosion. The portrait is commonly displayed as a symbol of student protest and revolutionary movements, and has appeared on clothing and other merchandise.
	Case Study House no. 22, Los Angeles	1960	Julius Shulman	Los Angeles, California, United States
	Leap into Freedom	15 August 1961	Peter Leibing	Berlin, Germany	The photograph depicts Hans Conrad Schumann, an East German soldier running away over barbed-wire in Berlin.
	Birmingham, Alabama	3 May 1963	Charles Moore	Birmingham, Alabama, United States	Nonviolent civil rights movement student activists sprayed by high-pressure fire hoses during the Birmingham campaign's Children's Crusade.
	Nuit de Noël (Happy Club)	1963	Malick Sidibè	Bamako, Mali
	The Burning Monk	11 June 1963	Malcolm Browne	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	The photograph depicts the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức protesting the persecution of Buddhists under the government of Ngo Dinh Diem by committing self-immolation.
	I Have a Dream	28 August 1963	Agence France-Presse	Washington, D.C., United States	The photograph depicts Martin Luther King Jr. waving to supporters during the March on Washington, where he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, considered the most famous American oration of the twentieth century.
	Zapruder film	22 November 1963	Abraham Zapruder	Dallas, Texas, United States	The film depicts the most complete view of the assassination of US president John F. Kennedy.^[25]
	Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald	24 November 1963	Robert H. Jackson	Dallas, Texas, United States	The photograph depicts the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby while Oswald was being escorted by police two days after he had assassinated US president John F. Kennedy.^[26]
	Pillow Fight	1964	Harry Benson	Paris, France
	Jane Goodall Greets Baby Chimp	1965	Hugo van Lawick	Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania
	New View of Life, Fetus 18 Weeks	1965	Lennart Nilsson	Stockholm, Sweden^[27]
	Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston	1965	Neil Leifer	Lewiston, Maine, United States
	Chairman Mao Swims in the Yangtze	1966	Hou Bo	Wuhan, Hubei, China^[28]
	Reaching Out	5 October 1966	Larry Burrows	Mutter's Ridge, Vietnam
	The Mini Moment	3 December 1966	Popperfoto
	The Jimi Hendrix Experience	18 June 1967	Jim Marshall	Monterey, California, United States
See article	Flower Power	21 October 1967	Bernie Boston	Washington D.C., United States
	Saigon Execution	1 February 1968	Eddie Adams	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
	Massacre of Villagers in My Lai	16 March 1968	Ronald L. Haeberle	Sơn Mỹ, Vietnam
	Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.	4 April 1968	Joseph Louw	Memphis, Tennessee, United States
See article	Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy	5 June 1968	Bill Eppridge	Los Angeles, California, United States
	Invasion of Prague	August 1968	Josef Koudelka	Prague, Czechia
	Black Power Salute, Mexico City Olympics	16 October 1968	John Dominis	Mexico City, Mexico
	Earthrise	24 December 1968	William Anders	The Moon	The photograph depicts the Earth and Moon's surface from Apollo 8.
	Albino Boy, Biafra	1969	Don McCullin	Biafra
	Woodstock	August 1969	Bill Eppridge	Bethel, New York, United States
	Buzz Aldrin on the Moon	21 July 1969	Neil Armstrong	Sea of Tranquility, the Moon
	Apollo 11 Bootprint	21 July 1969	Buzz Aldrin	Sea of Tranquility, the Moon
See article	Altamont	6 December 1969	Unknown	Altamont Speedway, California, United States

1970s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
See article (cropped)	Kent State Shootings	4 May 1970	John Paul Filo	Kent, Ohio, United States
	Elvis Meets Nixon	21 December 1970	Oliver F. Atkins	Washington D.C., United States
	Windblown Jackie	1971	Ron Galella	New York City, United States
	Nixon in China	26 February 1972	Oliver F. Atkins	Beijing, China
	Napalm attack	8 June 1972	Nick Ut	Trảng Bàng, Vietnam	The photograph depicts a crowd of Vietnamese people running from napalm, among them a girl (later identified as Phan Thi Kim Phuc) who survived by tearing off her burning clothes.
	Munich Massacre	5 September 1972	Kurt Strumpf	Munich, Germany
	Bullet Passing through a Candle Flame	1973	Doc Edgerton	United States
	Allende's Last Stand	1973	Orlando Lagos	Chile
	Water‐Towers	19742009	Bernd and Hilla Becher	Various locations across Europe and the United States^[29]
	Nixon Resignation	9 August 1974	Rolls Press	Washington D.C., United States
	Prime Minister Gough Whitlam Pours Soil into the Hand of Traditional Gurindji Landowner Vincent Lingiari	1975	Mervyn Bishop	Daguragu, Northern Territory, Australia
See article	Fire Escape Collapse	22 July 1975	Stanley Forman	Boston, Massachusetts, United States
	Soweto Uprising	16 June 1976	Sam Nzima	Soweto, Gauteng, South Africa
	The Red Planet	21 July 1976	Viking 1	Chrysa Planitia, Mars^[30]
	Boat of No Smiles	1977	Eddie Adams	Gulf of Siam
	Untitled Film Stills	1977–1980	Cindy Sherman	New York City, United States^[31]
	Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter	1979	Robert Mapplethorpe	New York City, United States^[32]
See article	Molotov Man	16 July 1979^[33]	Susan Meiselas	Estelí, Nicaragua^[34]
	Firing Squad in Iran	27 August 1979	Jahangir Razmi	Kurdistan province, Iran^[35]

1980s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	John Lennon and Yoko Ono	1980	Annie Leibowitz	New York City, United States
	Miracle on Ice	1980	Heinz Kluetmeier	Lake Placid, New York, United States
	Self‐Portrait with Wife and Model	1981	Helmut Newton	Paris, France
	Diana with Bridesmaids in Buckingham Palace	1981	Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield	London, England
	Behind Closed Doors	1982	Donna Ferrato	Saddle River, New Jersey, United States
	Androgyny (6 Men + 6 Women)	1982	Nancy Burson	Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
	Michael Jordan	1984	Co Rentmeester	Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
	Hole in the Ozone	3 October 1985	NASA	Greenbelt, Maryland, United States
	Ken Meeks, Patient with AIDS, Being Cared for by a Friend, San Francisco, California	1986	Alon Reininger	San Francisco, California, United States
See article	Immersion (Piss Christ)	1987	Andres Serrano	United States
	The First Heart Transplant in Poland	1 January 1987	James L. Stanfield	Zabrze, Poland
	Monkey Business	1987	National Enquirer	Bimini, the Bahamas^[36]
	Air Jordan	1988	Walter Iooss	Chicago, Illinois, United States
See article	Tank Man	5 June 1989	Jeff Widener	Beijing, China	The photograph depicts an unidentified protestor confronting column of Chinese military tanks.
	Untitled (Cowboy)	1989	Richard Prince	United States
	The Wall Falls	1989	Robert Maass	Berlin, Germany

1990s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	The Face of AIDS	1990	Therese Frare	Columbus, Ohio, United States
See article	More Demi Moore	1991	Annie Leibovitz	Culver City, California, United States^[37]
	Operation Desert Storm	27 February 1991	David Turnley	Iraq
	Camels in the Oil Fields	1 March 1991	Steve McCurry	Burgan field, Kuwait^[38]
	Famine in Somalia	1992	James Nachtwey	Baidoa, Somalia^[39]
See article	Dead Troops Talk	1992	Jeff Wall	Muqur District, Ghazni, Afghanistan
	Bosnia	2 April 1992	Ron Haviv	Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
See article	The Vulture and the Little Girl	March 1993	Kevin Carter	Ayod, Sudan (now South Sudan)
	Oklahoma City Bombing	19 April 1995	Charles Porter IV	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
	Pillars of Creation	1995	Hubble Space Telescope / NASA	Low Earth orbit	The photograph depicts a region of star formation.
	Bill Clinton hugs Monica Lewinsky	1996	Dirck Halstead	Washington, D.C., United States
	First Cell-Phone Picture	11 June 1997	Philippe Kahn	Santa Cruz, California, United States
See article	99 Cent	1999	Andreas Gursky	Los Angeles, California, United States
	Kosovo Refugees	3 May 1999	Carol Guzy	Kukës, Albania^[40]
	World Cup Winners	1999	Robert Beck	Pasadena, California, United States

21st century

2000s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	Elian Gonzalez Federal Raid	2000	Alan Diaz	Miami, Florida, United States
	Surfing Hippos	2000	Michael Nichols	Loango National Park, Gabon
	President George W. Bush Learns of the September 11th Attacks	11 September 2001	Doug Mills	Sarasota, Florida, United States^[41]
	New Yorkers watch the collapse of the South Tower of the World Trade Center	11 September 2001	Patrick Witty	New York City, United States
See article	The Falling Man	11 September 2001	Richard Drew	New York City, United States
	Father Judge	11 September 2001	Shannon Stapleton	New York City, United States
See article	Raising the Flag at Ground Zero	11 September 2001	Thomas E. Franklin	New York City, United States
	Sakura Lisi	2004	Marcus Bleasdale	Mongbwalu, Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo
	The Hooded Man	2004	Ivan Frederick	Abu Ghraib, Iraq	The photograph depicts Abdou Hussain Saad Faleh, an Abu Ghraib prisoner, being subjected to torture.
	Coffin Ban	2004	Tami Silicio	Kuwait International Airport, Farwaniya Governorate, Kuwait^[42]
	Iraqi Girl	18 January 2005	Chris Hondros	Tal Afar, Iraq
	Hurricane Katrina Evacuation	3 September 2005	Eric Gay	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
	Hurricane Katrina	4 September 2005	Robert Galbraith	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
	Hurricane Katrina	2005	David Phillip	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
	Jim Comes Home	2005	Todd Heisler	Aurora, Colorado, United States^[43]
	The Power of One	1 February 2006	Oded Bality	Amona, West Bank
	Gorilla in the Congo	2007	Brent Stirton	Virunga National Park, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo^[44]
	Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery	27 May 2007	John Moore	Arlington, Virginia, United States
	Homecoming	2007	Louie Favorite	Atlanta, Georgia, United States
	Photo Finish	16 August 2008	Heinz Kluetmeier	Beijing, China
	Married at Last	2008	Marcio Sanchez	San Francisco, California, United States
	The New First Family	2008	Win McNamee	Chicago, Illinois, United States
	Funeral of Edwin Cobbin	2009	Barbara Davidson	Hawthorne, California, United States
See article	Diego Frazão Torquato	2009	Marcos Tristao	Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
	Hair Like Mine	2009	Pete Souza	Washington, D.C., United States
	The Death of Neda	2009	Unknown	Tehran, Iran

2010s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	First Instagram Photo	16 July 2010	Kevin Systrom	Mexico	Kevin Systrom (co-founder of Instagram), the BBC, Time, and Life magazine claim the photograph to be the first shared on Instagram,^[45] ^[46] however The Economic Times and The Guardian claim the first photograph posted to the social media to be a picture of San Francisco's South Beach harbor by Mike Krieger, also co-founder.^[47] ^[48] Time later claimed the post of the harbor was the first shared.^[49]
	The Situation Room	1 May 2011	Pete Souza	Washington, D.C., United States	The photograph depicts U.S. president Barack Obama and his national security team in the White House Situation Room receiving live updates from Operation Neptune Spear, which led to the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
	9/11 Memorial	11 September 2011	Justin Lane	New York City, United States
	Aida	12 March 2012	Rodrigo Abd	Idlib, Syria
	Fashion Week	7 September 2012	Lucas Jackson	New York City, United States
	Shootings as Routine	14 December 2012	Jessica Hill	Newtown, Connecticut, United States	The photograph shows Carlee Soto using a phone to ask about her sister, Victoria Soto, a teacher at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, after gunman Adam Lanza opened fire on the school, killing 26.
	Sandy Hook	14 December 2012	Shannon Hicks	Newtown, Connecticut, United States
	China Social Suicide	27 February 2013	Agence France-Presse	Wuhan, Hubei, China
	North Korea	2013	David Guttenfelder	Pyongyang, North Korea
	Boston Marathon Bombing	2013	John Tlumacki	Boston, Massachusetts, United States
See article	Final Embrace	April 2013	Taslima Akhter	Savar Upazila, Bangladesh
	Nairobi Mall Attack	21 September 2013	Tyler Hicks	Nairobi, Kenya
	Oscars Selfie	2 March 2014	Bradley Cooper	Los Angeles, California, United States	The photograph is a selfie taken at the 2014 Oscars. The image shows Ellen DeGeneres, Meryl Streep, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Channing Tatum, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong'o, and her brother, Peter Nyong'o.
	Turkey Mine Blast	13 May 2014	Bülent Kılıç	Soma, Manisa Province, Turkey
	Yarmouk Refugees	2014	UNRWA	Damascus, Syria
See article	Alan Kurdi	2 September 2015	Nilufer Demir	Bodrum, Muğla Province, Turkey
	Turkish Coast Guard Rescue	2016	Emin Menguarslan	Aydın, Aydın Province, Turkey
	Climate Change	2018	Sergio Pitamitz	Svalbard, Norway	The photograph depicts a polar bear standing on a melting ice sheet.

2020s

Image	Title	Date	Photographer	Location	Notes	Cited survey(s)
	The Capitol Under Attack	6 January 2021	Tayfun Coskun	Washington, D.C., United States	The photograph depicts the January 6 United States Capitol attack, in which a crowd of the supporters of then-president Donald Trump broke into the United States Capitol to prevent the presidential electoral vote count from certifying opposing candidate Joe Biden as president-elect.
	Out of Afghanistan	29 August 2021	Alexander Burnett	Kabul, Afghanistan	The photograph depicts Chris Donahue, the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan during the 2021 United States withdrawal from the war in Afghanistan, leading to the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.

See also

• List of most expensive photographs
• Lists of photographs
• 100 Photographs that Changed the World, 2003 book by the editors of Life
• Fine-art photography
• History of the camera
• History of photography
• Monkey selfie copyright dispute
• People notable for being the subject of a specific photograph
• Pulitzer Prize for Photography
• Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography
• Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography
• Timeline of first images of Earth from space
• World Press Photo of the Year

Sources

These surveys of the history of photography determine which images are included in the list.

Notes and References

1. Book: Lerner, Jullian . Experimental self-portraits in early French photography . 2021 . Routledge . 978-1-5013-4495-4 . Routledge history of photography . Abingdon, Oxon New York . 27.
2. Web site: The Haystack (The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection) . 2024-02-14 . The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection . en.
3. Glasgow University Library, Special Collections Department. Book of the month. February 2007. William Henry Fox Talbot. The Pencil of Nature. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
4. Book: Bogre, Michelle Bogre, Michelle . Photography as Activism: Images for Social Change . 2011-09-11 . Routledge . 978-0-240-81276-2 . London . 20 . 10.4324/9780240812762.
5. Fuminori Yokoe (Yokoe Fuminori), "Ichiki Shirō", Nihon shashinka jiten / 328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers (Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000;), p.41. (In Japanese only, despite the English title.)
6. Web site: Ono . Philbert . 2002 . PhotoHistory 1999 – PHOTOGUIDE.JP . 2024-03-05 . photoguide.jp.
7. Web site: Oscar Gustav: The Early Years at Wolverhampton Rejlander. www.historywebsite.co.uk.
8. Web site: Fading Away (x1984-1) . 2024-02-15 . artmuseum.princeton.edu . en.
9. Abraham Lincoln 100 Photographs . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20200203023115/http://100photos.time.com/photos/abraham-lincoln-mathew-brady . 3 February 2020 . 6 March 2024 . TIME.
10. Book: Cox . Julian . Julia Margaret Cameron: The Complete Photographs . Ford . Colin . 2003 . Getty Publications . 0-89236-681-8 . Los Angeles, CA . 15 . registration.
11. Web site: Jacob Riis Paintings, Bio, Ideas . The Art Story.
12. Michael Burgan, Exposing Hidden Worlds: How Jacob Riis' Photos Became Tools for Social Reform, Compass Point Books, 2018, pp. 8–9
13. Web site: Cade . DL . 2 September 2016 . This is the World's First Underwater Portrait, Taken in 1899 . 6 March 2024 . PetaPixel.
14. Book: The Photographic times . 1905 . New York : Photographic Times Pub. Assn. . Getty Research Institute . 125.
15. Web site: Important Photographs from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Including Works from the Gilman Paper Company Collection / Lot 6 . April 17, 2022 . Sotheby's.
16. News: Tooth . Roger . February 15, 2006 . At $2.9m, Pond-Moonlight becomes world's most expensive photograph . The Guardian.
17. Book: McCauley . Elizabeth Anne . Clarence H. White and his world: the art & craft of photography, 1895–1925 . Bunnell . Peter C. . White . Clarence H. . 2017 . Princeton University Art Museum . Princeton University, Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Portland Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art . 978-0-300-22908-0 . Princeton, New Jersey . 982652289.
18. Web site: 2014-05-31 . [5] Le Grand Prix Automobile de l'ACF 1913 à Amiens – Les publicités d'antan ]. 2023-11-23 . pubdantan.canalblog.com . fr.
19. Web site: Jacques-Henri Lartigue Le Grand Prix A.C.F. . 2023-11-23 . The Metropolitan Museum of Art . en.
20. Web site: 2017-09-18 . The story of a photography . 2023-11-23 . memento . en-US.
21. Web site: Automobile Delage, Grand Prix de l'Automobile-Club de France, Le Tréport, 26 juin 1912 | Classic Photographs | 2021. Sotheby's.
22. Web site: [Two "mug shots" of Al Capone made by the Miami police; head-and-shoulders portrait facing right and head-and-shoulders portrait facing front] ]. 2022-08-01 . Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.
23. Web site: Tide pool, Point Lobos / EW. . 2024-03-06 . Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.
24. 2016-07-10 . The Photo That Changed the Civil Rights Movement . 2024-02-25 . TIME . en.
25. Web site: 2023-10-29 . What Happened to the Zapruder Film? . 2024-02-26 . HISTORY . en.
26. Web site: 2002-06-30 . Photographer snapped Oswald's murder a hair too soon, lost Pulitzer, place in history to rival . 2024-02-26 . Dallas News . en.
27. News: Jansen . Charlotte . 2019-11-18 . Foetus 18 Weeks: the greatest photograph of the 20th century? . 2024-02-26 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
28. News: 1966-07-29 . Chairman Mao Swims in the Yangtse . 2024-02-26 . . 3.
29. Web site: Emma . Lewis . March 2014 . Water Towers . 2024-02-27.
30. Book: Stooke, Philip J. . The International Atlas of Mars Exploration: The First Five Decades: Volume 1: 1953 to 2003 . 2012 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-76553-4 . 1 . Cambridge . 10.1017/cbo9781139028301.
31. Web site: Gaylord . Kristen . 2016 . Cindy Sherman . 2024-02-27.
32. Web site: Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter LACMA Collections . 2024-02-27 . collections.lacma.org.
33. Web site: Object Highlight The Life of an Image: "Molotov Man," 1979–2009 Princeton University Art Museum . 2024-02-27 . artmuseum.princeton.edu.
34. Web site: Object Highlight The Life of an Image: "Molotov Man," 1979–2009 Princeton University Art Museum . 2024-03-11 . artmuseum.princeton.edu.
35. News: Byrd . Joann . 'Anonymous' no more . 2024-02-27.
36. Web site: Fallows . James . 2018-10-16 . Was Gary Hart Set Up? . 2024-02-28 . The Atlantic . en.
37. Wexler . Laura . 2011 . More Pregnant Pictures . Photography and Culture . en . 4 . 3 . 309–320 . 10.2752/175145211X13068409556763 . 191476282 . 1751-4517.
38. Web site: 2024-01-14 . Conflict — Steve McCurry . 2024-02-29 . 14 January 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240114205816/https://www.stevemccurry.com/conflict . bot: unknown .
39. News: Nachtwey . James . 1992-12-06 . SOMALIA 1992: The Casualties . 2024-02-29 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
40. Web site: 1999 — Kosovo's Sorrow . 2024-02-29 . Carol Guzy – photojournalist . en-US.
41. Web site: Handelman . Jay . The 9/11 classroom: Booker Elementary students, now 27, recall President Bush's visit in CNN special . 2024-03-02 . Sarasota Herald-Tribune . en-US.
42. Web site: Tribune . Chicago . 2004-04-23 . Photo of GIs' caskets costs worker her job . 2024-03-02 . Chicago Tribune . en-US.
43. News: Sheeler . Jim . 2005-11-11 . Final salute . 2024-03-02 . . 2.
44. News: Andreasson . Karin . Andreasson . Interview by Karin . 2015-10-22 . Brent Stirton's best photograph – Congo wildlife rangers carry a dead silverback . 2024-03-02 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
45. News: 2018-09-25 . Instagram: The dog that launched a social media giant . 2024-03-07 . en-GB.
46. 2015-10-06 . This is Instagram's first photo ever . 2024-03-07 . TIME . en.
47. News: Cartner-Morley . Jess . 2020-09-20 . Instagram at 10: how sharing photos has entertained us, upset us – and changed our sense of self . 2024-03-07 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
48. Web site: 10 years of Instagram: Here are some interesting facts about the world's most loved photo-sharing app – Creators . 2024-03-07 . The Economic Times.
49. 2016-07-16 . Take a Look Back at Instagram's First Posts, Six Years Ago . 2024-03-07 . TIME . en.