#1 Stevie Wonder Visiting A Children's School For The Blind In London, 1970. Photo By Terry O'neill
The ‘Photos From History’ page has just over 1.6k followers, and has an impressive archive: the curator of the account has shared over 2.8k photos and counting over the years, and continues to educate and entertain their followers with very frequent updates.
It’s history like you’ve (probably) never seen it before. And these photos are the perfect excuse to pick a time period and a topic, and delve deeper than you have before.
#2 Gay Men Supporting Lesbians At The Dyke March, 1993
"Suddenly, the hospitals were full of lesbians who were volunteering" Jon, a gay man living in San
Francisco during the HIV outbreak in the 1980s said. "I remember being so moved by them because gay men hadn't been too kind to lesbians. We'd call them fish and make fun of the butch dykes in the bars and yet, there they were."As a thank you, they changed the official signs at Pride to having Lesbian' first (Hence L first in lgbt). This shows some of the slightly later proclaimed support by gay men of lesbians.
#3 Members Of The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion Preparing To Jump On A Wildfire In Oregon. In 1945, During Operation Fire Fly African American Paratroopers Made More Than 8,000 Individual Jumps To Fight Wildfires And Disarm Japanese Balloon Bombs In The Pacific Northwest
Bored Panda wanted to get photographer Dominic's thoughts on the potential advantages of using a film camera versus using a digital one. "Film cameras offer a more hands-on and in-depth approach," he told us.
"Film is so much more raw in every sense and is a true art form in today's day and age. It's because of this that I don't think film will ever be truly obsolete," the photographer shared his perspective.
"Sure, it won't be used commercially, but artists will always find a way to keep a medium alive and I think that's great," he said that film will continue to be used far into the future.
#4 Noluyanda Mqutwana Dances Outside Her Two-Room Family Shack In Khayelitsha, One Of The Poorest Black Townships Outside Cape Town (South Africa 2000)
#5 A Man And A Woman Hiding Under A Bridge Following The Tiananmen Square Massacre, 1989
#6 (Fdr Funeral) Tears Stream Down The Cheeks Of Accordion-Playing Chief Petty Officer Graham Jackson As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Flag-Draped Funeral Train Left Warm Springs, Georgia, On April 13, 1945. Roosevelt's Fellow Polio Victims Sit Crying At Jackson's Side
Some photographers might feel shy or even scared of criticism, so they might not feel at ease about sharing their work in public or online. We were curious what advice photographer Dominic would give them to encourage them.
"Just do your thing. If you want to share your work, share your work. If not, keep it to yourself," he explained that creators ought to be honest with themselves about their goals.
"I went to high school with a great photographer whose work I rarely saw. He didn't have any interest in sharing things on social media or online. At the end of the day, you need to do what you're comfortable with and what's best for you and your situation," the photographer said.
"If your goal is to show your work to a wider audience, over time you will get there by creating a following."
#7 A Woman On Omaha Beach, Normandy, France, In 1947, Three Years After Allied Forces Invaded German Occupied France. Photo By David Seymour
#8 Legendary Irish Antarctic Explorer Tom Crean. Crean Was A Member Of Three Major Expeditions To Antarctica During The Heroic Age Of Antarctic Exploration, Including Robert Falcon Scott's 1911–1913 Terra Nova Expedition
#9 20,000 Year Old Human Footprints Uncovered By Researchers In White Sands National Park. According To A New Study, These Tracks Date To Between 21,000 To 23,000 Years Ago—a Time When Massive Ice Sheets Are Believed To Have Blocked Human Migration Into The Americas. Photo By Dan Odess
Many of these vintage photos are fascinating on two levels. On the one hand, you’ve got pure artistic merit and interesting aesthetics that are beyond intriguing. Few(er) photographers shoot in black and white or use ‘old school’ cameras these days, so it’s very interesting to see how pictures used to come out back in the day.
On the other hand, the pics shared by the ‘Photos From History’ account offer many before-unseen snapshots that shed light on the past in unusual ways. They pique your curiosity and you can’t help but want to learn more.
#11 An Infant Colo, The First Ever Baby Gorilla Born In Captivity. When Colo Passed Away She Was The Oldest Known Gorilla At The Time. Colo Lived From 1956-2017
#12 (1878) A Forest Of Totem Poles Crafted By The Haida People At Skidegate, British Columbia In 1878
However, nobody should blindly trust what they stumble upon on social media, whether they’re dealing with photos, facts, or memes. First of all, you have to consider the reliability of the source. Then, if you have the time and energy, you can cross-reference the facts shared by the source so that you get a fuller picture of what happened in the past. You can also refer to sites like Snopes, which help debunk fake facts, for some extra help.
“When looking at ‘mindblowing’ facts on the internet a healthy sense of skepticism is essential—as is looking at the source. Is this being claimed by Twitter user @fakefacts420 or a Professor of History at the University of Oxford? Are you reading this on a university website or an email your nan has forwarded you?" a moderator from a popular subreddit, r/AskHistorians, recently shared with Bored Panda.
#13 Mrs. Hale, The Wife Of A British Soldier, Plays The Accordion Outside Her House For A Group Of American Soldiers In England, 1944
#15 The Story Of Richard Lasher's Incredible Photo Of The 1980 Eruption Of Mt St Helens
Had Lasher made it to Spirit Lake, he'd almost certainly have died. According to journalist John P. Walsh, Spirit Lake "met the full impact of the volcano’s lateral blast. The sheer force of the blast lifted the lake out of its bed and propelled it about 85 stories into the air to splash onto adjacent mountain slopes." Had Lasher made it even over the next ridge, he'd almost certainly have died. According to Cooper's telling of the story, "Luckily for him, and he did not realize until later just how lucky, he was on the opposite side of that ridge in front, because the entire forest was flattened from the ridge down, and he was in the lee side and protected from most of the blast and the 640 degrees melting temperature."
As it was, he was soon driving blind through the ash, staying on the left shoulder as he could just see the trees a few feet away. His vehicle clapped out from the ash so he mounted his damaged Yamaha. This decision saved his life. Four campers near close to his position
that morning were not so lucky, and 57 people near the mountain died that day.
The following day he rode his motorcycle back up into the now so called hot zone with his camera to get what pics he could. He was well into the No-Go-Zone when a helicopter saw him and came right down and landed in his path. He was surprised to be arrested on the spot and flown out in the chopper and to jail. They left his motorcycle lay on the mountain. They also kept him in jail for a few days. When he was eventually relessed, he again went back up the mojntain, and was able to get his motorcycle.
Though many time periods have conspiracy theories associated with them, some eras are more ‘popular’ among the conspiracy crowd than others. "There are probably dozens of potential conspiracies surrounding Sumerian agriculture, but that topic isn’t in the public eye in the same way that something like the Second World War or the Roman Empire is," the mod from r/AskHistorians said that some people hope to “exploit past events to push a political point in the present day.”
#16 Yves Saint Laurent At Christian Dior's Funeral, 1957. According To Dior's Wishes, Yves Saint Laurent Became His Successor And Was Named Artistic Director Of The Haute Couture House At The Age Of 21
#17 Homeless Irishman, Spitalfields, London, 1970. In A 2012 Documentary, Mccullin Recalled Thinking This Man Looked Like Neptune As He Photographed Him
#18 (1967) The Patrouille Suisse, The Acrobatic Team Of The Swiss Air Force, During A Loop In Front Of The Alps
So you’re checking your facts, doing some background research, and evaluating the reliability of your sources. Good! What’s next, though? It helps tons if you can tell whether or not a picture has been digitally manipulated. Software that lets you alter photos, like Photoshop, is incredibly widespread these days. Some folks use it to rebalance colors and touch up important personal photos, while others might use it to change historical photos in subtle ways, whether to have fun or because they have an agenda.
#19 A Russian Soldier Playing An Abandoned Piano In Chechnya, 1994
#20 A Photo Of A Man Standing On The Lap Of A Statue Of Ramesses In Egypt, 1856
