#21 Unbelievably Stunning Couple (Love How Their Hands Are Clasped Together), 1960s
Did you know the iconic album cover for The Beatles' Abbey Road was also altered? In the original, Paul McCartney was holding a cigarette in his right hand. In the United States, the poster companies airbrushed the images and removed the cigarette from his hand in 2001, 14 months after George Harrison passed away from cancer.
Apple Records later issued a statement, saying they never agreed to this. "It seems these poster companies got a little carried away. They shouldn't have done what they have, but there isn't much we can do about it now."
#22 A Mountain Boy Fetches Water From A Spring, Great Smoky Mountains, Sevier County, Tennessee, Ca. 1950
#23 The Shape Of The Statue Of Liberty Is Formed By 18,000 Soldiers Standing In Formation. Camp Dodge, Des Moines, Iowa, USA. Ca. 1918
A 1970 photograph by photojournalism student John Filo taken at a protest against the war in Vietnam was doctored as well. But not in an attempt to change history. The original simply broke the main aesthetic rule of photography: a fence post terminated on top of the subject's head. The photograph won a Pulitzer prize, so, it was worth it, probably?
#26 King George Vi Bursting With Excitement On A Theme Park Ride - 1930s
And how can we forget to mention celebrities getting airbrushed on the covers of magazines? One of the earliest examples was a TV Guide cover of Oprah. The editors superimposed her head on the '60s star Ann-Margaret's body. Interestingly, the magazine didn't ask either woman's permission before they chose to do that.
#30 Federico Caprilli Demonstrates The Skills Of His Horse As Part Of The Esteemed Italian Cavalry School, 1906
Photographs can be a great source of history. But, sometimes, we should take them with a healthy dose of skepticism. As David Levi Strauss writes for TIME magazine, "Technical images have now become a form of information, to be consumed like all other bits and bytes. As we consume them, we should perhaps take a moment to reflect, not just on how we manipulate and change them, but also on how we are manipulated and changed by them."
#33 Dutch Boy With A Pillow Strapped On His Backside To Soften The Falling On Ice While Skating, 1933
#38 A Female Firefighting Team On A Converted Motorcycle In London, 1932
#39 Young Riders Refuel During A Children's Sidecar Race In The Lustgarten In Berlin, Germany (1931)
