30 Most Powerful Photos Ever Taken

[Deleted]

I've seen a few of these before but not most.  Several leave me speechless.

Which ones hit you the hardest?

link

[EmilieMadison]

I couldn't even look at them all. Nope. Can't do it.

[Deleted]

So many just move you but the last two just stunned me.

OMG the child's hand and the missionary.

[bananapancakes]

Wow

[TrickyBob]

The gas chamber one...omg.

[berbles]

Wow.

ETA:  Yes, the gas chamber one literally made me gasp.  I wasn't expecting it.  You wouldn't even look twice at that photo if you didn't know what it was.  

[iamgrace]

Wow. The gas chamber.

[Miss Phryne Fisher]

So many are moving. #12 really speaks to me, even as someone who isn't a dog lover. It reminds me of Dog Monday from Rilla of Ingleside (when Anne of Anne of Green Gables' son Walter dies in WWI).

[ginap]

Wow. The soldier reuniting with her daughter and the kid finding out about his brother got me. And I can't even discuss the Auschwitz one.

[iamali]

Nov 7, 2013 18:35:17 GMT -5 TrickyBob said:

The gas chamber one...omg.

Same.

[bornbaker]

The soldier mom seeing her daughter got me good, it was down hill from there...

[shoeless]

Wow, this reminds me of the Pulitzer Prize exhibits at the Newseum.. its an emotional roller coaster looking through these.

[glassofsyrah]

The last one is the most shocking to me. That one took my breath away.

[milosh]

I look at these pictures and it really makes me feel blessed that I live the life I do, not many get the chance.

[Deleted]

The gas chamber one mostly because my grandmother grew up in WWII Germany. The stories she has told me have stayed with me forever.

[berbles]

Nov 7, 2013 19:00:05 GMT -5 @otterama said:

The gas chamber one mostly because my grandmother grew up in WWII Germany. The stories she has told me have stayed with me forever.

Yeah, I have family who died at Auschwitz.  That picture literally took my breath away.

[urbancowgirl]

Nov 7, 2013 18:48:07 GMT -5 shoeless said:

Wow, this reminds me of the Pulitzer Prize exhibits at the Newseum.. its an emotional roller coaster looking through these.

I thought the same thing. The soldier and the boy playing the violin really hit me hard. The Falling Man, too, even though I've seen it several (dozens?) times before.

[scribellesam]

Soldier-mom killed me, as does any sweet moment involving mother and child these days. I couldn't look too hard at the ones at the end.

[cinderbella]

There's something eerily beautiful about #7......I don't know why.

16 hurts my heart.

[cst2cst]

Nov 7, 2013 19:02:27 GMT -5 urbancowgirl said:

Nov 7, 2013 18:48:07 GMT -5 shoeless said:

Wow, this reminds me of the Pulitzer Prize exhibits at the Newseum.. its an emotional roller coaster looking through these.

I thought the same thing. The soldier and the boy playing the violin really hit me hard. The Falling Man, too, even though I've seen it several (dozens?) times before.

Same here.  I had a really difficult time with the exhibit at the Newseum.  Especially with the stories about the what happened to the photographers after taking the photos.

[Deleted]

The gas chamber one gave me chills. Wow.

[wrathofkuus]

The koala one got me.

[Deleted]

The gas chamber one made my stomach hurt. Omg. (

[bonquiqui]

Nov 7, 2013 19:25:23 GMT -5 @kizmet said:

The Falling Man. Ugh.

And anything with an animal always tugs extra hard on my heart strings.

Exactly this

[cst2cst]

Nov 7, 2013 19:28:29 GMT -5 @blessed said:

Nov 7, 2013 19:22:00 GMT -5 cst2cst said:

Same here.  I had a really difficult time with the exhibit at the Newseum.  Especially with the stories about the what happened to the photographers after taking the photos.

Wait, what happened the photographer? Which photograph are you talking about? I probably don't want to know, but please tell me.

There were a couple of similar stories, but the one that stayed with me is the photo of the starving child who was being circled/stalked by a vulture.  The photographer and his group had been told that they could not touch the child or intervene.  He chased away the vulture, but had to obey the orders about leaving the child.  After the photo was published he was criticized for not helping the child and he couldn't live with the guilt of it. He killed himself 3 months after winning the Pulitzer. 

[lime]

Those were exceptionally hard to look at.

It greatly saddens me how terrible humans treat each other and animals. The natural disaster ones are sad, too, but not malicious in intent.

[cst2cst]

Nov 7, 2013 19:39:54 GMT -5 @blessed said:

Nov 7, 2013 19:36:09 GMT -5 cst2cst said:

There were a couple of similar stories, but the one that stayed with me is the photo of the starving child who was being circled/stalked by a vulture.  The photographer and his group had been told that they could not touch the child or intervene.  He chased away the vulture, but had to obey the orders about leaving the child.  After the photo was published he was criticized for not helping the child and he couldn't live with the guilt of it. He killed himself 3 months after winning the Pulitzer. 

Holy shit

Yeah, I had to leave the exhibit.  Too many tragically sad photos with equally sad stories behind them. 

[urbancowgirl]

Nov 7, 2013 19:36:09 GMT -5 cst2cst said:

Nov 7, 2013 19:28:29 GMT -5 @blessed said:

Wait, what happened the photographer? Which photograph are you talking about? I probably don't want to know, but please tell me.

There were a couple of similar stories, but the one that stayed with me is the photo of the starving child who was being circled/stalked by a vulture.  The photographer and his group had been told that they could not touch the child or intervene.  He chased away the vulture, but had to obey the orders about leaving the child.  After the photo was published he was criticized for not helping the child and he couldn't live with the guilt of it. He killed himself 3 months after winning the Pulitzer. 

I was surprised that that photograph wasn't included in this article.  I got choked up when I saw it at the Newseum and it haunts me to this day.