Top 10 World Most Famous Photos Ever

October 4, 2008 · Posted in People, Pictures, Shocking 

01. Afghan Girl [1984]
Photographer: Steve McCurry

Famous photo, The Afghan Girl

And of course the afghan girl, picture shot by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry. Sharbat Gula was one of the students in an informal school within the refugee camp; McCurry, rarely given the opportunity to photograph Afghan women, seized the opportunity and captured her image. She was approximately 12 years old at the time. She made it on the cover of National Geographic next year, and her identity was discovered in 1992.

02. Omayra Sánchez [1985]
Photographer: Frank Fournier

Famous photo, Omayra Sanchez

Omayra Sánchez was one of the 25,000 victims of the Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia) volcano which erupted on November 14, 1985. The 13-year old had been trapped in water and concrete for 3 days. The picture was taken shortly before she died and it caused controversy due to the photographer’s work and the Colombian government’s inaction in the midst of the tragedy, when it was published worldwide after the young girl’s death.

03. Portrait of Winston Churchill [1941]
Photograph from: Yousuf Karsh

Famous photo, Portrait of Winston Churchill

This photograph was taken by Yousuf Karsh, a Canadian photographer, when Winston Churchill came to Ottawa. The portrait of Churchill brought Karsh international fame. It is claimed to be the most reproduced photographic portrait in history. It also appeared on the cover of Life magazine.

04. The plight of Kosovo refugees [1999]
Photographer: Carol Guzy

Famous photo, The Plight of Kosovo Refugees

The photo is part of The Washington Post’s Pulitzer Prize-winning entry (2000) showing how a Kosovar refugee Agim Shala, 2, is passed through a barbed wire fence into the hands of grandparents at a camp run by United Arab Emirates in Kukes, Albania. The members of the Shala family were reunited here after fleeing the conflict in Kosovo.

05. Stricken child crawling towards a food camp [1994]
Photographer: Kevin Carter

Famous photo, stricken child crawling towards a food camp

The photo is the “Pulitzer Prize” winning photo taken in 1994 during the Sudan Famine.
The picture depicts stricken child crawling towards an United Nations food camp, located a kilometer away.

The vulture is waiting for the child to die so that it can eat him. This picture shocked the whole world. No one knows what happened to the child, including the photographer Kevin Carter who left the place as soon as the photograph was taken.

Three months later he committed suicide due to depression.

06. Segregated Water Fountains [1950]
Photographer: Elliott Erwitt, Magnum Photos

Famous photo, Segregated Water Fountains

Picture of segregated water fountains in North Carolina taken by Elliott Erwitt.

07. Burning Monk – The Self-Immolation [1963]
Photographer: Malcolm Browne

Famous photo, Burning Monk

June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon to bring attention to the repressive policies of the Catholic Diem regime that controlled the South Vietnamese government at the time. Buddhist monks asked the regime to lift its ban on flying the traditional Buddhist flag, to grant Buddhism the same rights as Catholicism, to stop detaining Buddhists and to give Buddhist monks and nuns the right to practice and spread their religion.

While burning Thich Quang Duc never moved a muscle.

08. Bliss [~2000]

Famous photo, Bliss
Photographer: Charles O’Rear

Bliss is the name of a photograph of a landscape in Napa County, California, east of Sonoma Valley. It contains rolling green hills and a blue sky with stratocumulus and cirrus clouds. The image is used as the default computer wallpaper for the “Luna” theme in Windows XP.

The photograph was taken by the professional photographer Charles O’Rear, a resident of St. Helena in Napa County, for digital-design company HighTurn. O’Rear has also taken photographs of Napa Valley for the May 1979 National Geographic Magazine article Napa, Valley of the Vine.

O’Rear’s photograph inspired Windows XP’s US$ 200 million advertising campaign Yes you can.

09. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire [1911]
Photographer: International Ladies Garmet workers Union

Famous photo, The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Picture of bodies at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Company rules were to keep doors closed to the factory so workers (mostly immigrant women) couldn’t leave or steal. When a fire ignited, disaster struck. 146 people died that day.

10.

Finally, a question for you……… ….. Who is this famous guy?

Top 10 World Most Famous Photos




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53 Responses to “Top 10 World Most Famous Photos Ever”

  1. kevin on October 14th, 2008 11:23 am

    Marx, and no way are these the top 10 most famous photos in the world.

  2. nanja on October 14th, 2008 1:20 pm

    I thought they were good, I never saw half of these, yeah not the best in the world but its a start for sure….. I still say good job and a good collection.

  3. mnrp on October 15th, 2008 12:58 am

    why must be karl marx?

    AFAIK, the most famous photo is Che Guavara

  4. Reza on October 16th, 2008 3:59 pm

    I think the most famous name is stupid Ahmadinejad

  5. mohamad reza on October 17th, 2008 7:03 am

    im sorry for reza. ahmadinejad is the best man in the world

  6. leila on October 17th, 2008 12:56 pm

    yea, sure he is mohammad reza, but not for Iranians, maybe for the rest of the world!!!

  7. BLAHNESS on October 28th, 2008 6:11 am

    ill tel u the most famous pic in the world

    THE MONA LISA YOU PILLOKZ

    DUH

  8. Joseph Chembezi on October 31st, 2008 3:40 am

    The Che is one of the most famous pics/photographs in the world. How could it miss from this list

  9. Mr.Bean on December 12th, 2008 7:14 pm

    People r so stupid. wat r people learning in school these days. the most famous picture is….me lol. jk. it’s the MONA LISA. I have no pity 4 the dumb people in his sad world

  10. Alex on December 13th, 2008 5:46 pm

    Behold the power of stupidity! Mona Lisa is a painting, those are photos. Spot the difference.

  11. Nirmal K Boran on December 24th, 2008 2:53 am

    why there is not a photo of MONALISA

  12. Joey Ratz on January 10th, 2009 4:12 pm

    cause its a painting duh

  13. king DOng on February 4th, 2009 2:58 pm

    carl marx is the pic , and the most famouse picture in the world recognisible by any body on this planet is a portrait of adolf hitler .. u dumb mother fuckers

  14. Dumb asses on February 14th, 2009 1:26 am

    THE MONA LISA IS A PAINTING U DUMB ASSES

  15. Marc on March 7th, 2009 11:57 am

    First off, yes… these are photographs and the Mona Lisa is a painting. It can not be included on this list. This is a nice collection and I agree with some of the other photos people mention to add to this list. Another that has definitely been overlooked is the first picture of Earth taken after Apollo 11 landed on the moon…

  16. Michael John on April 6th, 2009 2:18 am

    Grabe nakakaiyak naman yung litratong nasa numerong pang-lima.Di ko kakayaning matulad sa batang iyon na siguro’y kinain na ng kwago.Siguro kaya nagpakamatay yung potograpo ay dahil minulto siya nang batang kinuhaan niya ng litrato.Siguro nagalit yung kaluluwa nang batang kinuhaan niya ng litrato kaya dinalaw yung potograpo,minulto at pinatay.

  17. Rick Judge on June 3rd, 2009 11:32 am

    No Tiananmen Square Tank Man?

  18. Anonymous on June 28th, 2009 9:43 pm

    That guy is Karl Marx

  19. Karl Marx on July 10th, 2009 7:45 am

    It’s me, bitches!

  20. Karl Marx on July 27th, 2009 9:24 am

    It’s Mendelejev!

  21. dn on July 30th, 2009 3:59 am

    as far as education goes its Albert Einstein, Issac Newton and William Shakespeare.as far as entertainment goes its Charlie Chaplin and Michael
    Jackson.as far as religion goes its Jesus Christ and as far as power is concerned the most powerful and infamous position of the world is that of the president of U.S.A.

  22. David on August 7th, 2009 3:06 pm

    Come on, what about the famous picture of Che Guevara that’s on all the T-Shirts? What about the Vietnamese napalm girl? What about Saigon Execution? What about the first picture of the earth ever taken from space?

  23. Brijesh on August 13th, 2009 11:26 pm

    All photoes are impressive

  24. Jual beli di Dinomarket on September 5th, 2009 11:29 am

    all these photo are the best…

  25. oka on September 5th, 2009 6:39 pm

    karl marx…!!!

  26. baffy98 on October 8th, 2009 3:38 am

    The pic of the child and vulture is shocking!!

    Where is Korda’s Che?

    Where are the Marines raising the US flag on Iwo Jima?

    The Russian infrantyman sticking the Soviet flag on the Reichstag?

    The Moon landing???

    The burning girl of Vietnam or the execution of a Vietcong?

    Einstein sticking his tongue out?

  27. Anonymous on October 13th, 2009 4:07 am

    Chill out people. Everyone of us have our own choice of top 10 photos, the author has his own and he can’t please everybody. From what I see the author must be from America or Europe, his idea is limited but not a bad collection.

  28. dindun on October 25th, 2009 5:45 pm

    Most famouse picture ever, painted, taken, photshoped or what ever is the picture of the Earth called the blue marble http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17.jpg

  29. Anonymous on November 16th, 2009 4:59 am

    the man is Carl Marx

  30. erik on November 24th, 2009 11:52 am

    Where is the flag raising on Iwo Jima

  31. Shahid Hameed Qureshi on December 10th, 2009 10:51 pm

    It is one of the wonderful things which i have seen on the net, it is most extra ordinary collection i am realy impressed with the effort.

  32. Elisa on December 14th, 2009 6:31 am

    How can these photographers let them people die? They’re heartless.
    No wonder why Kevin Carter killed himself.
    Nobody can ever be ok after what he did.

  33. ed m on December 25th, 2009 3:55 pm

    it is a strong list but the most obvious oversigths that could never, ever be off of anyones list are:
    1. the iwo jimo flag-the most famous of all time/bar none
    2. viet cong exection-everyone know about this one
    3. napalm girl being torched-many people insist this is #1
    those 3 are the most glaring oversights but the thing about lists is that they are designed to created discussion
    also shd include 2 more , woops that really shdnt be left off of anyone s list are
    john john at jfk’s salute
    lyndon johnson being sworn in on air force one with jackie

  34. Kamene on January 2nd, 2010 11:32 am

    I agree with ed m on his last 2 suggestions

    And as for the marines raising the flag, I think that that is more of a famous AMERICAN photograph. I’m doubtless that it has much significance to the international community…. so no.

    And i think the photos shown are very representative of famous WORLDWIDE photographs. Many of you commenters are thinking critically in context of U.S. photographs

  35. Christine on January 9th, 2010 9:41 am

    I really thought tiananmen would have been up there. Not only is it a picture not of a striking person, but it has a remarkable story alongside it. One man, stood up to a line of tanks in defense of his country’s people. Really. I can’t believe that isn’t on the list.

  36. Skyler on January 26th, 2010 9:05 pm

    your all idiots, the topic is famous PHOTOS not paintings, the Mona Lisa is not a photograph.

  37. anne on January 31st, 2010 9:04 pm

    these are all good photoes, but some are very shocking………………

  38. Anonymous on February 6th, 2010 12:03 am

    i am shocked how could one take the photograph and not save the girl leave her to die …obviously he couldn’t bear what he did ,may god bless both souls.

  39. Anonymous on February 7th, 2010 8:26 am

    why is hiroshima on the top 10? Every one has seen the nuke go off>

  40. Anonymous on February 7th, 2010 8:29 am

    sorry i meant why “isnt it” on the top 10

  41. Rebecca on February 8th, 2010 5:02 am

    The man is George W. Bush.

  42. Rick on February 9th, 2010 1:50 am

    Pictures of the 1906 San Francisco earhquake were shattering, but very significant to the cause and efffect of natural disasters such as earthquakes which are now not only occurances on the west coast of the United States, but worldwide and need I mention disasterous!

  43. saif on February 10th, 2010 5:05 am

    The best pic is Muhammed ALI Phantom Punch Sonny Liston…. So much enery and inspiration in that pic… looks like the price conquoured the BULLY :)

  44. ...... on February 23rd, 2010 1:45 pm

    I thought the Migrant Woman would be on here for sure

  45. Marianna on February 23rd, 2010 9:37 pm

    What about the photos from the nuclear explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? What about the naked Vietnamese girl running in agony burnt all over?
    What about Kerteszs fork?
    What about the photos from the first moon landing?
    I agree with the above being famous, but not the MOST famous. At least most of them…

  46. Anonymous on February 24th, 2010 2:10 am

    that photo about taken in Albania is the best one

  47. Anonymous on February 28th, 2010 1:22 am

    tiananmen square

  48. JLS on March 5th, 2010 9:14 pm

    The African boy crawling with the Vulture in the background is the Most Disturbing Picture and Sticks Out more than any of the others.. And it says nobody knew what happened to the child.? Wouldnt u think a photographer might drop his 30-40 pound CAMERA to carry a dying child 1 Kilometer?? If the photographer didn’t do that it should be called — “The Most Selfious Act A Human Could Make” photograph” and if he left the child with the Vulture, which would have cetainly eaten the kid maybe before the child was even completly dead.. We”ll let GOD judge that..

  49. JLS on March 5th, 2010 9:22 pm

    The Mona Lisa? Sorry dude thats a painting, I could go take a picture of the Mona Lisa with a disosable Camera….

  50. JLS on March 5th, 2010 9:25 pm

    OMG people everyone knows that Lindsay Lohans SNATCH picture is the most famous of them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  51. MarkmBha on March 5th, 2010 9:33 pm

    Good photos; nay, excellent! I really can’t believe some comments made here.

  52. The Original on March 7th, 2010 1:54 am

    the african boy and columbian girl pictures should be on the list of the worlds most fucked up situations…mercy me

  53. The Original on March 7th, 2010 1:57 am

    trapped and hungary

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