Top 10 World Most Famous Photos Ever
01. Afghan Girl [1984]
Photographer: Steve McCurry

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

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

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

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

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

Picture of segregated water fountains in North Carolina taken by Elliott Erwitt.
07. Burning Monk – The Self-Immolation [1963]
Photographer: Malcolm Browne

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]

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

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?

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(18 votes, average: 4.39 out of 5)




Marx, and no way are these the top 10 most famous photos in the world.
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.
why must be karl marx?
AFAIK, the most famous photo is Che Guavara
I think the most famous name is stupid Ahmadinejad
im sorry for reza. ahmadinejad is the best man in the world
yea, sure he is mohammad reza, but not for Iranians, maybe for the rest of the world!!!
ill tel u the most famous pic in the world
THE MONA LISA YOU PILLOKZ
DUH
The Che is one of the most famous pics/photographs in the world. How could it miss from this list
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
Behold the power of stupidity! Mona Lisa is a painting, those are photos. Spot the difference.
why there is not a photo of MONALISA
cause its a painting duh
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
THE MONA LISA IS A PAINTING U DUMB ASSES
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…
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.
No Tiananmen Square Tank Man?
That guy is Karl Marx
It’s me, bitches!
It’s Mendelejev!
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.
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?
All photoes are impressive
all these photo are the best…
karl marx…!!!
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?
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.
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
the man is Carl Marx
Where is the flag raising on Iwo Jima
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.
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.
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
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
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.
your all idiots, the topic is famous PHOTOS not paintings, the Mona Lisa is not a photograph.
these are all good photoes, but some are very shocking………………
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.
why is hiroshima on the top 10? Every one has seen the nuke go off>
sorry i meant why “isnt it” on the top 10
The man is George W. Bush.
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!