Pictures That Made Photographic History
Published 14 Nov 2017, 16:45 GMT, Updated 16 Nov 2017, 10:52 GMT
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Peary searches the horizon for land. Camp Morris K. Jessup, Arctic Ocean.
Photograph by Robert E Peary, National GeographicDavid Fairchild used a 12-foot-long (3.7-metre) camera, nicknamed “Long Tom,” to capture this enlarged image of a California wolf spider for his 1913 National Geographic article, “The Monsters of Our Back Yards” [sic].
Photograph by David G. Fairchild, National GeographicWilliamson's Undersea Wonders took this still of actress Lulu McGrath for the 1922 silent film Wonders of the Sea. The production company specialised in film and photos shot through a porthole in their patented submarine chamber.
Photograph by Submarine Film CorpThis photo of a porkfish appeared in the 1927 National Geographic article that debuted the first underwater colour photos. The photographer took them using autochrome, the first viable method of color photography.
Photograph by W. H. Longley And Charles Martin, National GeographicThis 1925 photo shows the Sphinx of Giza before it was fully excavated. After it was uncovered, National Geographic’s editor-in-chief warned his staff not to use the photo because it was “very much out of date.”
Photograph by Hans Hildenbrand, National GeographicThis photo of the Statue of Liberty appeared in a 1930 National Geographic article that featured the first successful aerial colour photos. The photographer used Finlay, a process that required a shorter exposure than autochrome.
Photograph by Melville B. Grosvenor, National GeographicWhen National Geographic published this picture of South Dakota in 1936, it was the highest vertical photo ever taken at that time. The image was captured from the Explorer II helium balloon, the first aircraft to reach the stratosphere.
Photograph by Albert W. Stevens, National GeographicIn 1937, National Geographic published the first natural-color photo of a solar eclipse.
Photograph by Irvine C. Gardner, National Geographic