“The process for both myself and subjects was special and I knew I was onto something, as the viewer could appreciate both the photograph and photographer in a single image. I also had each of them write about their photograph on the bottom of the print."
"No one knew such a beautiful warm day would serve as the back drop to one of the most painful and confusing events to the heart of mankind. This picture is one small part of such a huge event that ties the threads of thousands of stories and millions of people together. Written words will never convey the whole scope of the event, nor even summarize the sounds, the smells or even the voices that are frozen in my memory bank from that day. I did the best job I could in photographing 9/11 so that future generations would have an idea of the scope of what happened, to have the evidence of how innocence can so easily be snatched away in a razor’s edged moment of time. My hope is that in time the wounds and pain will heal and that wisdom and peace will prevail among the darkness of this event, so that humanity can move forward into a time of grace and understanding."
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II. Nick Ut - Napalm Attack In Vietnam
"Even though it has become one of the most memorable images of the twentieth century, President Nixon once doubted the authenticity of my photograph when he saw it in the papers... The photo was as authentic as the Vietnam war itself. The horror of the Vietnam war recorded by me did not have to be fixed. That terrified little girl is still alive today and has become an eloquent testimony to the authenticity of that photo."-
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III. Mary Ellen Mark - Ringmaster With Elephant
"I am holding my photograph of Ram Prakash Singh and his beloved elephant Shyama – taken in 1990. Ram Prakash Singh was the ringmaster of “The Great Golden Circus” – this photograph was done in Ahmedabad, India – This was part of my Indian Circus Project. I love India and I love the circus, so photographing eighteen circuses all around India was an incredible experience. Unfortunately Shyama died a few months after this photograph was taken – supposedly, he succumbed to poisoned chapatti – Ram Prakash Singh was heartbroken – me also.
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IV. Jeff Widener - Beijing 1989
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V. David Doubilet - Circle Of Barracuda
"The school of chevron barracudas circled the diver three times and pow they were gone into a dark afternoon sea. The oceans of the world have no straight lines; geometry like a perfect circle is a rare thing, but these barracudas will do this as a defense. 70% of our planet is an ocean. It is a place of infinite hidden beauty. It is a place where light behaves in a very different manner. Global warming/ climate change is about water. Coral reefs where I have spent most of my life are very threatened now—not just from rising temperatures but from the change in ocean chemistry. This is a world where my partner Jennifer Hayes and I go into. It is most of our planet. A world without corners that may be gone by the end of the century."
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VI. Ozzie Sweet - Albert Einstein
"Albert had cut out the backs of his penny loafers and I told him that it would be fashionable some day, he laughed."
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VII. Steve McCurry - Afghan Girl
"I looked for this girl for 17 years and finally found her in 2002. Her name is Sharbat Gula."
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VIII. Harry Benson - Beatles Pillow Fight
"Brian Epstein – Beatles Manager – had just told them they were number one in America – and I was coming with them to New York"
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XI. Allen Tennenbaum - Nelson Mandela Freed
"I’d covered the unrest in South Africa in the 1980s, but could not get a visa to return until the imminent release of anti-Apartheid leader Nelson Mandela from prison after 26 years. I just had to be there and waited for the triumphant moment with dozens of other photographers. His walk to freedom was very short, and the scene got very chaotic, but I was one of the only photojournalists to capture the event that changed history."
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X. Mark Seliger - Kurt Cobain
Originally an inside opener for Rolling Stone cover story of Nirvana in con- junction with the release of “In Utero”, my first Polaroid (with Negative) was by far the most emotional and revealing of his spirit. Two months later Kurt died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head. This photograph became the memorial RS cover.
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