Photography has always been a powerful art tool; it allows us to capture moments that fly by us. One way that photography has been used, and continues to be used, is to record history. There are many historical photographs, in my opinion, that help us better understand the brutality that people have gone through. I found interesting photographs done by Seth Taras for the History Channel that combines historical event photos with modern day photos of daily life in certain areas. This is called “Know Where You Stand.”
Emmeline Pankhurst being arrested – Feminist activist
Sword Beach in Normandy after D-Day
Hitler in front of the Eiffel Tower
Hindenburg airship exploding
The Berlin Wall with two police men
“’Captain Earl Topley looking at a German soldier who had killed three of his men before his own death, Cherbourg, France, 27 Jun 1944’”
Parachuting men over Budapest, Hungary
Powder Tower, Prague
Soldiers through St. Petersburg, Russia (then Leningrad)
Group of soldiers walking, Canada
Soldiers coming through Normandy beach (June 6th, 1944)
I think these photographs show us that what may seen like one place to us, such a beach, may have been where someone died, a crazy dictator visited, and/or where many were involved in war. Photography was and is able to capture historical facts, and maybe the photos we have now will one day be used by generations ahead of us to try and understand the world we live in.
Images from zzzclan.com
