TIME 100 Photographs: The Most Influential Images of All Time Magazine (Digital Version)

Though modern technology now allows everyone with a phone to be a photographer, and hundreds of billions of new images are made and shared each year, still rare are images that possess an art, capture a moment, or deliver meaning that shapes or changes the way people think, that themselves become turning points of human experience. Now, after a thorough process that included thousands of interviews, the editors at TIME present the new special edition 100 Photographs: The Most Influential Images of All Time. Turning slowly through this profound collection, you’ll find yourself riveted and deeply moved. After an examination of exactly what makes a photograph influential, you’ll encounter icons like Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother, Alfred Eisenstaedt’s V-J Day in Times Square, and Neil Leifer’s Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston. Then, Evidence explores the importance of the camera as witness. Revisit Robert Capa’s D-Day landing on Omaha Beach, Abraham Zapruder’s JFK Assassination, Frame 313, the still-mysterious Tank Man phot by Jeff Widener, and many more. Last, consider the Innovations of Eadweard Muybridge’s The Hose in Motion, astronaut William Anders’ Earthrise, and Philippe Kahn’s First Cell-Phone Picture, to name only a few. Beyond the photos themselves, learn the stories behind the images, some uncovered and offered here for the first time. Whether you look to photographs to serve as art, journalism, or simply a selfie to share, 100 Photographs is an undeniably profound collection of historic images and a reminder of the potential importance of every camera’s click.