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We’re doomed to repeat the same mistakes that humankind has made, over and over again, if we don’t have a solid grasp of history. But learning about the past is far more than just skimming through thick, dusty volumes. Seeing a quality photo from a specific event or time period can help you understand the atmosphere in a way that mere words can’t on their own. An image can really be worth a thousand words.

Though historical photos might be (mostly) black and white, we shouldn’t ignore the nuances and shades of grey that we might come across. The past is a very strange place, full of joy, despair, and change for the worse, as well as for the better.

The ‘Historical Pics’ Twitter page has been sharing powerful and impressive photos from the past in the hope of educating and entertaining social media users around the globe. Today, we’re featuring some of the top photos that the account has posted in their feed. Upvote the ones that really wowed you, Pandas, and let us know how they made you feel.

Meanwhile, scroll down for Bored Panda’s interview about historical photos with professional photographer Dominic Sberna, from the United States.

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    Zia Barrett
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    2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Good boy :) (it wasn't sarin though, several mustard gas attacks; sarin wasn't discovered until 1938)

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    The ‘Historical Pics’ social media project has been sharing what it feels are the most iconic photos from the past since joining Twitter in October 2013.

    By its own account, it only focuses on “the most magnificent and breathtaking” snapshots from history. Some of these photos might be completely fresh and unseen to you Pandas. Others, however, are so iconic that you’re bound to have laid eyes on them in history textbooks and in news articles.

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    Hotdogking
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Aww those cats be living like Queens. (I’ll show myself out before I bite the dust (hayoo!))

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    Bored Panda got in touch with US photographer Dominic to get his opinion on why some photos become iconic while others might be completely unknown. He also pointed out that black-and-white photography is still very much viable even in 2022, though it takes more effort than just putting a filter on a digital image.

    “I think a powerful image makes all the difference and in the same vein, what the subject matter is,” he told us.

    “For example, an image of bar patrons after the repeal of Prohibition in the United States or equally when Prohibition was enacted and federal agents dumped thousands of gallons of beer and distilled spirits. Those images are powerful because they represent a period of history so well.”

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    Katy McMouse
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    How is it that he takes a better passport photo than most of us?

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    #9

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    Hotdogking
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Lol a fricking cat from 100 years ago has more common sense and decency than a lot of modern humans

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    According to photographer Dominic, in this day and age, it all comes down to a photographer’s choice whether to go fully digital or to shoot on film.

    “Nowadays, it's all about personal preference. Film still remains a true art form, whereas digital is quick and easy,” he summarized the difference.

    “The quality of digital may or may not have surpassed film, but both are great mediums for different reasons,” he told Bored Panda.

    “Black and white photography can convey a mood. It can also show stark contrasts better, depending on the subject matter. It can remove one's bias from what they are seeing, especially if that subject being photographed is a person,” photographer Dominic said.

    “Black and white photography is an art form in its own right. Many people will take a photo, convert it to black and white, and call it art. It's simply not that easy. Some photos just truly work better that way, while others not so much. At the end of the day, the decision lies with the artist/photographer.”

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    Zia Barrett
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    2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This was Aloha Airlines Flight 243. Fuselage joint metal fatigue exacerbated by crevice corrosion due to being operated in a costal environment. 1 fatality, 65 injured, 8 serious. The planes now have an extra layer built onto the outer hull and over the fuselage joint to eliminate the risk of both involved factors.

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    It’s very human to look back at the past with a certain amount of nostalgia. We miss the days when we were happy, content, and loved. Usually (though not always), people yearn for their childhoods.

    And though nostalgia has its upsides, you can easily get lost in it, and your quality of life in the present might suffer. It’s essential to find a healthy balance between the two.

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    Fat Harry
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Man, I'm glad they pointed out she's female. I was really struggling to tell.

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    "Nostalgia has the 'super power' of helping us feel better about the 'now' by connecting us to positive feelings from the 'then.' Nostalgia can help us feel better about ourselves and more in control of current situations if we're able to channel that positivity into concrete actions or a reframed mindset about the present. However, when we begin 'living in the past,' we may be inviting into our lives less than optimal mental wellness and potentially compromised physical wellbeing, too," Suzanne Degges-White, Ph.D., from Northern Illinois University told Bored Panda during an interview a while ago.

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    Fred L.
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    One of my earliest childhood memories. Shortly afterwards we got into our car, too ... driving east though, to freely visit our relatives there.

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    "When we succumb to memories of how things 'used to be' and refuse to address the 'what is,' we may find ourselves overwhelmed by our current conditions and less able to manage current challenges," the professor said, earlier.

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    CD King
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That is the car you expect the devil to be driving when he comes to take your soul you sold to be a famous jazz musician.

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    GoodWolf
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Look how finely dressed that gentleman is for a job that consists mostly of scooping up poop and handling dead fish 🤩

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    "It's often memories of home and the people who surround us that keeps us able to deal with significantly concerning or dangerous conditions. For instance, letters from home can be a lifeline for those who are engaged in warfare far away from what they consider 'home,'" she explained.

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    Zia Barrett
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Understatement. He was fatigued from skiing away from a Soviet ambust, consumed all the Pervitin, entered a state of delirium, los his patrol group with no supplies, got injured by a landmine that also set a Soviet camp alight, laid in a ditch for a week, ate only pine buds and a single raw jay, and skied over 400km before being found.

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    Certain historical events tend to attract conspiracy theories. And they’re more common during times of crisis, upheaval, and when people don’t feel safe. The desperate desire for clarity leads to some people more readily accepting conspiracies.

    “Over the past 60 years, the assassination of JFK, the death of Princess Diana, and 9/11 are the most obvious examples of national traumas surrounded by conspiracy theory beliefs,” Joseph M. Pierre, a professor of psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told Bored Panda some time ago.

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    KJ
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Tie them off at the bottom, becomes perfect for smuggling cheese!

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    “People who believe in conspiracy theories are also often attracted to the Manichean narratives that conspiracy theories offer, involving battles of good and evil pitting against each other in an almost apocalyptic fashion. So, it should come as no surprise that conspiracy theories might sprout up from World War II—a real-life apocalyptic battle between good and evil,” he explained.

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    mary smith
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Poor Lady. She was so much smarter than that mysoginistic generation gave her credit for.

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    wifeofweasley
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I know times were s****y back then but I'd sell my kidney to walk down these streets in 1949

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    Hotdogking
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Not going to make a joke about this, I’m not going to make a joke about this, I’m not going to make a joke about this (what else would a French woman be buying?) WHO SAID THAT!?

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    Rosy Maple Moth
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    2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Even though the picture makes it look like some friendly people are having a cozy tea party, the Yakuza are a Mafia-like criminal organization, based in Japan.

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    Hilary Mol
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    His back looks like what happens when someone unfolds a map that was folded wrong the last time it was used. Ouch.

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    Katrin Krueger
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    "In the unlikely event of loss of cabin pressure, just hold on to your wicker chair."

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    KWilly
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I like the round little man at the bottom reading. He is me.

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    Falcon
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Inside the reactor? Looks more like a control center 🤔

    Myst Edenflower
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I mean they called them reactor 1-4 but I guess we can be sticklers about it being the control center of reactor 4 instead of you know, understanding what people meant

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    strawberry.panda (she/they)
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There’s a really good book about Chernobyl from the perspective of two girls. It’s called The Blackbird Girls, and it is amazing but heart wrenching.

    Spooky Scary Skeletons
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It would be impossible to take an actual photo from inside the reactor. Not only would it kill anything that went inside (even robots), but the film would be ruined from all the radiation.

    David
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I never realized how soon after completion this failed. I have worked in nuclear plants and the control room here looks kind of ancient (could just be the ravages of time after the disaster) so I googled when it was built. Plants 3 and 4 were completed in 1983. The disaster was April 1986. So barely 3 years of service on the second two plants.

    PattyK
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    According to “Midnight in Chernobyl” by Adam Higginbotham, the reactor exploded and no longer exists. This would be a control room.

    Tiny Dancer
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Can only imagine the sheer terror that room must have seen. I thought it was the beginning of the end and I was thousands of miles away. Must have been horrifying.

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    Mercy Wanjiru
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    2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    oh but he wasn't running...just an afternoon drive...with $9,000 in cash, fake goatee and mustache with a bottle of makeup adhesive, his passport and a gun...but like, totally not running.

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    Iampenny
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And yet she claims she had no clue about the British royal family before marrying into it

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    #51

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    User# 6
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    She had an Interesting life. From "Dovima was reputed to be the highest-paid model of her time, demanding $60 per hour" in the 1950's to "by the 1970's, she had moved in with her parents in Florida, and was working as a hostess at The Two Guys Pizza Parlor"

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