Influential Photographs

Gorilla in the Congo (Brent Stirton, 2007)

The silverback mountain gorilla in the photo is named Senkwekwe, a 500-pound gorilla getting carried in a makeshift stretcher by park rangers and residents. The gorilla lived in a national park located in the Congo. The national park was undergoing violent conflict and sieges during this time, where people would shoot the gorillas, and others would destroy the natural habitat for wood. Despite Senkwekwe

Blind (Paul Strand, 1916)

Paul was photographing immigrants. This picture stirred up the new kind of photojournalism- street photography. The picture of this woman selling newspapers promoted social awareness for the nation, in which was being impacted by a surge of immigrants.

Fetus, 18 weeks (Lennart Nilsson, 1965)

This photo that LIFE magazine used in one of their issues showed the public what a fetus looked like before birth. Lennart would take an aborted fetus and arrange it so it looked like it was still floating in the womb. Many antiabortionists used this photo for their cause, but it is unknown what Lennart's view on abortion is.