100 Photographs: The Most Influential Images of All Time

This multimedia project by Time magazine celebrates photos that have shaped our world. To start, there’s the Beatles having a pillow fight in 1964. “The Beatles will never have a pillow fight again,” says photographer Harry Benson. “And I couldn’t repeat that picture again. It’s gone.” Then there’s the picture of an 18-week-old fetus by Lennart Nilsson from 1965. This image was on the front of an issue of Life magazine, which sold out in just a few days and stirred up a heated discussion about abortion. And of course the photo of a “windblown” Jackie Kennedy, a subject much beloved by the paparazzi; the picture of a deceased Emmett Till; the man falling from the Twin Towers; “The Photo That Changed the Face of AIDS”: these are iconic images that show moments from the past 175 years in the history of photography that have changed the world. Fascinating short films, compelling essays and personal stories from those who have made the news explain why they are so important, blowing the dust off of history and inviting us to look anew.