“A picture is worth a thousand words”—a phrase most of us have heard before. And for a reason. Photographs can capture loads of information in just a split second and immortalize it for years to come. By freezing moments, photographers enable us to travel to places and times we’ve never witnessed ourselves. They allow us to see the world exactly as it was, whether it was yesterday or a hundred years ago.

The Instagram account called Historical Pix boasts a beautiful collection of pictures from various points in time. Their uploads cover a multitude of topics, from war to technology, from sport to fashion; you name it, it’s there. As they themselves describe, “It's just history. The good, the bad, and the ugly.”

We have gathered some of the most impressive photographs shared by the account. Scroll down for the images and feel free to browse this list of historical pics or this one, if you’d like to see more.

#1 1961. East German Soldier Ignores Orders To Let No One Pass By Helping A Young Boy Cross The Newly Built Berlin Wall, To Reunite With His Family

Image credits: historicalpix

Photography allows us to travel all the way back to the 1820s—that’s when the first-ever picture was taken. The French scientist Joseph Nicéphore Niépce did that by using heliography—a process of applying sunlight to draw—and a pewter plate. Taking the picture took several hours, but the image, titled View from the Window at Le Gras, marked the beginning of modern photography.

Back in the day, taking a picture required a bit more than a split second. Roughly until the 1840s, you would have had to stand still for 20 minutes for someone to photograph you. Can you imagine trying to take a family portrait or a picture of your cat under such circumstances?

#2 1959. A Young French Girl Poses With Glee As She Cradles Her Cat

Image credits: historicalpix

#3 1945. 10-Year-Old Stoic Japanese Boy Standing At Attention Having Brought His Dead Younger Brother To A Cremation Pyre, Nagasaki

Years Later, Joe O’donnell, The American Photojournalist Who Took This Photo, Spoke To A Japanese Interviewer About This Photograph: “I Saw A Boy About Ten Years Old Walking By. He Was Carrying A Baby On His Back. In Those Days In Japan, We Often Saw Children Playing With Their Little Brothers Or Sisters On Their Backs, But This Boy Was Clearly Different. I Could See That He Had Come To This Place For A Serious Reason. He Was Wearing No Shoes. His Face Was Hard. The Little Head Was Tipped Back As If The Baby Were Fast Asleep. The Boy Stood There For Five Or Ten Minutes. The Men In White Masks Walked Over To Him And Quietly Began To Take Off The Rope That Was Holding The Baby. That Is When I Saw That The Baby Was Already Dead. The Men Held The Body By The Hands And Feet And Placed It On The Fire. The Boy Stood There Straight Without Moving, Watching The Flames. He Was Biting His Lower Lip So Hard That It Shone With Blood. The Flame Burned Low Like The Sun Going Down. The Boy Turned Around And Walked Silently Away.”

Image credits: historicalpix

Nowadays, you can take a picture in the blink of an eye. You can also do it nearly anywhere, anytime, as most people now use camera phones. Able to fit in your pocket, they are undeniably more convenient than dragging around large pieces of equipment or trying to force the world to stop for 20 minutes so you can take a photograph.

The cameras on phones developed in leaps and bounds over the years. The first one was the SCH-V200 model introduced by Samsung back in 2000. It allowed users to take up to 20 pictures at 0.35-megapixel resolution. Now, just over a couple of decades later, the average resolution of a phone camera is 12 megapixels, and the number of pictures one can store is way higher than 20.

#4 The Kiss Of Life. 1967

Utility Lineman Jimmy D. Thompson Giving Mouth-To-Mouth Resuscitation To Fellow Worker Randall G. Champion, After Champion Was Knocked Unconscious By An Electric Shock. Because Of Thompson's Intervention, Champion Survived And Lived Until 2002. Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photograph By Rocco Morabito

Image credits: historicalpix

#5 Anna Coleman Ladd Was An American Sculptor Who Is Best Known For Her Work Creating Prosthetic Masks For Soldiers Who Were Disfigured During World War I

Ladd, Who Was Born In 1878 And Died In 1939, Worked With A Team Of Assistants At The American Red Cross In Paris To Create The Masks, Which Were Made Of Copper And Other Materials And Were Designed To Be Worn Over The Soldiers' Faces In Order To Restore Some Of Their Appearance And Self-Confidence. The Masks Were Highly Realistic And Were Often Painted To Match The Soldiers' Skin Tones. Ladd's Work Was Praised For Its Artistic And Technical Skill, As Well As For Its Humanitarian Purpose

Image credits: historicalpix

According to Phototutorial, an average smartphone user has roughly 2,100 pictures on their device. The number is not that shocking, considering that people take nearly 93% of photos with their cellphones and only 7% use a camera. 

Taking photographs was mostly a job for professionals years ago when it required working with certain chemicals. But now, more people can capture beautiful moments with the help of constantly developing technology.

#6 1839. The Oldest Known Photographic Portrait Of A Human In The USA, Taken As Self-Image By Photography Pioneer Robert Cornelius. He Had To Remain Motionless For 10 To 15 Minutes To Capture The Photograph

Image credits: historicalpix

#7 Members Of The Red Warriors – A French Youth Anti-Fascist Street Gang That Used Violent Force To Combat The Surge Of Neo-Nazi Violence From France In The Mid To Late 1980s

The Red Warriors Often Acted As Security For Punk Shows And Left-Wing Activist Groups, Who Were Often Targeted With Violence By White Power Skinheads. Over Time, The Red Warriors, And Other Youth Gangs With Similar Goals, Became Well-Known In France For Their Confrontational Methods For Resisting Fascists

Image credits: historicalpix

#8 1976. Soviet Explorer, Nikolai Machulyak, Feeding A Polar Bear And Her Cubs With Condensed Milk And Meat, Near Cape Schmidt Off The Coast Of The Chukchi Sea

Image credits: historicalpix

Phototutorial also revealed that people worldwide take an astonishing number of 57,246 pictures per second, which equals roughly 5 billion per day. So far, 12.4 trillion photos have been taken throughout the years, some of them capturing significant historical events.

#9 Beatles Fans In 1964 And 2013. Ringo Starr Took The Top Photo From Car Window, After The High School Friends Skipped School To See The Beatles During Their First Trip To The Us In 1964

Image credits: historicalpix

#10 Powerhouse Mechanic, 1924, By Lewis Hine

Image credits: historicalpix

#11 C. 1929. A Little Girl Hands Lilies To A Police Officer On Duty At The Porte Saint-Denis In Paris

Image credits: historicalpix

Some images portraying significant historical events or periods became known all over the world. For instance, the picture of a couple kissing taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt in 1945, titled V-J Day In Times Square. Or the Tank Man—a photo taken by Jeff Widener in 1989.

#12 C. 1930s. A Turkish Fisherman Returns With His Booty

Image credits: historicalpix

#13 1894. Archaeologists And Workers Pose In Front Of The Near-Perfectly Preserved And Still-Upright Statue Of Antinous, Unearthed Near The Temple Of Apollo In The Sanctuary At Delphi, Greece

Image credits: historicalpix

#14 1954. Cats Stand Up On Their Hind Legs To Catch Squirts Of Milk During Milking At A Dairy Farm. Photo By Nat Farbman

Image credits: historicalpix

Some of the globally well-known images immortalized important moments of pop culture as well. One of the greatest examples of that was the cover for the Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover. It was taken by Iain MacMillan in August of 1969 as the band members were crossing Abbey Road in London.

#15 Great Blizzard Of 1888, New York City

Image credits: historicalpix

#16 1910. Paris Motor Show At The Grand Palais In Paris

Image credits: historicalpix

#17 C. 1910. Child Miners Photographed By Lewis Hine. Hine’s Photographs Were Instrumental In Bringing About The Passage Of The First Child Labor Laws In The United States

Image credits: historicalpix

Certain historical pictures mark significant milestones in developing the process of photography itself. The first self-portrait, which could be considered the predecessor of the selfie, is a great example of that. Robert Cornelius, a chemist from Philadelphia, is believed to have taken the first portrait of such a kind back in 1839.

#18 1967. Kangaroo Hits A Photographer For Trying To Photograph Him, England. Photo By Voller Ernst

Image credits: historicalpix

#19 C. 1910. Native American Blackfoot Warriors At Glacier National Park, On The Shore Of St. Mary Lake, Montana. Photo By Roland W. Reed

Image credits: historicalpix

#20 Grand Central Terminal In New York City, C. 1954

Image credits: historicalpix

Whether it’s a portrait or not, you might have noticed that not many people would smile in photographs back in the day. Now, it is typical to put on a happy face for taking a picture (followed by a moment of awkward silence after everyone is done saying “cheeeeeeese”), but it wasn’t always like that, and there are several versions of why. Some say that it was based on poor dental hygiene, while others believe it was related to the time it took for one shot—smiling for 20 minutes straight can be quite a challenge.

#21 Eruption Of Mount St. Helens, 1980, By Richard Lasher

Image credits: historicalpix

#22 1975. John Cleese On The Set Of Monty Python And The Holy Grail

Image credits: historicalpix

#23 1911. The Wreck Of The Arden Craig Off The Isles Of Scilly, West Of Cornwall. Photo By Francis James Mortimer

Image credits: historicalpix

Some pictures age like fine wine—they become even more influential or appreciated as time goes by. And most such images undoubtedly deserve an award. One of the greatest photo competitions is held by the World Press Photo Foundation. It attracts thousands of spectacular submissions each year that immortalize our life as it is—the good and the bad—for future generations to see. Needless to say, choosing a winner is never easy.

#24 1954. A Young Boy Carrying Two Bottles Of Wine Under His Arms, Rue Mouffetard, Paris. Photo By Henri Cartier-Bresson

Image credits: historicalpix

#25 1920s. Traditional Rwandan Hairstyle Of Amasunzu

Amasunzu Hairstyle Is Traditionally Worn By Rwandan Men And Unmarried Women, With The Hair Styled Into Crests, Often Decorated With Beads And Cowrie Shells. It Is Frequently Described As Crescent-Shaped. The Style Is Associated With The Rwandan People's Cultural Identity And Has Been Passed Down Through Generations

Image credits: historicalpix

#26 C. 1911. Mexican Revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, Cuernavaca, Mexico

Image credits: historicalpix

Some other photo competitions that present attention-worthy shots include but are definitely not limited to the International Photography, the Sony World Photography, and the Big Picture Natural World Photography awards. For those interested in the wonders one can do with a camera phone, the iPhone Photography Awards might be something worth delving deeper into.

#27 1930s. A Chinese Buddhist Monk Walking On A Chain Bridge At Jiangyou Figure Hill Temple In China

Image credits: historicalpix

#28 Hong Kong, 1950s-60s By Fan Ho

Image credits: historicalpix

#29 September 1945. Australian Soldiers Catch Up On News From Home After Their Release From Japanese Captivity In Singapore

Image credits: historicalpix

#30 Queen Elizabeth II (1926 - 2022)

Image credits: historicalpix

#31 1931. German Photographer Willi Ruge Took This Photograph Seconds Before Landing During His Seven-Minute Parachute Jump From An Airplane Over Berlin

Image credits: historicalpix

#32 1909, Wakefield, Massachusetts. Young Members Of The Payro Family Being “Photographed” By Their Cat. Photo By Joseph C. Payro

Image credits: historicalpix

#33 1928. A War Veteran Sells Matches On The Street In Canterbury, Kent, England. Photo By Clifton R. Adams

Image credits: historicalpix

#34 1932. Sailing Ship S.v. Penang In Millwall Docks, London, Towers Above The Poverty Of The Surrounding Housing

Image credits: historicalpix

#35 1970s. Girl Licking Ice Cream And Playing With The Tip Of The Gun’s Bayonet To Elicit A Reaction From A Royal Guard Outside Stockholm Palace, Stockholm, Sweden

Image credits: historicalpix

#36 1936. The New York Central Railroad Streamliner 'Mercury' Passes Through Syracuse City Hall

Image credits: historicalpix

#37 C. 1910. Portraits Of Immigrants At Ellis Island, New York, By Augustus F. Sherman

Image credits: historicalpix

#38 C. 1917. Frozen Fountain, Washington Boulevard, Detroit

Image credits: historicalpix

#39 1889. A Blind Man Carrying A Paralyzed Man With Dwarfism In Damascus, Syria. Photo By Italian Photographer Tancrède Dumas

Image credits: historicalpix

#40 Graffiti On Troops’ Helmets During The Vietnam War

Image credits: historicalpix

#41 Original Caption: “School Leaver Bryn Owen Aged 17 With His Vespa Scooter, Which Has 34 Mirrors And 81 Lights, All Bought With His Pocket Money. Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, 1983.”

Image credits: historicalpix

#42 Golden Gate Bridge Under Construction, C. 1935

Image credits: historicalpix

#43 1941. An Unauthorized Photo Of Joseph Stalin, Taken Inside The Kremlin At The Very Moment He Was Informed That The Germans Were About To Take Kiev, Beginning Their Invasion Of The Soviet Union

The Photographer Was Ordered To Destroy This Photograph But He Secretly Defied These Orders And Instead Saved It

Image credits: historicalpix

#44 1930. Worker Smoking Cigarette And Carrying Bag Across Shoulders Pauses In The Middle Of Steel Beam High Above City Streets, During Construction Of The Manhattan Company Building At 40 Wall Street, New York City. Photo By Arthur Gerlach

Image credits: historicalpix

#45 1945. Boys Hanging On A Full Train After The Liberation Of Holland. Photography By Menno Huizinga

Image credits: historicalpix

#46 C. 1865. Samurai, Yokohama, By Felice Beato

Image credits: historicalpix

#47 The 2800 Years Old Kiss. Estimated To Be Buried Since 800 Bc, These Human Skeletons, Seemingly In An Embrace, Were Unearthed In 1972 At The Teppe Hasanlu Archaeological Site In Iran

Image credits: historicalpix

#48 C. 1860s. Studio Portraits Of Samurai Warriors

Image credits: historicalpix

#49 1920s. Racetrack On The Rooftop Of Fiat’s Lingotto Factory In Turin, Italy

Image credits: historicalpix

#50 C. 1970s. A Math Teacher At Dana Hills High School In Southern California Explaining The Physics Of Surfing

Image credits: historicalpix

#51 C. 1910s. Carrier Pigeons Wearing Miniature Camera, Invented By German Inventor Julius Neubronner, And Aerial Photographs Captured By These Pigeon Cameras

Image credits: historicalpix

#52 Kearny Street, San Francisco, 1952, By Fred Lyon

Image credits: historicalpix

#53 1888. Mullen's Alley, Cherry Hill, New York By Jacob Riis

Image credits: historicalpix

#54 1962. Workmen Trim The 11-Meters High Yew Hedge, Encircling Oakley Hall In Cirencester, England. The Hedge Was Planted In 1720 By The First Earl Of Bathurst

Image credits: historicalpix

#55 1966. Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach And Lee Van Cleef On Location For The Climactic Finale At Sad Hill Cemetery During The Filming Of The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Image credits: historicalpix

#56 1961. Audition For A Black Cat Role In A Low-Budget Hollywood Horror Movie

More Than 150 Cats Showed Up For The Audition. The Lead Role Was Filled By A Professionally Trained Black Cat. Additionally, Seven More Cats Were Chosen For Publicity Based On How “Mean” The Look In Their Eyes Was. Photography By Ralph Crane

Image credits: historicalpix

#57 1972. A Burning Wall Crumbles Down, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Photo By A. Abbas

Image credits: historicalpix

#58 1940s. New Year's Hangovers, New York

Image credits: historicalpix

#59 1938. Coal Miner's Child Using A Hole In The Door To Enter A Bedroom With A Smoking Pipe In One Hand And A Gun In The Other In Bertha Hill, West Virginia. Photo By Marion Post Wolcott

Image credits: historicalpix

#60 1927. U.S. Navy's Airship Los Angeles (Zr-3) In A Near-Vertical Position, After A Turbulent Wind From The Atlantic Flipped The 658-Foot Airship On Its Nose, While She Was Moored At The High Mast At Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, New Jersey

The Ship Suffered Only Slight Damage And Was Able To Fly The Next Day. There Were No Serious Injuries To The Crew

Image credits: historicalpix

#61 C. 1911. Telephone Pole In Pratt, Kansas

Image credits: historicalpix

#62 1954. Marilyn Monroe On Stage Performing For Thousands Of American Troops In Korea

Image credits: historicalpix

#63 1923. Pierre Labric Rides His Bicycle Down The Stairs Of The Eiffel Tower. He Won A Bet, But Was Arrested By The Police

Image credits: historicalpix

#64 1969. Photographs Showing A Nasa-Funded Research Of A Cat Demonstrating Its Natural Ability Of Physically Rotating Its Body In Mid-Air To Right Itself When Falling, And An Astronaut Training To Replicate The Feline Motion To Develop The Ability To Right His Body In Zero Gravity. Photography By Ralph Crane

Image credits: historicalpix

#65 C. 1918. Inside A German Ub-110 Submarine

Image credits: historicalpix

#66 Early 1900s. Workers Pose With Anchor Chains Of Rms Mauretania

Image credits: historicalpix

#67 1939, Oregon. An Unemployed Lumber Worker With His Wife. Photo By Dorothea Lange

Image credits: historicalpix

#68 Listening To The Birds, 1885, By John Dumont

Image credits: historicalpix

#69 1983. Dr. Fukushi Katsunari With A Wet Specimen From The Preserved Japanese Skin Tattoo Collection At Medical Pathology Museum Of Tokyo University

Started By His Father, Dr. Fukushi Masaichi, Pathologist And Emeritus Professor Of Nippon Medical School In Tokyo, Who Founded The World's Only Collection Of Tattoos Taken From The Dead. In 1926, Dr. Fukushi Masaichi Initially Became Interested In Tattoos When He Noticed That Skin Lesions Caused By Syphilis Stopped Where Tattoos Started. However, During His Research He Became More Fascinated By Tattoo Art. Dr. Fukushi Often Helped Fund Tattoos For People Who Couldn't Afford Them – In Return For The Ownership Rights After Death. His Collection Included About 2,000 Tattooed Skins And 3,000 Photographs, Which Were Mostly Lost In 1945, During World War II. Dr. Fukushi Masaichi And His Son Dr. Fukushi Katsunari Are Known In Japan As "Irezumi Hakase" (Approximately: "Dr. Tattoo")

Image credits: historicalpix

#70 4th Of July 1950, Santa Monica, California, By Ralph Crane

Image credits: historicalpix

#71 June 6, 1944. D-Day In Color

Image credits: historicalpix

#72 1945. The Final Moments Of A Japanese Dive Bomber, After Being Hit By Anti-Aircraft Fire From The Uss Hornet

Image credits: historicalpix

#73 First Class Of Swissair In The 1960s

Image credits: historicalpix

#74 1970s-80s. Photos Of New York City’s Subway System, From Swiss Photographer Willy Spiller’s Collection Hell On Wheels

Image credits: historicalpix

#75 September 11, 2001

Image credits: historicalpix

#76 1985. 18-Year-Old Mike Tyson And His Trainer, Cus D'amato, Before His First Professional Fight Against Hector Mercedes. The Fight Lasted 1 Minute And 47 Seconds, With Tyson Defeating Hector Mercedes Via First-Round Tko. Photo By Ken Regan

Image credits: historicalpix

#77 Tourism At Egyptian Pyramids During The Early 20th Century

Image credits: historicalpix

#78 1893. Princeton University Students After The Annual Freshman-Sophomore Snowball Fight. It Was Common For Students To Pack Rocks Inside Their Snowballs

Image credits: historicalpix

#79 9/11

Image credits: historicalpix

#80 1970s. Female Ira Fighter In West Belfast With An Ar18 Assault Rifle. Photo By Colman Doyle

Image credits: historicalpix

#81 1957. A Teen Girl At An Elvis Presley Concert At The Philadelphia Arena In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Image credits: historicalpix

#82 Vivian Maier Was A Full-Time Nanny Who Worked For Different Families In The 1950s And 1960s, Mainly In Chicago And New York, But She Also Happened To Be A Photographer By Hobby

She Took More Than 150,000 Photographs During Her Lifetime, Primarily Of The People And Architecture Of Chicago, New York City, And Los Angeles, But She Kept Those Photographs To Herself. Her Work Was Only Discovered Because She Fell Behind On Payments For Storage Lockers She Rented In A Chicago Warehouse, Which Were Crammed With Negatives, Boxes Of Slides And More Than 1,000 Rolls Of Unprocessed Film. When These Possessions Were Sold Off At Auction In 2007, John Maloof, A Real-Estate Agent, Bought Most Of It For Less Than $400 And Began Posting Her Photographs Online. These Photos Went Viral And Would Ultimately Make Maier Famous. But The Fame Came Too Late For Maier To Appreciate: She Died In 2009, Aged 83, Penniless And Alone. “I’m The Mystery Woman” Vivian Maier Once Told The Children In Her Care

Image credits: historicalpix

#83 1993. Behind The Scenes Of Pulp Fiction

Image credits: historicalpix

#84 Horror Movie Villains Behind The Scenes

Image credits: historicalpix

#85 1958. Jimmy Armstrong Aka The Dwarf Clown At Clyde Beatty Circus In Palisades, New Jersey. From Photographer Bruce Davidson’s Series ‘Circus’

“He Was Standing Alone Outside The Tent Smoking A Cigarette,” Davidson Upon Seeing Armstrong For The First Time. Dressed In A Tux And A Top Hat He Held A Small Bouquet Of Paper Flowers, And “Stood There Pensively In The Privacy Of His Inner Thoughts.” “He Seemed To Know That It Was The Inner Moment I Was Drawn To And Not His Clown Face Or Physical Appearance. We Became Friends, Although We Seldom Spoke To One Another.” “I Found Something In Jimmy That Was More Than Loneliness, It Was A Story About Surviving" - Bruce Davidson

Image credits: historicalpix

#86 1945. Atomic Bombing Of Nagasaki

Image credits: historicalpix

#87 1980s. Vintage Band Publicity Photos

Image credits: historicalpix

#88 1978. Tim Allen’s Mugshot After He Was Arrested At The Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport For Possession Of Over 650 Grams (1.43 Lb) Of Cocaine

He Later Pleaded Guilty To Drug Trafficking Charges And Provided The Names Of Other Dealers In Exchange For A Sentence Of 3 To 7 Years Rather Than A Possible Life Imprisonment. He Was Paroled In 1981, After Serving 2 Years And 4 Months In Prison

Image credits: historicalpix

#89 Cornett Boys Smoking By Car, Leatherwood, Kentucky, 1964, By William Gedney

Image credits: historicalpix

#90 New Year’s Eve Hangovers Through The Years

Image credits: historicalpix