and of course, I’d be wrong - it’s Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, apparently.
But I still vote for Che.
Sorry - my two statements weren’t connected. I meant that the picture I linked to was the first photograph ever made, not the first Iwo Jima picture. There’s a bit of info on the photo about a fourth of the way down in this Wikipedia article.
Considering the reaction, though, I’m guessing this isn’t the most famous photograph. 
In a few years it’s gonna be goatse.
It’s the picture at the bottom. Though it’s definately showing a major Canadian bias.
In the category of portraits, Winston Churchill by Yousef Karsh would have to be up there.
The parent page of the “first photo” that Nightwatch Trailer linked has a pretty good description. Unfortunately, it’s probably only famous among photo-geeks.
The “Victory Kiss” photo sprang to mind as soon as I read the OP, then I thought of Karsh’s Churchill, which wasn’t there when I hit the Reply button. Oh, well. I’m sure I’ll think of six more candidates as soon as I post this.
Definately vote against the Kent State photo, not really all that familiar. cheddarsnax said mine, the Vietnamese execution “head shot” photo.
Che and the Afghani woman are the first two I thought of. If neither are number 1, they are both at least in the top 10, with Che almost surely being in the top 3.
Never saw that before [that doesn’t say much, mind you]. Striking portrait.
I’ve found a great many websites that say the Iwo Jima flag-raising photo is the most reproduced photograph. Go here:
and look at paragraph 16.
Despite what you may have heard, even though this is a photo taken of the second flag-raising it was not posed.
And for those of you wondering about the first flag-raising at Iwo Jima, here’s a link:
http://collectinghistory.net/iwojima/
You’ll probably agree that none of those photos have the impact of the more famous second flag-raising photo.
The OP asks two distinct questions… best or most famous photo.
For most famous, I would have thought either the classic ‘Earth rise’ photo taken from the moon, or the full-length photo Buzz took of Neil Armstrong in astronaut gear standing on the moon. Just off the top of my head, I can’t think of photographic images I’ve seen reproduced and recycled and reused more than those.
But best? I can’t even think of what to nominate, or any criterion by which one might judge. I’ve always thought the famous Frank Powolny portrait of Marilyn was particularly brilliant - it just captures so much of the real woman, and the image she was trying to present, plus it’s a great, truly attractive image to look at. (The Yousef Karsh ‘Churchill’ linked to above is great, but he’s not exactly pretty to look at.) Sorry, but I’ve got limited time and I couldn’t find a link to the particular Powolny MM pic I mean.
It is one of my favorites too. You probably know that they recently located the girl (now grown woman) in the picture…for years her name was unknown.
If this is the one you mean, that’s a photo of Buzz Aldrin taken by Neil Armstrong. I recall reading that Armstrong was the one taking most of the pictures; it didn’t occur to either of them that it might be good to get more pictures of Armstrong, since he was the “first man on the moon.”
I would, for one. I hope you don’t think it is “wrong” to make a photo in that sort of situation.
If no one thought to make photos like that then no one else would get to see them. It is quite a compelling photo.
Enola Straight writes:
> Citizen Kane is also considered the best motion picture ever filmed.
For what it’s worth, I suspect that these days The Godfather tends to be at the top of more great film lists than Citizen Kane.
I see the flag rasing at the WTC all over the place but then again I live in NYC.
There is that pretty famous photo of ‘Nessie’ raising her head out of the water.
Are you only going for still photos? Other wise the Zapruder film would be pretty darn famous.
That image of Bobby staring up as he was dying is pretty famous.
The photo taken right after MLK was shot.
The sixties seem to be a big time for famous photos.
The Marilyn photo that was in the first Playboy magazine launched that magazine and create that brand.
So there are some contenders to kick around a bit.
From what’s already here; I’ll third (?) the Victory Kiss because that’s what I immediately thought of too. A close second would be the poor nude young girl running that SiXSwordS and chatelaine were discussing.
After that, and my own personal belief, would be that of the still of Kennedy shot with Jackie climbing out and over the trunk of the moving convertible. Haunts me every single time I see. Which seems really often.
Among the general population maybe (imdb), but I’ve never known a film scholar that thought it was really worth mentioning.
That’s not to say that the Godfather is bad, it just doesn’t take my breath away like CK does.