# What is the Mona Lisa of photographs?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mona-lisa-of-photographs/93620
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 15, 2001, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mona-lisa-of-photographs/93620 "2001-11-15T22:24:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2001, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mona-lisa-of-photographs/93620/61 "2001-11-18T21:57:57Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Montfort \*
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by HubZilla \*
> > \*\*I think you folks are missing the point of this thread. I think the OP was looking for real non-posed pictures, you know: the kind not taken in studios. \*\*
>
> I’m sorry? The photo I linked to was not posed. It was a spur of the moment, “hey, look at THAT” photo taken by the crew of the first ship to orbit the moon.
>
> Oh, duh, I get it. The Apollo mission was faked in a studio in Arizona. :rolleyes: \*\*
I’m just so funny that I forgot to laugh.
What about that picture with the guy in the unemployment line with the tin cup. I tried a google search using that description, but no luck. Anyone know what I am talking about?
There’s also a depression one with an unemployment line in front of a sunny billboard describing the American way of life. (Again, couldn’t find a link)
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### Author:  [@23skidoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/23skidoo)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2001, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mona-lisa-of-photographs/93620/62 "2001-11-18T22:20:23Z")
Here’s my submission. Like it or hate it, whether it makes you laugh or wonder, you can’t say that you don’t recognize [this](http://www.loch-ness.com/files/surfacephotographs.asp#surgeon) photograph.
[sub]Well, I guess you could, but I wouldn’t believe you.[/sub]
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### Author:  [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2001, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mona-lisa-of-photographs/93620/63 "2001-11-19T02:46:30Z")
I would have to say [this one](http://www.museumldv.com/monalisa.htm) is the real Mona Lisa of photographs. It’s about a third way down the page.
😃
_D & R_
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### Author:  [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2001, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mona-lisa-of-photographs/93620/64 "2001-11-19T04:13:28Z")
friend fenris,
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Fenris \*
> \*\*There’s also a famous photo of a little black girl going into a formerly segrated school, surrounded by guards of some kind. Very powerful. \*\*
i think you may be talking about the picture of ruby bridges thath was painted by norman rockwell. an interview with ms. bridges, and a picture of the painting can be found [here](http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/11/14/ruby.bridges.ap/) and a framed print hangs in my hallway.
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### Author:  [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2001, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mona-lisa-of-photographs/93620/65 "2001-11-19T04:34:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by longhair75 \*
> **i think you may be talking about the picture of ruby bridges thath was painted by norman rockwell. an interview with ms. bridges, and a picture of the painting can be found [here](http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/11/14/ruby.bridges.ap/) and a framed print hangs in my hallway.**
That’s certainly the event and it’s probably one of Rockwell’s most powerful pieces, but I’d _swear_ there was a photo too. Different angle…the photo was taken from the front, and you saw Ms. Bridges (thanks for the name…I never knew it before!) in a 3/4ths or front shot…um, if you’ll excuse some _bad_ ascii art, like this:
```auto
| | | |(*v*)
| | | | "
| | | |( )
| | | | ||||
(=) (_) O O
```
(the ET looking thing is supposed to be Ms. Bridges.)
Something like that, anyway, with more legs in front and behind
Anyway, thanks for the info!
Fenris
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### Author:  [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2001, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mona-lisa-of-photographs/93620/66 "2001-11-19T04:51:43Z")
friend fenris,
> [@](#):
>
> That’s certainly the event and it’s probably one of Rockwell’s most powerful pieces, but I’d swear there was a photo too. Different angle…the photo was taken from the front, and you saw Ms. Bridges (thanks for the name…I never knew it before!)
you are most likely right, that there are photographs of that incident. i just walk past the rockwell print a few times a day ;o)
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2001, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mona-lisa-of-photographs/93620/67 "2001-11-19T15:01:03Z")
The Great Depression photo mentioned is by Margaret Bourke-White of Life Magazine, IIRC.
I would probably vote for the Steve McCurry photograph of the Afghan woman, or the iconic billowing skirt shot of Marilyn Monroe…that is, if we’re disregarding photojournalistic images such as Eddie Adam’s photo of the execution of a VC, or Joe Rosenthal’s raising of the flag on Iwo Jima.
Ya know, maybe even the cover to “Abbey Road” or some famous photograph of Elvis would also be a worthwhile contender…
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### Author:  [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2001, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mona-lisa-of-photographs/93620/68 "2001-11-19T16:27:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by minlokwat \*
> **There is nothing remarkably fantastic about the subject nor the work itself…**
I cannot believe this thread has gone on for two whole pages and no one has questioned the idiocy of this remark. Art historians, where art thou?
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### Author:  [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2001, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mona-lisa-of-photographs/93620/69 "2001-11-19T17:46:15Z")
I don’t know whether we’re looking for most artistic or most readily recognized photo here, but if it’s the latter, I’d go for the photo of Anne Frank that usually appears on the “Diary of” cover (believe it was shot in 1942 and was a standard school photo.)
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2001, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mona-lisa-of-photographs/93620/70 "2001-11-19T18:48:08Z")
In about ten years, I would imagine that the side-on image of the fireball exploding from the Tower 2 of the World Trade Center will rank right up there.
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### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2001, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mona-lisa-of-photographs/93620/71 "2001-11-20T04:17:32Z")
When I read the OP the first picture that popped into my mind was the National Geographic Girl with te Green eyes.
That picture is hauntingly beautiful.
My next choice would be that man atop the World Trade Center, September 11, 2001.
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…
Kidding!
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### Author:  [@Leonora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leonora)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2001, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mona-lisa-of-photographs/93620/72 "2001-11-20T05:19:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Leonidas \*
> \*\*Some possibles:
>
> 1. The photograph of the fireman carrying the dead infant from the ruins of the Federal building in Oklahoma City. I can barely even stand to look at this one.
> \*\*
This photo is the very first photo I thought of when I read the topic. It is the photo I will forever associate with where I was standing when I heard this had happened.
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