How many famous photos can you think of? I’m willing to bet that you know of more iconic images than you think. Here are a few I am sure you have seen a number of times before.

The Green Eyed Afghan Girl

This is probably the only photo which has ever literally stopped me in my tracks. I first saw it on the National Geographic cover in a store and was transfixed enough to forget what flavour of yoghurt I was meant to be buying there. It is of a 12 year old Afghan girl in a refugee camp with haunting eyes. It was strawberry, by the way.

The Revolutionary Who Inspired a Generation

What do you mean you haven’t ever seen this photo before? Sure, you might not have seen the full thing but you have seen this image of Che Guevara’s face on a million t-shirts, tattoos, pieces of graffiti and plenty of other places. The photographer famously never made any money from it, although ownership rights are now hotly disputed. If it wasn’t for this photo I wonder how many people would never have heard of Che.

The Beatles Album Cover

Even if you have never owned a Beatles album in your life you will have seen this image a huge number of times. It has led to spoofs being created featuring all sorts of characters from The Simpsons to The Red Hot Chilli Peppers and our old friend Pac Man. This image also seems to have been a key factor in the “Paul is Dead” theory. He isn’t, you know. Well ok, he might be. I have no idea how this photo “proves” it, though.

The Shocking War Photo

There have been many famous photos over the years which have captured the horror of war but few have been as shocking as this one. The naked girl who is running towards the photographer captured the hearts of millions. Some people have cast doubts on the validity of the Vietnam war image we can see but there is no doubt that it has had a huge impact on our perception of the innocent victims of war.

The Civil Rights Photo

Martin Luther King had a dream which led to one of the most stirring and emotionally charged speeches in history. This famous photo captures the moment brilliantly.

The Moon Footprint Photo

Whose footprint is that? Why, it belongs to the man who took a small step onto the Moon a few years ago. Ironically, the fact that a perfect footprint was left on a moisture-free dust surface led some people to claim that this proves that we didn’t really go to the Moon after all. It has been suggested that this footprint will last for millions of years but who will be the next person to go there and take a photo of it?

The Loch Ness Monster Photo

There have been stories of a monster in Loch Ness ever since St Columba supposedly saw the beast. This is the most famous photo ever taken of it. It is known as the Surgeon’s Photograph. Recent studies have suggested the fact that it is actually a picture of a small bird or a submarine with a fake beast on it. As far as I can tell, no one has ever conclusively proved it to be a fake, though.