Although the cameras that photographers now use are capable of taking clearer and sharper photos than cameras fifty and in some cases even a hundred years ago, these photos from National Geographic’s archive remain as captivating today as they were the day that they were taken.
Although clarity matters a lot when you break down what it is that makes a good photo, composition and subject matter are far more important, something that these photos have in abundance. The photos you see below are part of a project called Found which was established in 2013 in honour of National Geographic’s 125th anniversary.
The mission of the project is to bring old photographs back to life by sharing them to a new audience. Although some information surrounding dates, times and subjects in the photos have been lost each of them remains timeless.
1. A tiny kitten walks across a victorian water lily pad in the Philippines, 1935.
2. A striking portrait photo of a white fallow stag captured in Switzerland, 1973.
3. Irish guards remain at attention despite one guardsman fainting, London, England, June 1966.
4. American bison running through heavy snow in Yellowstone National Park, November 1967.
5. Hikers standing on top of a naturally formed bridge on Mt. Rainier, Washington, May 1963.
6. Proving that cats haven’t changed one bit a kitten attacks it’s own reflection in the mirror, 1964.
7. An impressive rock that’s been shaped by wind and rain towers above a man in Western Australia, September 1963.
8. A lady shares her table with “caramel”, a regular at the Le Louis Ix In Paris, May 1988.
9. A Kenyan woman holding her pet deer in Mombassa, March 1909.
10. Lovers embrace next to the The Arc De Triomphe In Paris, 1960.
11. Tourists drive under a fallen tree that’s been cut to let cars through in Sequoia National Forest, May 1951.
12. A man and his border collies herd sheep in Scotland, 1919.
13. A flock of birds flying around an enclosed courtyard in Old Havana, December 1987.
14. People relax by the tulip fields and canal in Haarlem, The Netherlands, 1931.
15. A man examining the teeth of a 10-month-old Alaskan Malamute near to the south pole, 1957.
16. Smartly dressed school boys pose with a group of penguins at London Zoo, 1953.
17. A waterfall cascades 3,000ft down Auyan-tepui’s Wall in Venezuela, March 1963.
18. John.F Kennedy’s coffin rests beneath Capitol’s dome, November 1963.
19. A woman dressed as a Chinese goddess poses for a photo in a Californian garden, 1915.
20. The shadow of a man holding a bike is cast on a building near the Zambezi river, 1996.
21. A sled dog tied to a whale rib in Alaska howls during the midnight sun, 1969.
22. A boy selling lemonade on his front yard on main street, Aspen, Colorado, 1973.
23. Victoria Falls photographed from above.
24. Two dancers in costume stand next to a column at Poseidon’s Temple, Greece, 1930.
25. Astronaut Neil Armstrong floating in a swimming pool whilst wearing his spacesuit, 1967.
26. A rainbow adds to the beauty of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.
27. The statue of liberty at sunset in New York, 1978.
28. An isolated fisherman’s home overlooks a quiet Placentia Bay in Newfoundland, Canada, 1974.
29. A balloon from Anchorage, Alaska, flies over Cook Inlet, 1986.
30. Flamingos standing in the water near salt beds.
