8 Iconic Historic Photos That Aren’t What They Seem: From Daguerre to Walt Disney

The photograph is not true. It doesn’t even look like reality. And for this reason, it is easy to change the meaning of a photograph and confuse everyone. Many times, until you read the story of the image you are looking at, you do not realize its true meaning. let’s find out the real story of some historical images.

When F. Arago introduced photography in 1839, said that it was the perfect tool to record reality, that it would serve to record in an instant all the hieroglyphs of the pyramids, for example. That was its function, mirror of truth. But it’s not like that.

Photography only tells what you want to show. It works as a window of reality. And the images that we are going to see here are a perfect example of how something totally different from what you thought you were seeing can be taught. Let’s start.

The ‘Boulevard du Temple’ and the first man photographed (1838)

We put this photograph as an example of the mistake made by many viewers who did not understand the photographic technique. The exposure times were so long that it was impossible to fix everything that moved on the sensitive plates.

For this reason, in this image of Paris (and any of the time) it seems that we are seeing a deserted city. More than ten minutes of exposure turn a populous city into something abandoned. It is something common to all snapshots of the time.

The cities were bustling, but life could not be recorded. Not the cars or the sidewalks full of people running, laughing or crying… And the only one who appeared forever was a gentleman who stood still for ten minutes while his boots were cleaned. He was not alone as in ‘I’m legend‘, he just stayed still long enough.

Portrait of a Drowned Man (1840)

We are not looking at a dead man, but a self portrait of someone who has given up for not getting the recognition (and money) you think you deserve.

In those years, the middle of the 19th century, the French government unconditionally supported Daguerre as the inventor of photography. And he, Hippolyte Bayard, was forgotten and encouraged to delay filing his patent.

Daguerre went down in history, and he was doomed to oblivion. And to certify his social death, he had no better idea than prove that the photograph was a lie with his symbolic deathdrowned by the contempt of power for his work in favor of another.

That dead man was alive it was just a self portrait. He turned a farce into reality, and discovered before anyone else the path of photography.

‘Lunch on top of a skyscraper’ (1932)

It is one of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century. Many want to see the workers in a moment of rest. But it’s just an advertising image.

these workers they didn’t eat like this every day. The photographer was just looking for a shocking image and asked 11 unknown people to pose in similar positions.

The most curious thing is that it has become an image to honor the workerswhen at that moment they were only following the instructions of the photographer.

The meeting of the dictators in Hendaye (1940)

The world was falling apart and two dictators they decided to meet to complicate it even more in the famous encounter in Hendayeon the border with France.

The Spanish dictator asked for so many things to enter World War II (such as the cession of the territories of Morocco and Algeria controlled by the French), that Hitler decided to reject a greatly weakened ally because of the Civil War.

The photographs of that meeting are manipulated. The shots were so hasty, they went wrong. Where one of the dictators came out well, the other appeared with his eyes closed or his mouth open.

So we are faced one of the most advanced retouches of the timesimilar to those of Stalin’s Russia, who made those who fell from grace disappear from photographs.

A conscientious laboratory work in which at least two negatives were mixed, medals were erased and one was simulated to be taller than another. Fortunately, the originals are preserved to see the reality of the photographer.

Henri Cartier Bresson in Dessau (Germany), 1945

In the end, the two who appeared in the previous photograph did not achieve their dark objectives. And this photo is an example. But if you don’t read the context it can confuse you. You don’t recognize both sides.

In the crowd, an enraged woman shakes another with her head down, while the others watch expectantly. There is something strange and you don’t know who to position yourself with. But you feel sorry for one of them.

The real story is that the short-haired woman was a Gestapo collaborator and is recognized by a Jewish woman who cannot contain her anger. And if you know the story, everything changes. And you consider even your humanity, no matter how much it hurts. It is one of the best examples of photojournalism that we can find.

Life is not black or white, it is full of nuances and you have to live to try to understand it. No one said it was easy and photography is the best tool we have to ask ourselves the necessary questions.

‘The Window Box’ by Robert Doisneau (1948)

We are facing a joke, just as we can see it today on social networks. Only that we are in the middle of the post-war period, when nudes were scandalous. What we are seeing is a staging, it is part of a series.

Robert Doisneau He asked the owner of the Romi gallery in Paris to hang a provocative painting in his window. She hid a camera and hoped the magic would happen.

The photographer forced the situation to get what he wanted. It is not a street image, it is a trap to get it. Does it lose its meaning? Does it stop being one of the best photographs of the reflection of a society? It’s a lie, but we can’t stop praising her.

‘Putting out the tongue’ (1951)

He is the spitting image of the mad professor. Nobel laureate Albert Einstein himself asked Arthur Sasse for nine copies to send to his friends. He had just celebrated his 72nd birthday and the journalists were waiting for him at the exit.

It is often said that the famous scientist was angry, but it was just a joke, a game after the party. In addition, the photograph is always published cropped, taking away all the meaning.

The author himself acknowledged that, moments later, Einstein laughed at his occurrence when he was asked to pose to celebrate his birthday. He was not at all angry. We are facing an iconic image of the 20th century in which, even though time is relative, you have to laugh.

Walt Disney does not smoke in the photographs

Walt Disney died of lung cancer in 1966. And they didn’t want his image to be associated with smoking. So they deleted them from all the images they posted in their parks.

In return, we always see him making a strange gesture with his index and middle fingers. They did not want him to be associated with this industry, so in his company they did, in the 70s, one of the best retouches that have been seen to change the truth, that he was a chain smoker.

Surely it was not difficult for them to find specialized technicians to remove the cigarette from his right hand. The only thing is that they left a sign that many misinterpreted.