These PICTURES MADE PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY

EXTREME CLOSE-UP

David Fairchild used a 12-foot-long (3.7-meter) camera, nicknamed “Long Tom,” to capture this enlarged image of a California wolf spider for his 1913 National Geographic article, “The Monsters of Our Back Yards

WHERE’D YOU GO?

In 1937, National Geographic published the first natural-color photo of a solar eclipse

IN LIVING COLOR

This photo of a porkfish appeared in the 1927 National Geographic article that debuted the first underwater color photos. The photographer took them using autochrome, the first viable method of color photography

HIGH IN THE SKY

When National Geographic published this picture of South Dakota in 1936, it was the highest vertical photo ever taken at that time. The image was captured from the Explorer II helium balloon, the first aircraft to reach the stratosphere

NOT NEWSY ENOUGH

This 1925 photo shows the Sphinx of Giza before it was fully excavated. After it was uncovered, National Geographic’s editor-in-chief warned his staff not to use the photo because it was “very much out of date

UP IN THE AIR

This photo of the Statue of Liberty appeared in a 1930 National Geographic article that featured the first successful aerial color photos. The photographer used Finlay, a process that required a shorter exposure than autochrome

NOW YOU SEA ME

Williamson's Undersea Wonders took this still of actress Lulu McGrath for the 1922 silent film Wonders of the Sea. The production company specialized in film and photos shot through a porthole in their patented submarine chamber