 How's it? If these are the most powerful photographs ever taken, then we are in serious trouble as photographers. What a ridiculous statement, isn't it? That's a terrible thing to say, but that's what I kind of thought when I was initially looking through this list on a site called Kick Vic. And I'd been thinking about what makes a powerful photograph, and then in my mind there were the images that tend to spring up if you're invested in photography or have been around for a while, that these are iconic photographs that have been burned into our consciousness. So when I kind of looked through this list of images, the first thing that struck me was a picture of a Buddhist monk eating dinner with a tiger. Okay, so it's interesting, it's remarkable, it's not the most great photograph ever, but how is that one of the most powerful photographs of all time? Then you have a little boy playing a flute. Now this is all very twee, it's all very just so, okay, it's nicely composed and it's got some depth of field action going on in it, but it's hardly powerful. This is not like Gandhi sitting there cross-legged with a simple sewing wheel when he's one of the most important men in the history of India. No, this is just a boy with a cat. A fireman giving a drink to a koala, again, okay, this is interesting, it's man giving a drink to a koala, how is this a powerful photograph? That was an unfortunate way of thinking about these images because like a lot of photographers, I was getting wrapped up and misunderstanding the difference between a powerful photograph and a good photograph. And there are very much distinctions here. When we look at a list of images like this, it's easy to sit there and go, oh, you know, modern photography is in a right old state. If this is what people think are good these days or powerful, then we are in trouble because these are just snapshots wrapped up in some sort of saccharine sweetness. Everything in the old days was worthy and meaningful and that's where we would be wrong. About 10 years ago, Life magazine went through their archives and they put together a list of the 100 most powerful photographs of all time and within that list there were some of the usual suspects, images that have been seared into our consciousness, Earthrise by William Anders on those space Apollo missions, going around the moon, doing all of their space man kind of stuff going on there but still having the wherewithal to realise and to react and to photograph the Earth rising like the sun over the surface of the moon. You can imagine that on your wall if you're into space. I can't imagine putting a poster of a fireman giving a koala a drink on my wall. So we sit there, we make these unfair comparisons between the images that have gone before, those great photographs that were taken by great photographers of great moments and think that they are inherently better. We make comparisons between a woman, a mother coming back from a war zone and being overcome with emotion seeing her children once again with a similar photograph from the 1970s of a released airman coming back from a North Vietnamese prison and running across the tarmac to embrace his children. In this same article there's a photograph here from the Huffington Post of a Brazilian protester who's standing before gunfire during protests and corruption and police brutality and yet a couple of sections up there is the same kind of image from the 1960s of somebody offering a flower to soldiers during protests and once again you can make this comparison and go these two images are the same thing but the original one was better because it's older it was taken by somebody whose name we sort of know and it just is better because it was in Life Magazine and not the Huffington Post. If these lists have been around in 1955 there is a photograph that would have featured on them wholeheartedly and that is this photograph here this black and white image of two children hand in hand being backlit walking through a glade in a garden framed by an arch you could almost imagine this as a post and your love is at the bottom of it and you'll be shocked when I tell you that that photograph was taken by W Eugene Smith he is one of the greats in photojournalism he has photographed so many things and when you look at that image and you compare it to his other bodies of work you go why what's going on here that's a very twee looking photograph and the rest of his work is worthy and serious and has meaning and that photo that I showed you with the kids walking hand in hand comes from the family of men and when we look in this book we find the key as to why these photographs are so important the new ones of people saying these are the most powerful images of all time powerful photographs are not made to impress other photographers powerful photographs happen because they capture something that you can't just magic out of something you can't contrive a powerful photograph these images are powerful because people are reacting to them and that's what the family of men was put together to do in 1955 Edward Steichen again a hugely famous photographer decided that people needed a boost after the Second World War and wanted to put together an exhibition that showcased all of humanity worldwide from birth until death in all of its range of colours to say look we are here and this is how amazing life is the photographs in this book and the exhibition are not worldly wise some of them are really really good I would go wow that's amazing photograph but the majority of them are simple honest images of people doing human things these photographs have backstories they have connection each one tells you a little bit about them that even though we are removed from the time some of these photographs are almost a hundred years old and yet we can still feel the connection that's why when you look at the new photographs today for these lists from places like King Vic where you take these images and you think this is just rubbish but who knows within that list are there going to be the next W Eugene Smith the next Robert Kappa Robert Kappa he was the guy who went aboard the first wave of landings at D-Day and took photographs well under fire and the necks messed up and all sorts of stuff like that here's a picture that he has admitted for the family of men wow how different is that picture from you know from his other work again because these photographers realised something that I would love for you to also get a hold of and that is that sometimes it's okay to just take a trite photograph to take a picture that is saccharine sweet that is just about a reaction to an emotion or something without thinking about the composition and the lighting and being very serious about it because when we start doing that then that leeches back into our own photography the compassion that you have for things around us people have been taking photographs of things around them for as long as photography pretty much has been around and then of course when Kodak went or George Eastman said look here's a box brownie you press the button and you know we'll do the rest then he put photography in the hands of the masses those famous names that sprinkled through the family of men are famous because they've had their entire careers celebrated since then but who are the people on this list from Kick Vic who may be the next W Eugene Smith the boy with the flute and the cat if that photographer becomes super famous in 20 or 30 years time we will look back at that image and go well you can see how the Gorgian sees the way that he uses lines and shape and form and it's just genius but right now it's just a boy with a flute playing to a cat the thing that does connect all of these images though is that the photographer themselves was inspired to pick up a camera and they were inspired to pick up a camera by the most influential photographer of all time and if you want to find out who that is click over here thank you ever so much for watching and I will see you again soon