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Though photography is a much younger medium than painting—the first photo is widely considered to date from 1826—the astonishing technological advances since then mean that there are now far more pictures taken every day than there are canvases in all the world’s galleries and museums. In 2016 alone, hundreds of billions of images were made. We began this project with what seemed like a straightforward idea: assemble a list of the 100 most influential photographs ever taken. How do you narrow a pool that large? You start by calling in the experts. We reached out to curators, historians and photo editors around the world for suggestions. Their thoughtful nominations whittled the field, and then we asked TIME reporters and editors to see if those held up to scrutiny. That meant conducting thousands of interviews with the photographers, picture subjects, their friends and family members and others, anywhere the rabbit holes led. It was an exhaustive process that unearthed some incredible stories that we are proud to tell for the first time, in both written stories and original documentary videos. There is no formula that makes a picture influential. Some images are on our list because they were the first of their kind, others because they shaped the way we think. And some made the cut because they directly changed the way we live. What all 100 share is that they are turning points in our human experience. In the process of putting this list together, we noticed that one aspect of influence has largely remained constant throughout photography’s nearly two centuries. The photographer has to be there. The best photography is a form of bearing witness, a way of bringing a single vision to the larger world. That was as true for Alexander Gardner when he took his horse-pulled darkroom to the Battle of Antietam in 1862 as it was for David Guttenfelder when he was the first professional photographer to post directly to Instagram from inside North Korea in 2013. As James Nachtwey, who has dedicated his life to being there, put it some years ago, “You keep on going, keep on sending the pictures, because they can create an atmosphere where change is possible. I always hang on to that.”

INTO JAPANESE

写真は絵画よりもずっと若い媒体であり、最初の写真は1826年から広く考えられていますが、それ以来驚くべき技術の進歩は、世界中のギャラリーや美術館にキャンバスよりもはるかに多くの写真が毎日撮られていることを意味します。2016年だけでも、何千億もの画像が作成されました。

BACK INTO ENGLISH

Photography is a much younger medium than painting, and the first is widely considered since 1826, but since then amazing technological advances mean that galleries and museums around the world take far more photos every day than canvases. Hundreds of billions in 2016 alone

INTO JAPANESE

写真は絵画よりもはるかに若い媒体であり、最初は1826年以来広く考えられていますが、それ以来、驚くべき技術の進歩は、世界中のギャラリーや博物館がキャンバスよりもはるかに多くの写真を毎日撮ることを意味します。2016年だけでも数千億

BACK INTO ENGLISH

Photography is a much younger medium than painting, initially widely considered since 1826, but since then, amazing technological advances have meant that galleries and museums around the world take far more photos every day than canvases. Tens of billions in 2016 alone

INTO JAPANESE

写真は絵画よりもはるかに若い媒体であり、当初は1826年以来広く考えられていましたが、それ以来、驚くべき技術の進歩は、世界中のギャラリーや博物館がキャンバスよりもはるかに多くの写真を毎日撮ることを意味しています。2016年だけでも数百億

BACK INTO ENGLISH

Photography is a much younger medium than painting, and was initially widely thought of since 1826, but since then, amazing technological advances have meant that galleries and museums around the world take far more photos every day than canvases. Hundreds of billions in 2016 alone

INTO JAPANESE

写真は絵画よりもはるかに若い媒体であり、当初は1826年以来広く考えられていたが、それ以来、驚くべき技術の進歩は、世界中のギャラリーや博物館がキャンバスよりもはるかに多くの写真を毎日撮ることを意味している。2016年だけでも数千億

BACK INTO ENGLISH

Photography is a much younger medium than painting, initially widely thought of since 1826, but since then, remarkable technological advances have meant that galleries and museums around the world take far more photographs every day than canvases. Tens of billions in 2016 alone

INTO JAPANESE

写真は絵画よりもはるかに若い媒体であり、当初は1826年以来広く考えられていたが、それ以来、驚くべき技術の進歩は、世界中のギャラリーや博物館がキャンバスよりもはるかに多くの写真を毎日撮ることを意味している。2016年だけでも数百億

BACK INTO ENGLISH

Photography is a much younger medium than painting, initially widely thought of since 1826, but since then, remarkable technological advances have meant that galleries and museums around the world take far more photographs every day than canvases. Hundreds of billions in 2016 alone

INTO JAPANESE

写真は絵画よりもはるかに若い媒体であり、当初は1826年以来広く考えられていたが、それ以来、驚くべき技術の進歩は、世界中のギャラリーや博物館がキャンバスよりもはるかに多くの写真を毎日撮ることを意味している。2016年だけでも数千億

BACK INTO ENGLISH

Photography is a much younger medium than painting, initially widely thought of since 1826, but since then, remarkable technological advances have meant that galleries and museums around the world take far more photographs every day than canvases. Tens of billions in 2016 alone

INTO JAPANESE

写真は絵画よりもはるかに若い媒体であり、当初は1826年以来広く考えられていたが、それ以来、驚くべき技術の進歩は、世界中のギャラリーや博物館がキャンバスよりもはるかに多くの写真を毎日撮ることを意味している。2016年だけでも数百億

BACK INTO ENGLISH

Photography is a much younger medium than painting, initially widely thought of since 1826, but since then, remarkable technological advances have meant that galleries and museums around the world take far more photographs every day than canvases. Hundreds of billions in 2016 alone