Here`s a question to all fellow photographer`s if you could have had a camera to record a FAMOUS moment in history where and what would it have been?

Here`s my choices:

The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906

Mata Hari`s boudoir ca. 1916

Aboard the Graf Zeppelin and her around the world flight in 1929

At Lae, New Guinea as famed female pilot Amelia Earhart prepared for the start of the  last leg of the around the world flight in 1937
(she took off in her beautiful Lockheed Electra and disappeared on her way to Howard Island and was never heard from again)

Shortly before 7am on December 7th 1941 at the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the day America was attacked by the Japanese and launched the United States into WW2  (with colour film)

The last few hours of the Third Reich in the ruins of Berlin 1945

In one of the chase B-29`s following the Enola Gay as she dropped the Atom Bomb on Hiroshima 1945
(with an Arriflex film camera and some Leica`s with colour film)

The 24 Hours Sportscar race at Le Mans, France in 1955 where Pierre Levegh`s Mercedes approaching the straightway before the spectators stands, was cut short by Mike Hawthorn`s Jaguar, the Mercedes forced with nowhere to go crashed into the partition wall at over 150 Miles Per Hour, the car exploded, spraying aluminum fragments and burning gasoline over the crowd
(Levegh and 79 spectators were killed in the most horrible day in sportscar racing history, the Chancellor Of Germany Konrad Adenauer called the head of Mercedes at Stuttgart and had the cars removed from the race, Mercedes didn`t race again for over 40 years)

On board the Andrea Doria as she was sinking after her collision with the Stockholm off Massachusetts in 1956
*a footnote about this* (The Doria had over 1,000 passengers aboard her as she was struck by the Stockholm, the ship badly damaged went into a major list, rendering over half the lifeboats unuseable to help the passengers escape, for over 9 hours the people aboard did`nt know if they would be rescued, live or die?
An SOS was heard by the French passenger liner Ile de France which was hundreds of miles away at the time, the captain of that ship, stopped everything and turned around getting to the Andrea Doria just in time to help save the survivors, had the Ile de France not come to the aid of the Doria, there would have been a sea disaster as costly and intense as the was Titanic in 1912, and another bit of triva about the Andrea Doria....a  photographer DID take photos of the ship in it`s peril with slanted decks and the panic ridden passengers faces, but as he was rescued his Leica M3 fell into the Atlantic Ocean, priceless recorded history was lost in an instant)

The 1957 Mille Miglia in which Alfonso de Portago's Ferrari lost a front tire and left the road at appox. 140 Miles Per Hour, killing him, his co-driver and 11 spectators almost instantly

The Morning of August 14, 1961 as the Berlin Wall was being laid down

Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas on Nov. 22, 1963 shortly before 11:30 AM CST

The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan TV show 1964 (New York & Miami)

Working for MAGNUM or LIFE magazine in Vietnam ca 1965-68
/US Navy Phantom jet combat photographic team

1966 Le Mans, France for the 24 Hours sportscar race as American Ford/Shelby American won a 1-2-3 photo picture perfect race

Haight-Ashbury San Francisco ca. 1967/68
(don`t drink the Kool Aid Opps!)

1968 ~The Death of a racing legend ~ F1 World Champion
Jim Clark from England who was killed in an petty inconsequential F2 race at Hockenheim, Germany, in an accident that to this day remains unexplained.......

A seat on Ken Kesey's "Magic Bus" along with his Merry Pranksters 1967-69

On Top of Abbey Road Studios as The Beatles sang "Get Back" for the movie "Let It Be" 1969

Hummm mostly everything KOOL stopped happening in 1969 go figure.....

Cheers

Tom

I'd go with the Abbey Road Studios roof.  The marketability to danger ratio in that situation is more to my liking than any of the other.

But I'd have to pick pre-photography moments in history, like Martin Luther nailing up his Theses.  Or Cleopatra eating grapes.

The Big Bang

I would like to have been in the delivery room when I was born.  Hmm...actually I was there, wasn't I?

Oh there are lots...

But i think i would like to have been there to record Lincoln's Gettysburg Address...

Actually there was a photographer present, but thinking the president was going to speak for a while he took time to set up and focus the primitive glass plate camera...

Lincoln spoke for only about two minutes and the only picture of the event is the president sitting down after finishing...

just shows the importance of getting the shot...



actually as  think about it... i think perhaps the crucifixtion... a bit morbid i know, but what execution has had such ramifications historically, rightly or wrongly...

Definitely the crucifixion. 

Britney Spears' losing her virginity!

I would be so rich!! I'd have a ferrari and everything!

GWC

Patrick Henry's "Give me Liberty or Give me Death" speech.

or

Continental Congress...Philadelphia, PA...July 4th, 1776.



Scott @ Reign

By definition, you couldn't photograph the big bang - as the light wouldn't have existed yet. Quark-gluon plasma doesn't radiate.

Sorry, did my undergrad in physics.

But my choice would have to be what would get the most fame and money when brought back to modern day (presuming that there's no issue of believability):

The crucifiction of Jesus (or conclusive photographic proof that it didn't happen). Either way, that's the money shot.

The land rushes of the mid to late 1800's.

The building of the great pyramids in Egypt

The Roman Senate - March 15, 44 BC

Inside Enola Gay, August 1945

Somewhere on Earth, around 60 million years BC, the day the Dinosaurs met their makers

-Rowen

The crucifixion would good to shoot, certainly.  But the real "money shot" would be the resurrection.

The Alien Ship crashing in New Mexico!

Good question!  You're looking for defining moments of our generation, the generation before, and perhaps even before that.

Our generation: the shooting of Ronald Reagan, Rabin, or ?

Previous: The Berlin Airlift, John Glenn, fighting the Chinese at the Chosin Reservoir, Jimmy Hendrix plays guitar w/ this teeth at Winterland.

Two before: Charging Kettle Hill w/ the Rough Riders, explosion of USS Maine, Shooting of Arch-Duke Franz-Ferdinand

Cheers
James

I never shoot unless the image is already pre-sold.  Besides, recording history is not as much fun as making it.

the library of Alexandria, before it burned. Lots of film/memory so I could get some images from inside the lost texts

the entombment of Cleopatra, site still not found it is thought the Romans might have had her burned...

and the day that all the inhabitants disappeared from I think it was Roanoke?, or you know which city I am talking about

any and all of the places where the greatest mysteries of history would be waiting

What'd I'd like to cover...

Grand prize goes to the Battle of Thermoplyae. 300 Spartans holding a narrow mountain pass for 3 days against 30,000 Persians. Nothing like fighting to the last man.

Honorable mention goes to the Nazi Blitz on London.

Honorable mention #2 goes to the Prague Spring.

I've just been reading all your suggestions and I betcha that mine would be the biggest money-maker of them all.

I'd be like Trump with all my money and would totally hire Chaotika and Theda and all the hot girls from MM and I'd send Brit a big thank-you card!

GWC