Iconic photographs are so visually striking and emotionally impactful that they’re ingrained into our memory. But can you still remember iconic images when the subject of the photograph is removed? That’s what this very interesting photo series, Fatescapes, tries to make you do.
Created by Pavel Maria Smejkal, the historical pictures are cleverly photoshopped so that the subject of the picture is completely removed and all you’re left with is the background. The idea is to show the setting of the picture before or after the event happened. For the images I recognised, my brain automatically filled in the empty space with the original photo from memory. It’s amazing to see that these pictures still resonate with me with or without the subject because of its history.
Check out all of the pictures without their subjects here. The picture above is of the famous Tiananmen Square Tank Man. [Photo Art Centrum via NY Times via PetaPixel]
warcroft
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 2:15 PMI started writing out the answers but then noticed you had links to the answers under each pic. Ruined the fun.
Muskrat
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 2:19 PMEasy – does this mean I’m old(er)? . Yeah ditto with the links
Andrew
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 2:28 PMi got them all without even thinking, they are all iconic photos for sure!
mark b
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 2:31 PMI also got them all without thinking, rather than have the giveaway link you should have had a rollover which revealed the original image. :)
still great concept! grats to the artist to conceiving this series.
Jack
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 2:43 PMHaving low-level autism, I only remember in visuals (for the most part) so I got these pretty easy, but then again, they are very iconic!
Mr Odd
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 5:50 PMSame here.
But dyslexia instead of autism. And no, I can’t spell dyslexia, had to google the spelling.
smurfydog
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 6:40 PMThe first one had me thinking till I noticed the tank tracks on the asphalt. The others I knew straight away.
Vebi
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 7:53 PMThe only one I didn’t know was Iwo Jima. I guess I don’t care very much for WWII history.
olearymo
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 2:36 PMfirst two were cinches, I was surprised at my own abilities. The rest, uh-uh.
LucasF
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 4:50 PMI got the first one right and was very pleased with myself. Then I saw the others and started to wonder if I need more edumacationz.