Retrospective: Sun photography marches through time
On September 30, 1901, The Baltimore Sun published its first picture, a profile image of a heavily mustachioed, prominent judge. That image ushered in an era of “news photography” that would document everything from the back alleys of Baltimore to the farthest reaches of the globe.
During that time, some of the best photographers have called The Sun home — A. Aubrey Bodine, Hans Marx, Richard Stacks and more recently, Jed Kirschbaum. These masters of the camera have graced the pages of The Baltimore Sun, which was founded in 1837 and is celebrating its 175th anniversary in May.
Dark rooms once filled with odorous chemicals and red lights warning intruders to stay out have been replaced with computers and digital technology. As time marched on, cameras, film and computers changed at a rapid pace, but the skill of the photographer defining the world around them has remained a constant. These are but a few of the many images that have made their way into newsprint and online, giving readers the color and flavor of decades of history.
- 1901: Above is a photo of Chief Judge James McSherry of the Court of Appeals of Maryland. This is the first photograph published in The Sun on September 30. (Baltimore Sun)
- 1904: Firefighters try to put out the 1904 fire that ravaged and destroyed parts of downtown Baltimore. (Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 1931: Babe Ruth during an exhibition game at Oriole Park. (Baltimore Sun)
- 1943: The Fortress, which was late getting back from a raid yesterday after attacks by six enemy fighters, is shown here with her original crew. (Lee McCardell/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 1948: Oyster Tonger (A. Aubrey Bodine/Baltimore Sun)
- 1951: Cross Street Market Fire. (Albert D. Cochran/Baltimore Sun)
- 1952: Heavy rains brought by the hurricane produced a flash flood in Ellicott City, which washed 21 cars down main street along with household furnishings and store merchandise. Pictured are some of the cars piled up near the depot yard at Main Street and Maryland Avenue. (Frank A. Miller/Baltimore Sun)
- 1955: Six-year-old Elizabeth Holly (left) and Gary Blum putting a puzzle together in the 1st grade at Public School 60. (Richard Stacks/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 1956: Policewomen during a gun training session. (Ellis Malashuck/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 1959: Colts’ #19 Johnny Unitas keeps the ball and races 4 yards to paydirt early in the 4th quarter. The touchdown put Colts ahead of the Giants 13-9. Helping out on the play is Colts’ Lenny Moore (24) with a block on Giant linebacker Cliff Livingston (89). (Joe DiPaola, Jr./Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 1964: Baltimore skyline as seen from Key Highway. (A. Aubrey Bodine/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 1964: “Elm Street Eyes,” taken in Cambridge, was one of the pictures which gained George H. Cook III the title of Baltimore’s Press Photographer of the Year.
- 1966: Orioles pitcher Dave McNally (center) prepares to catch 3rd baseman Brooks Robinson, left, in his arms, as catcher Andy Etchebarren (right) follows McNally in celebration after the final out of the World Series game at Memorial Stadium. McNally shut out the Dodgers with a four-hit performance in the 1-0 game and Baltimore swept the series. (Paul Hutchins/Baltimore Sun)
- 1970: Blaze Starr, distinguished nightclub proprietor and striptease artist, leaves Sinai Hospital, where she had been recovering from surgery for a benign tumor. (Lloyd Pearson/Baltimore Sun)
- 1978: Former Baltimore mayor William Donald Schaefer with a mermaid at the aquarium. (Lloyd Pearson/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 1995: The venerable waitresses at the Woman’s Industrial Exchange, L to R: Trish Hall, 57, Loretta Tarbert, 80, Marguerite Schertle, 94 (holding ice tea), Charlotte Zimernack, 68, Carrie Geraghty, 88, and Margaret Brogna, 84. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 1994: A marker placed by forensics expert near the first of five sets of skeletons exhumed at a mass grave site in Las Veulias, Honduras. This is the first ever dig in Honduras to try to exhume and identify remains of the disappeared from the 1980s. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun)
- 1995: Cal Ripken Jr. acknowledges the crowd after officially breaking Lou Gehrig’s record. (Karl Merton Ferron/staff)
- 1996: A Hutu woman carries not only her possessions but her child down the main street of Gisenyi, Rwanda. (Jed Kirschbaum/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 1995: Pope John Paul ll kneels and prays at the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore during a visit to the United States. (Chiaki Kawajiri/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 1997: The starting gate at Pimlico, where the horse’s ability to accelerate defies their physiology. (John Makely/Baltimore Sun)
- 1997: Workers carry a 350kg. sheet of steel across the Annapurna Shipyard in Alang. This technique is the cause of many foot and leg injuries. (Perry Thorsvik/Baltimore Sun)
- 1995: John Hudson looks out from his truck at one of his younger customers John Boias, 3, of Meadowood Townhomes in Edgewood, who had to deal with a rapidly melting fudgesicle. Beth Boias, John’s mother, said that after the ice cream truck it’s usually time for a shower for the youngster. (Jed Kirschbaum/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 2002: A city is shaken by the tragic death of the Dawson family. Tinice Copeland, her daughter India Johnson, 4, April Knox and her daughter, Kariah Williams, 2, drop money into a water bottle marked “The Dawson Family Money.” (Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun)
- 1997: A camera triggered by remote captures the finish of the 122nd Preakness, which was by a nose by Silver Charm, ridden by jockey Gary Stevens, center. (Gene Sweeney, Jr./Baltimore Sun)
- 1997: Ofc. Ray Cook detains a carjacking suspect at gunpoint after knocking him off his bicycle. The juvenile was wanted on an armed carjacking warrant and was identified on Edmondson Ave. He was taken down at the corner of Edmondson and Allendale. (André F. Chung/Baltimore Sun)
- 1998: First day of Boot Camp at the Savage Leadership Challenge facility. James Phelps, 17, experiences Induction Day with the help of three Tactical Officers shortly after getting off the bus to boot camp. The TACS were making sure he understood the importance of using “Sir!” whenever he spoke. (André F. Chung/Baltimore Sun)
- 1999: Twice a year, Nepalis national vitamin A program gives a 2-cent dose of the vitamin to children 6 months to 3 years of age, whose all-rice diet leaves them malnourished. (Chiaki Kawajiri/Baltimore Sun)
- 2001: Ray Lewis celebrates on the podium after being named MVP. (Gene Sweeny, Jr./Baltimore Sun)
- 2001: Minavar Sariyeva, 80, is pictured outside the underground dut-out where she lives with her daughter, Suraya Sariyave, 31, in a space barely larger than a walk-in closet, with a ceiling so low one has to stoop. This area is known as Lachin Winterland. For the past century, it was used by shepherds in the winter who brought their sheep from Lachin, a mountainous area, to this lowland which was much warmer. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 2001: Rescue workers remove debris by hand from the ruins of the World Trade Towers as the sunlight hit the remnants of the north tower. (John Makely/The Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 2005: Pedestrians walk along an eerily peaceful E. Lafayette Avenue beneath a full moon Monday, Oct. 17, 2005. While many streets in town have plenty of cars, most neighborhoods in this section of town rarely have any parking problem, since many of the homes are vacant and members the community usually can’t even afford the costs of having a vehicle. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
- 2006: Dressed as a scantily clad Darth Vader, Ed Griffin, of Reisterstown, runs into the Chesapeake Bay during his first ever Polar Bear Plunge. The air was 60 degrees, but the water was a less inviting 37 degrees for the tenth annual event. (David Hobby/Baltimore Sun)
- 2006: Laura Harper (top) hugs teammate Marissa Coleman after evening the score and securing overtime before winning the Championship. Teammate Jade Perry reacts at right. Maryland Terps defeat Duke 78-75 in overtime for the NCAA National Championship at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, MA. (Elizabeth Malby/Baltimore Sun)
- 2006: Barbaro pulls up lame in front of the grandstand during the 131st running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. (Doug Kapustin/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 2007: Celine Goins shows off her hair on stage as part of the Baltimore’s Best the annual Bawlmer’s Best Hon Contest during HonFest in Hamden. (Chiaki Kawajiri/Baltimore Sun)
- 2008: Lenny Kulider driver of the Prowler monster truck, working on the truck this afternoon before tonights Monster Jam at the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 2009: Crowds cheer for President-elect Barack Obama as he makes a stop at Baltimore’s War Memorial Plaza during his Inaugural Whistle Stop tour to Washington DC. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
- 2010: Rebecca Girvin leans out the second floor window of her home in the Lake-Walker neighborhood to push snow off her front porch roof. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)
- 2010: Matthew Burchill of Detroit, MI, jumps in the air after receiving his diploma during the United States Naval Academy graduation and commissioning ceremonies for the class of 2010. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 2010: Baltimore city police officers comfort each other near a fatal accident scene on Route 40 in West Baltimore involving a city police car and a city fire engine. (Barbara Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
- 2010: The 39th annual lighting of the Washington Monument in Mount Vernon Square, from the Peabody Court Hotel. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 2010: Flowers rest next to head gear on the mat at Mack’s Gym to honor boxing legend and trainer Mack Lewis, who passed away. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
- 2010: Darrell “Tony” Powell tries to comfort his girlfriend, Anna Haslup, aunt to Anna Marie Stickel, 14, who was struck and killed by an Amtrak train. (Jed Kirschbaum/Baltimore Sun)
- 2011: Alden’s Malibu, a horse at Country Life Farm in Bel Air, stands out in the snow covered field. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 2011: Pilot Rob Holland of Nashua, NH maneuvers his Veteran Home Loans MX2 plane along Ocean City (below) more than 3,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, the day before the 2011 OC Air Show. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 2011: Bengals cornerback Adam Jone, left, tackles Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith by his hair. Smith gained 28 yards on the Joe Flacco pass. Baltimore Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals 31-24. (Christopher T. Assaf/Baltimore Sun)
- 2011: Amidst the emotional goodbyes, Arielle Lee, 22, left, whose mother, 1st Sgt. Carmen Lee, 42, is being deployed to Iraq, finds a quiet place to sit in the armory. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun) BUY THIS PHOTO
- 2012: An early morning aerial view of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. (Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun)
Nick Tann
Apr 05, 2012 @ 17:27:33
Hi Vickie – You can now click on a PHOTO LINK in one of the photo captions to go to individual photo pages. There you can use the social share services to share just that photo. Hope this helps!
vickie gray
Mar 29, 2012 @ 15:34:17
Also, the instagram version of this photo is cropped, making it an entirely different and — in my opinion — a totally different photo. Sorry to be such a curmudgeon but Jed Kirschbaum is one of my favorite photographers and this photo in particular is among my absolute favorites.
vickie gray
Mar 29, 2012 @ 15:32:11
Boo! Why can’t I tweet or share only this image? The url generated takes you to the home page of the blog.
Stokely Baksh
Mar 29, 2012 @ 16:12:33
Hi Vickie – We’re working on fixing the image sharing problem. On the Instagram front, I made it a point to tell individuals to visit the site to see the full image. I could have been much clearer. I’ll be more mindful of cropping images on Instagram in the future. Thanks for your feedback.
Daniel McLellan DDS
Mar 29, 2012 @ 13:14:46
These are great images. Does the Sun sell printed copies of these?
Stokely Baksh
Mar 29, 2012 @ 13:35:18
Thanks all for the kind words! Daniel — You can purchase reprints from our store. Here’s a link http://www.baltimoresunstore.com/photos
Tom Waldron
Mar 29, 2012 @ 07:55:40
Excellent photos and site. Nice addition!
Retrospective: Sun photography marches through time | Photography Farm | Photography News, Galleries, Phorography Tips, TV Videos
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