30 Portraits of Lovely Ladies Featured on the Covers of Radio Control Modeler Magazines From the 1970s and 1980s

We all know about the lovely ladies who graced the covers of such manly car and bike magazines as Easy Rider, Hot Rod, and Lowrider... but there was another type of magazine that gave those macho muscle car magazines a run for their money, the radio control airplane magazine.

A radio-controlled aircraft (often called RC aircraft or RC plane) is a small flying machine that is controlled remotely by an operator on the ground using a hand-held radio transmitter. The transmitter communicates with a receiver within the craft that sends signals to servomechanisms (servos) which move the control surfaces based on the position of joysticks on the transmitter. The control surfaces, in turn, affect the orientation of the plane.

The first official contest for RC model airplanes was technically held in 1936, but no contestants flew radio-controlled models that year. The first official RC contest with entrants was in 1937. And it was not until the 1970s that this form of aeromodeling became so massively popular.

See more»

18 Black and White Photographs Capture Everyday Life in Jerusalem, 1981

These pictures of Jerusalem in 1981 were taken by Simon Nowicki, a street photographer who has practiced the art of photography for over 35 years. His works are influenced by the likes of Henry Cartier-Bresson, Paul Strand, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander and Rennie Ellis. 

Take a look back at life in the city in 1981 through these 18 beautiful black and white pictures. More fascinating photographs of daily lives could be found at Nowicki's amazing Flickr site.

See more»

Flashback to the Glory Days of American Malls in the 1980s

In the winter of 1989, 20-year-old photographer Michael Galinsky began driving across the country to document the seismic change in shopping malls, which at the time were central to American culture. They represented suburban consumerism in its most basic form and provided a place for families and teens to shop and socialize.

These pictures lay forgotten until Galinsky revisited his work in 2010. Initially posted online, the interest in his photos suddenly exploded. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Galinsky’s selected work was published in the book Malls Across America by the renowned publisher Steidl in 2013.

In 2018, Galinsky decided to revisit his archive once more, aware that there was still a strong appetite for the project. “That book is now very expensive, and it didn’t include all the work by any means. So this summer I did a Kickstarter to raise funds to print an entirely new book with no repeat images.” Galinsky described his book The Decline of Mall Civilization. “It’s a very different book in that it is almost entirely double page spreads where the pictures play off of each other. I’m so happy that people keep finding meaning in the work. (and themselves!)”

Take a look back at the glory days of shopping malls and the style of shoppers that defined a generation through these 35 fascinating color pictures taken by Galinsky in 1989:

See more»

45 Fascinating Photos Capture Everyday Life of Khrustalnyi in the 1980s

Khrustalnyi or Krasnyi Luch is a city in the Luhansk Oblast (province) of south-eastern Ukraine, currently controlled by the Luhansk People’s Republic. It is incorporated as a city of oblast significance.

The town was founded as Kryndachivka at the last years of the 19th century. It became one of the most important coal mining centres of the Donets Basin. In December 1920, it was renamed as Krasnyi Luch (lit. “red beam”). City since 1926.

Under the Ukrainian decommunization laws the city was renamed on 12 May 2016 by the Ukrainian parliament to Khrustalny, to no practical effect, since they don't control the area.

These fascinating photos were taken by Juri Nesterov that documented everyday life of Khrustalnyi in the 1980s.

See more»

35 Beautiful Photos of Margaux Hemingway in the 1970s and ’80s

Born 1954 in Portland, Oregon, American fashion model, actress and the granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway Margaux Hemingway earned success as a supermodel in the mid-1970s, appearing on the covers of magazines including Cosmopolitan, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and Time.

Hemingway signed a million-dollar contract for Fabergé as the spokesmodel for Babe perfume. Her later years were marred by highly publicized episodes of addiction and depression, before her suicide from a drug overdose on July 1, 1996, at the age of 42.

These beautiful photos captured portraits of a young Margaux Hemingway in the 1970s and 1980s.

See more»

Incredible Photos of New York City’s Subway in 1980

In the spring of 1980, Bruce Davidson began his ‘Subway’ project, which focused on New York City’s subway system. Instead of the common black and white portraits, Davidson shifted to color after he realized that the subway was “a dimension of meaning that demanded a color consciousness”.

Davidson’s portraits deliver a distinctive insight into the life of the underground community. Each picture in ‘Subway’ captures a rare moment in time within the history of socialization in the country. According to Davidson, the series served to connect the culture of New York. He described the graffiti in the streets as being a secret language decrypted by the subway.

For the task ahead, Davidson had to prepare himself with the uttermost care, both physical and mental. “If they said ‘yes’, it was yes; if they said, ‘No,’ then I knew it was no forever.” Said Davidson. “It was hard for me to approach even a little old lady. There is a barrier between people riding the subway – eyes are averted, the wall is set up. The breakthrough this painful tension I had to act quickly on impulse, for I hesitated, my subject might get off at the next station and be lost forever.

“In transforming the grim, abusive, violent, and yet often serene reality of the subway into a language of color, I see the subway as a metaphor for the world in which we live today. From all the earth, people come into the subway. It’s a great social equalizer.” States Davidson in his conclusion by the end of the series. “As our being is exposed, we confront our mortality, contemplate our destiny, and experience both the beauty and the beast. From the moving train above ground, we see glimpses of the city, and as the trains move into the tunnels, sterile fluorescent light reaches into the stony gloom, and we, trapped inside, all hang on together.”

‘Subway’ remains Davidson’s most successful work to date. Take a look back at the life of the underground community in 1980 through these 21 incredible photographs below:

See more»

35 Stunning Photos of Beautiful Model Iman in the 1970s and ’80s

Born 1955 as Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid in Mogadishu, Somali-American fashion model and actress Iman was discovered by the American photographer Peter Beard while still at university, and moved to the United States to begin a modeling career. Her first modeling assignment was for Vogue a year later in 1976. She soon appeared on the cover of some of the world’s most prestigious magazines, establishing herself as a supermodel.

With her long neck, tall stature, slender figure, fine features, and copper-toned skin, Iman was an instant success in the fashion world, though she herself insists that her looks are merely typically Somali. She became a muse to many prominent designers, including Halston, Gianni Versace, Calvin Klein, Issey Miyake and Donna Karan. She was a favorite of Yves Saint-Laurent, who once described her as his “dream woman”.

Iman has worked with many notable photographers, including Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, and Annie Leibovitz. She is also noted for her philanthropic work, and was married to rock musician David Bowie from 1992 until his death in 2016. She is represented by TESS Management in London.

Take a look at these stunning photos to see the beauty of a young Iman as a model in the 1970s and 1980s.

See more»

Fascinating Vintage Black and White Photos of Londoners in 1981

From the 1950s onwards London became home to a large number of immigrants, largely from Commonwealth countries, turning it into one of the most diverse cities in Europe. However, the integration of the new immigrants was not always easy. Racial tensions emerged in events such as the Brixton Riots in 1981, which resulted from racist discrimination against the black community by the mainly-white police. 

On May 7, Ken Livingstone becomes leader of the Greater London Council after Labour wins the GLC elections. Political disputes between the GLC run by Ken Livingstone and the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher in the early 1980s would later lead to the GLC's abolition in 1986. 

On Wednesday, 29 July 1981, the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer took place at St Paul's Cathedral in London, United Kingdom. Their marriage was widely billed as a “fairytale wedding” and the “wedding of the century”. It was watched by an estimated global television audience of 750 million people.

These pictures of London in 1981 were taken by Simon Nowicki, a street photographer who has practiced the art of photography for over 35 years. His works are influenced by the likes of Henry Cartier-Bresson, Paul Strand, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander and Rennie Ellis. More fascinating photographs of daily lives could be found at Nowicki's amazing Flickr site.

See more»

Fascinating Vintage Black and White Photos of Life in Paris in 1981

After thirty years of uninterrupted economic growth known as the Trentes Glorieuse combined with unemployment rate reaching a record nine percent, on May 10, 1981, France welcomed its new president, François Mitterrand, who defeated Giscard with 51.8 percent of the vote and became the first socialist leader of the Fifth Republic. The socialists and communists also swept the elections for the National Assembly in June in what became known as the Rose Vague or “Pink wave”.

These pictures of Paris in 1981 were taken by Simon Nowicki, a street photographer who has practiced the art of photography for over 35 years. His works are influenced by the likes of Henry Cartier-Bresson, Paul Strand, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander and Rennie Ellis. More fascinating photographs of daily lives could be found at Nowicki's amazing Flickr site.

See more»

Spectacular Black and White Photos of People Celebrating New Year’s Eve in the Past

New Year’s celebrations have been going on for a long time around the world, and it turns out that the way partygoers get down in the evening of the last day of the year hasn't changed that much over the decades.

From the 1910s to 1980s, take a look through these fascinating black and white pictures and see how things have changed and how they have stayed the same:

New Year's Eve in the dressing room of a theatre in Germany, 1911.

Couples dancing in the street during New Year's Eve, Berlin, 1914.

The end of a New Year's Eve party.

Three New Year's Eve revelers mug happily for the camera.

Guests at a New Year's Party at the Auto Club in London, 1922.

See more»