r/AskReddit 22d ago

You can go back to any point in time and take a single picture that you can then bring back to today. What do you take a picture of?

300 Upvotes

446

u/Casper200806 22d ago

Stephen Hawking and me at his time travellers party.

106

u/ithappenedone234 22d ago

You'd break science, for sure.

74

u/Casper200806 22d ago

Science can’t be broken, only corrected.

19

u/ithappenedone234 22d ago

I meant more like, Hawking saying "you broke my brain!"

18

u/Lady-Hood 22d ago

Better than him saying I broke his chair

33

u/Jim105 22d ago

No one went during this timeline, but in other one, man that party was lit. We gave him cure for his illness and he was dancing like there was no tomorrow.

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u/some-hippy 22d ago

The pyramids at Giza, brand new

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u/bool_idiot_is_true 22d ago

That would be amazing. Covered in marble with a gold tip.

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u/Latter-Ad6308 22d ago

A dinosaur. All this research into them and we still can’t be certain exactly what they looked like.

12

u/prostateExamination 22d ago

What ever happened to the feather debate? Youd think we could have found a few fossilized feathers.? Or are we back to that they look like scaly reptiles? Idk I shouldn't be that upset about this either

13

u/slutforcefive 22d ago

General consensus is most therapods had feathers, it's even proven what colours some were.

7

u/DasGanon 22d ago

Yeah feather debate is done and dusted, the question is "what colors were they and what shapes were they?" because that can give info on camouflage and behavior.

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u/[deleted] 22d ago edited 8d ago

[deleted]

48

u/Cleverbird 22d ago

But... You'd die. Instantly. How would you even take that picture, earth doesnt even exist yet.

19

u/USKSLV 22d ago

There was a little foreplay before the big bang.

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u/Knight618 22d ago

If you held your breath, I’m sure you can get. A photo off then warping back. Also NASA would also want a photo of the Big Bang, so they can provide a O2 tank

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u/svenson_26 22d ago

There is no "prior to the bang". We think of time linearly, but because space time gets all fucky under super high mass/energy conditions, it doesn't work that way. From our current perspective, we can trace time back to a single point, but if you actually tried to go back, you'd never hit the beginning. There is no beginning.

Saying "before the big bang" is like saying "north of the north pole". It doesn't make sense.

33

u/zvug 22d ago

It doesn’t make sense within our current understanding and framework of physics*

It’s important to add that, we really do not know much. It’s easily possible that extraterrestrial civilizations billions of years older than us figured out the whole “time” thing on a much deeper level and there is some sense to “prior to the bang”

21

u/cerpintaxt33 22d ago

I’ve always thought that maybe “nothing” can’t exist. So, in the beginning, “nothing” existed for as long as it could, which was no time at all. As a result, “everything” came into existence.

13

u/nio_nl 22d ago

That's quite something.

12

u/cerpintaxt33 22d ago

It’s not nothing.

5

u/m48a5_patton 22d ago

You just wrinkled my brain

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u/sonheungwin 22d ago

We don't know this. What we know is that before the Big Bang, physics in the universe was likely completely different from the current understanding of how the world works. Time likely existed, but under a completely different spectrum that we can't even fathom.

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u/TheBertinator3000 22d ago

There is no "prior to the bang".

Pretty sure we don't know that for sure, actually. We can't see that far back in time and we don't have physics equations that work accurately under those conditions.

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u/Angry_Guppy 22d ago

The big foreplay

4

u/Ladder-up 22d ago

Not possible because time doesn't exist then

4

u/Thepowerisreal 22d ago

Even if there was, there's no photons to capture in a photograph

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u/TheBertinator3000 22d ago

Pretty sure we don't know whether or not time existed then. We can't run our current physics equations back that far in time. They don't work for those conditions.

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u/Bonguri 22d ago

My aunt. ❤️ She died of cancer when I was 15 and I really miss her. I don't have any pictures of her anymore because they got stolen from me.

17

u/prick68plus1 22d ago

What kind of sick bastard steals pictures of someone dead aunt

13

u/Bonguri 22d ago

It was my sister. Long story short, she's been always jealous because my aunt and me had a great relationship.

This happened as I was packing my stuff to move to another country. I had to run an errand for some hours, so she used that time I wasn't at home to check my stuff and steal the pictures, among some other things.

When I unpacked at my new home, I found out they were missing. I asked her and she told me she did it on purpose because she knew it was going to hurt me.

Well... I lost the pictures but she can't steal from me the memories of the great moments we spent together. And I'm very happy to have that. 🥰

5

u/prick68plus1 22d ago

Errm, I feel awkward now, I'm sorry for calling ur sister a sick bastard but she sounds it and I'm happy u still have memory's of ur aunt. Hope u have a good one

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u/Biggy_BigT 22d ago

Cleopatra nudes. thank me later.

84

u/ProbablySlacking 22d ago

I'd definitely go Helen of Troy instead. Cleopatra was supposedly more witty than beautiful. Helen was like God level beautiful.

37

u/damndingashrubbery 22d ago

... she was also like 13 IIRC

50

u/ProbablySlacking 22d ago

And? You're not the least bit curious who could be beautiful enough to cause a war?

I didn't say an inappropriate picture.

32

u/damndingashrubbery 22d ago

Nono. Im definitely curious. Its more a "just how fucked up WERE they?" Was she already adult-esque in looks or were the leaders just super-pedos?

26

u/GravyOnTheGravitron 22d ago

They didn’t have an arbitrary legal age of consent. Obviously nowadays it’s very firm, but I’m sure you’ve seen 16 yr olds that look 21 and blablablah. It’s not like they were fucked up, I mean they were, but not fucked up to them

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u/Youre-mum 22d ago

Hey when in Rome...I mean Troy

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u/1CEninja 22d ago

Isn't it a fairly modern (past 200 years) thing for high-brow women to not be married by 15?

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u/lost_last_one 22d ago

You gotta send them to your homies

(Yours too)

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u/awallpapergirl 22d ago

A picture of my mother and I. We have no photos together until my twenties as we were too poor for a camera. I'd love to have a photo of her and I on this one perfect day we had when I was six. She taught me rummy while we were sitting in a coffee shop and I destroyed her six hands in a row. She was laughing so hard but also starting to get angry at herself. Her bitterness tinged with laughter, how light and safe we felt, it's just the perfect day and I wish I knew what we looked like. I wish I had tangible memories of her happy, young, beautiful.

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u/katsinspace 22d ago

That is a really beautiful memory and I’d just like to say thank you for sharing that with us.

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u/thinkdeep 22d ago

Krakatoa Exploding. We know the date and time.

18

u/ByeFeliciana 22d ago

If you're close enough to take a picture the Shockwave will kill you.

18

u/thinkdeep 22d ago

I imagined I would immediately teleport back to my original timeline as soon as the shutter closes.

18

u/LxsterGames 22d ago

Id imagine you dont actually exist in that timeline and cant interact with it, just take a picture

11

u/sonheungwin 22d ago

Yeah, I assumed this was a noclip situation.

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u/SlashRingingHash 22d ago

My childhood playground (before renovation). I miss the peeling paint that pierced your flesh and the dinosaur fossil rock climbing wall.

17

u/WordsReddit 22d ago

Hold on,you guys pierce your fleshes?

15

u/Abdul_Exhaust 22d ago

Hold on, Guy Pierce was at your playground?

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u/amiaffe 22d ago

Me taking one of those pictures "holding up" the leaning tower of Pisa, only it's straight.

14

u/sonheungwin 22d ago

Gotta go the other way and take a picture of you kicking it down.

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u/Abdul_Exhaust 22d ago

Marc Antony and/or Julius Caesar plowing Cleopatra

25

u/Iwasit 22d ago

The meteor that exploded over Russia that one time

8

u/elevenminutesago 22d ago

The Chelyabinsk meteor (Feb 2013) or the Tunguska event (June 1908)?

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u/BeerFart0 22d ago

On my first date with the woman that became my wife, she was walking about 10 feet in front of me, wearing a green mini skirt, matching vest, and one of her white frilly blouses, Nylons (this was before pantyhose) and mid height high heeled shoes. She had the nicest ass and legs of any woman I had ever seen and my brain said holy fuck that looks nice. It's been 54 years and this picture is still burned into my memory. I wish there was some way to generate a print.

20

u/TheFlexOffenda 22d ago

Probably a picture of me and some old friends at school having a laugh

17

u/Queen_Omega 22d ago

I'd take a picture of my brothers biological dad before he died and then give the picture to my brother upon my return. His dad died due to a drunk mishap when my brother was a baby and my brother doesn't have any pictures of him.

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u/Dirkem96 22d ago

I want to see the pyramids about half way done. Then id know for sure how tf they did it

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u/BabyBoySmooth 22d ago

Jesus, I guess.

Edit: I change my mind I take a picture of some dinosaurs.

20

u/Abdul_Exhaust 22d ago

Jesus, take the camera

15

u/EmperorPenguinNJ 22d ago

Actually I’d like a video or sound recording of dinosaurs. We really don’t have any idea of their sounds. We just assume they roared.

12

u/BabyBoySmooth 22d ago

Imagine if they just made monkey noises

9

u/FrankDrakman 22d ago

Jesus coming out of the tomb, not on the cross. That would be the real story.

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u/7eggert 22d ago

Jesus riding on a laser T-Rex wielding an AK47.

5

u/LucianPitons 22d ago

Jesus walking on water just to make sure he did not have some help with a floating device.

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u/HeckingLoveDogs 22d ago

Selfie while he is on the cross

“Cmon man, just smile, I’ve only got one shot at this”

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u/ISd3d 22d ago

Jerry eating my Snickers ice cream on Saturday FUCK YOU JERRY I KNOW YOU DID IT

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u/fluffy_boy_cheddar 22d ago

100% snapping a pic of a T-rex.

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u/Left2Talk 22d ago

Whatever caused the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event

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u/GreenOnionCrusader 22d ago

My grandpa and me on a hike. He taught me to love nature.

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u/dailysunshineKO 22d ago

Mine taught me how to love animals

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u/InvXXVII 22d ago edited 22d ago

Serious question here. What would be an ideal setup (focal length, aperture, shutter speed) for the best snap possible of Little Boy a few seconds after its detonation? You have access to Lightroom after the shot. Edit: I think I'd go with 35 or 50mm, f/8 or f/11, and some very fast shutter speed (I don't manually adjust my shutter too often).

My choice is either that or Pompeii seconds before its destruction.

10

u/Kulladar 22d ago

Krakatoa about 5 seconds after the explosion.

It supposedly displaced about 5 miles of ocean around it which would make for a crazy photo.

The biggest problem is how to be close enough to photograph yet not die from an explosion four times more powerful than the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated.

2

u/OneSilentWatcher 22d ago

Have God mode enabled.

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u/bl0ckplane 22d ago

The grassy knoll.

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u/damndingashrubbery 22d ago

the CIA strongly objects to this decision

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u/beachsunsets1972 22d ago

My brother hugging my daughter for the last time. He was killed a week later.

3

u/EthicalSemiconductor 22d ago

Damn, I feel this one. Sorry for your loss.

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u/FlyingFox86 22d ago

I forgot to take a picture of my previous lunch to put on facebook. Would probably go back there.

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u/HimeImo 22d ago

A picture of the person who took a picture of the guy who took a picture of the construction men eating lunch.

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u/Zadoggo562 22d ago

humans rejecting monke

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u/FlashLightning67 22d ago

That probably shitty ginger bread house I made in school in kindergarten and dropped on the way home.

6

u/Successful-Mark9672 22d ago

My grandparents meeting each other.

6

u/[deleted] 22d ago

A photo of my dad winning his first race. I miss his smile.

15

u/RedditerGal99 22d ago

I would go back and take a picture of my dog.

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u/TiredPandastic 22d ago

The Parthenon, before the Christians ruined it, the Turks turned it into a munitions cache and the Venetians blew it up... and then the British stole half of it.

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u/marcybelle1 22d ago

Cleopatra, so we all know what she actually looked like.

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u/Oh_Shiiit 22d ago

I'd take a picture with my grandma and her favorite flower, which possibly not a single person in our family knows. The one thing we do know is that they aren't sunflowers.

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u/peiden 22d ago

Hitler shooting himself in the head.

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u/inky-blue 22d ago

When my fiancé first proposed. Everything happened so fast, and I don’t remember it all that well. If I could, I’d love to have a single picture of him proposing.

5

u/deweyadema 22d ago

Me teabagging Hitler

4

u/Muddyfeet_muddycanoe 22d ago

Pages of Grays Sports Almanac 1950-2000. What could go wrong?

5

u/queen-of-carthage 22d ago

The hanging gardens of Babylon

5

u/Knackwarrior07 22d ago

Abraham Lincoln during his "Four score and seven years ago" speech, but of him actually giving the speech on the podium.

5

u/WeSoFluffy 22d ago

I’d go back to my happiest moment and take a picture of my face to remind me that’s it’s possible

19

u/SamaritanPrime 22d ago
  • Jesus during His ministry (let's see if he existed). Pictures of Him doing a miracle or two would also be fantastic.
  • pictures of famous people before pictures were a thing. Imagine getting selfies with Alexander the Great, Abraham, Julius Caesar, the prophet Muhammad (did I spell that right?), Cleopatra, and all the rest.
  • Pictures from the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutional Convention.

7

u/Dirkem96 22d ago

I think its proven that Jesus of Nazareth was a real person, but then whole miracle thing and rising from the dead ordeal is what really gets people... stumped

4

u/Ivoryfetish 22d ago

The killing of Julius Caesar

4

u/LexifromZargon 22d ago

me and my grandma and my grandpa (grandpa dad side grandma mom side) they onely met once and both died when i was really young.i wanne see them again and show them the person i became and i want to take a picture of them together for my parents

5

u/RemarkableRemove2095 22d ago

The pyramids when they were just finished

5

u/Rudeirishit 22d ago

I'd be really curious of the coloration on a T-Rex.

5

u/samvich_man 22d ago

my grandpa, cuz I miss him

4

u/BrightWolf2018 22d ago

Probably a picture of my cat (me being an idiot didn't think taking pictures was important)

3

u/bandti45 22d ago

360 picture in every wavelength one second after the big bang from the origin point

3

u/Dusk_v731 22d ago

A herd of various herbivorous dinosaurs gathered at a watering hole. I want a photo of trex, but the scientific value of as many dinosaurs in the shot as possible would be more important.

11

u/streepvlek 22d ago

Probably my grandfather

3

u/Arvtistic 22d ago

My boys and I 20 years ago, we were a big group once. Life got in the way, death, departure, drama, women, moving away, work, and now there's one left I still talk to. It would be a nice moment in time to look back fondly on.

3

u/luke1989uk 22d ago

The last time i saw my nan

3

u/CartoonistMost275 22d ago

The time when I was really happy but I forgot when so.

3

u/Orangiat 22d ago

me giving birth

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u/KABOOMEN666 22d ago

The babylonian library before it got sacked

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u/GunMetalGazm 22d ago

OJ killing his wife.

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u/thirtyandtrying 22d ago

Me and my Grandpa together.

3

u/JumbacoandFries 22d ago

The Toba Explosion!

3

u/hitguy55 22d ago

My grandpa and me before he died

3

u/SID1410 22d ago

me with my real grandmother

3

u/Dagda_the_Druid 22d ago

That one dark and scary forest with a graveyard in it. We used to visit it regularly because it was very close.

That's how I got raised into the gothic culture. Little did I know that it'd be levelled to the ground in a few years...

3

u/martvanderheide 22d ago

The moment i picked up my first electric guitar

3

u/SalaryDizzy3153 22d ago

a picture with my dead best friend, we was little so we never had a pic with eachother

3

u/toni16134 22d ago

A T-Rex photo so I can prove they had feathers

3

u/rebri 22d ago

A picture of me holding an extra large lottery check with a large sum of money I just won by knowing the correct numbers from having travelled back in time.

3

u/BlueMoonSamurai 22d ago

My first kiss with my fiancé. I felt safe and asked him out later that night. It was the start of my improvement and our love and friendship.

3

u/jbpsign 22d ago

The Gladitorial Games. What a spectacle that must have been.

3

u/robrtsmtn 22d ago

Family reunion at my grandparents place. July 4, 1974, and all the cousins, aunts, and uncles were there.

6

u/SpacemanSpiff6962 22d ago

The Roswell crash site before the military showed up.

12

u/mikeyl1992 22d ago

Mary cheating on joesph.

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u/AlcotrasGaming 22d ago

Current me and my grandmother I want her to see how I have grown and how proud she would be

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u/wreckinballbob 22d ago

Time travel only moves through time, not time and space. So you can only take a picture of something that happened in the place you were when you time travelled. So I'd take a picture of myself time travelling.

3

u/G0PACKGO 22d ago

But the planet and universe are in a different place

3

u/tpham1049 22d ago

Any years sports almanac. Jeff Bezos who?

2

u/G0PACKGO 22d ago

Going back in time wouldn’t really be if any benefit

4

u/tpham1049 22d ago

Shit you right, i was mistaken for going to the future. Guess i wasted my single picture LMAO

2

u/Rasputindead 22d ago

His joy when he came from the army

2

u/[deleted] 22d ago

Dinosaurs

2

u/ADanganronpaDonut 22d ago

My friends and I for the last time so I'd have the memories forever (I moved away in third grade)

2

u/imranjinnah 22d ago

Taking pictures of dinosaurs..

2

u/RandomPerson1723 22d ago

the dinosaurs

2

u/OverlordTwoOneActual 22d ago

Either people building the pyramids, real life dinosaurs OR the roman emperor.

2

u/buforduga 22d ago

The grassy knoll November 22, 1963 right before the assassination

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u/Allaboutduhmoney 22d ago

Alexander the Great

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u/The_Patriot 22d ago

Marilyn Monroe singing "Happy Birthday Mr. President" cuz - apparently - there's no color footage of that singular event, and it drives me crazy.

2

u/MUM_WHYDOIHAVEALIFE 22d ago

I would take a picture of who assassinated JFK

2

u/hostilecarrot 22d ago

Color photo of a variety of dinosaurs over a vast plain. Fucking dinosaurs man.

2

u/Natolin 22d ago

The construction of the pyramids

2

u/Mysterious_Animator3 22d ago

My dead grandpa that i never knew

2

u/zerbey 22d ago

Drone shot of the Battle of Waterloo (or pick any other famous battle from before photography was invented).

2

u/Knuckles316 22d ago

A picture of where the Knights Templar buried their treasure.

2

u/lucky_ducker 22d ago

My late wife, the love of my life; we didn't meet until our mid-40s. I'd love to have a picture of us together in our prime (early 20s).

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u/pomato696 22d ago

I'm at the twins Fall whit the أولاد

2

u/Scroll_of_FIREBAll 22d ago

Jesus to a) see if he existed and b) see what he looked like

2

u/Amntho 22d ago

World war II, it would be risky but I want to see how it was like in color.

2

u/halfeatenbagelland 22d ago

Cook, people underrate how nice it feels to make a meal that is delicious.

2

u/FuegoAmbera 22d ago

Me square-dancing with my crush on pioneer day :')

2

u/Danivelle 22d ago

My daughter and I would probably flip a coin to see who took a picture of Anne Boleyn and who took a picture of Elizabeth I, with a bonus if we could get a picture including Henry VIII.

2

u/dovetc 22d ago

Birds eye view of the Battle of Cannae.

2

u/Sleepy-person293 22d ago

My grandparents.

2

u/juansolojr 22d ago

I would take a photo of my parents on their first date.

2

u/Aol_awaymessage 22d ago

The first date with my wife. Would love a picture of us.

2

u/zestyzenuk 22d ago

UK summer of 1988 rave scene

2

u/DAR44 22d ago

The fence on the grassy knoll

2

u/Register_Tough 22d ago

the 1 2 3 finish at the 1966 24 hours of le mans

2

u/Redditer5241 22d ago

The beginninng of time. Im sure atleast most ppl would wanna do that to see who's right about it.

2

u/Sufficient_Hawk_2447 22d ago

Me and my family when times weren’t so rough

2

u/Acklevuu 22d ago

I would take a picture of who asked! We need to know

2

u/Genderless_Genderall 22d ago

1982

My mother's first day of middle school

2

u/MiaBurnertt 22d ago

Dinosaurs :)

2

u/Irishfanbuck 22d ago

A pic of The Great Pyramid with its golden top.

2

u/Dippindoode 22d ago

Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski. Undeniable proof. Ha!

2

u/Theo2018 22d ago

Either take a picture of any sign of an actual jesus,or any god beeing. Or primitive huamans that are still close to monkeys.

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u/Savings_Gap_59 22d ago

If i could i would go back and take a pocture of my dad and grandpa. I never met him, my dad was a teen when he died. They have 0 pictures together.

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u/sipes216 22d ago

Interior of the great library of Alexandria.

2

u/DerikHallin 22d ago

I'd try to get a picture of Jack the Ripper or the Zodiac killer.

2

u/Bruhly- 22d ago

Chernobyl, Pompei, Hiroshima, George Washington crossing the delleware

2

u/susgeek 22d ago

King Arthur fighting the Saxons. His court and the Round Table.

2

u/AjaxSupremacy 22d ago

Me making out with Helen. Just so I could say I was the one to get with the girl even taking into account the whole Trojan war thing

2

u/tracey-Csi 22d ago

The view from a cabin my husband was working on in crestline California in 2000 that over looked lake Gregory it was about midnight and a heavy heavy heavy snowfall he just happened he was beautiful and I still wish to this day had gotten a picture of that is about midnight it was awesome that was fairy tale look

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u/hawaiianfreak 22d ago

I'd take a picture with my younger self

2

u/DustinTV 22d ago

A picture of Jesus, just to see how different our Version of him is with the actual Version (if there even is one)

2

u/wolfeyes555 22d ago

That time Jesus flipped the over some merchant's table.

2

u/MunchAClock 22d ago

I would take a picture of a city during the Bronze Age

2

u/wetlettuce42 22d ago

Jesus crucifixion that’ll prove once and for all to the atheists if he existed or not