Russia in colour, a century ago

[BikerBabe]

Hi guys.
I stumbled upon these pics in one of my fave photo groups online, at news:dk.fritid.foto.billedsnak.
Highly fascinating photos!

Russia in color, a century ago - The Big Picture - Boston.com

There's plenty more photos on the website.

Here's some articles about the photographer and the photo technique that he used:

Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tolstoy Studies Journal: Prokudin-Gorsky's Color Photographs of Tolstoy

Enjoy!

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Excellent find Maria!!! A lot of the photos look as if they were taken yesterday. That is astounding!

 

[BikerBabe]

Excellent find Maria!!! A lot of the photos look as if they were taken yesterday. That is astounding!

I totally agree with you - I'm so in awe here!
The photographer also had the opportunity to photograph Lev Tolstoj - that's max cool in my opinion!
I couldn't help but think while watching these photos, that many of the aces that we talk about here, weren't even born then, or they were just babies! Just a stray thought.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Wow, that's a great find Maria!

 

[Torch]

Nice,interesting pics.......

 

[mudpuppy]

Thanks for posting these, Maria. I love the design and styles of the old Russian wooden houses and churches.
But the woman in the fisrt pic is amazing! I am thinking it may be a wedding picture??? The color of her clothes against the green spring leaves is a stark contrast to her expressionless face....there is an amazing story there I am sure.

have a good one,
Derek

 

[Lucky13]

Just fantastic!

 

[Gnomey]

Great find!

 

[BikerBabe]

Thanks for posting these, Maria. I love the design and styles of the old Russian wooden houses and churches.
But the woman in the fisrt pic is amazing! I am thinking it may be a wedding picture??? The color of her clothes against the green spring leaves is a stark contrast to her expressionless face....there is an amazing story there I am sure.

have a good one,
Derek

Hi Derek, yw.

My guess is that at the time that the photo was taken, it was still quite exceptional to be photographed, and particularly in the rural areas of old Russia.
Therefore (I'm just guessing here, mind you!), people would dress up for the photographer, wearing their finest clothes just for the occasion, so that they would look their best and look great on what might be the only ever made photo of them in their entire lifetime.
And the expressionless face - well, back then it took minutes to expose the photo plate, and so people naturally don't smile in the photos. Imagine keeping a happy smile for somewhere between one to five minutes, and still making it look relaxed and natural? Cramps in the jaws alright!

 

[Torch]

My grandfather and grandmother back in Poland showed us some black and whites form the "old days" and nobody smiled back then either, just looking at them you knew they had a tough life in the fields...