Thread by @yevangeIion, Thread of Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii’s photography expedition across the Russian Empire: “At the [...]

Thread of Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii’s photography expedition across the Russian Empire:

“At the dawn of photography, the equipment was large and cumbersome, developing glass plates to reveal images was an intense process, and color, of course, didn’t exist. To take photos required an expedition of many to haul all this equipment, often at great expense.

So add to this a great invention – shooting in color, before the invention of color film. This was accomplished by shooting three images, one quickly after the other, each with a red, blue and green filter over the lens.”

View of the monastery from Svetlitsa. Seliger Lake, Volga River Region, Russia. 1910

Catholic Armenian women from Artvin. In 1897, according to the census, Catholic Armenians composed 65.5% of Artvin’s population.

Kurdish woman with children near the Kvartskhana village, 1912

Imam and his students near their Otta Millet (?) mosque, Artvin, 1912

Tea factory in Chakvi. The supervisor of the production, or as the photographer referred to him, the tea master, Liu Zhenzhou. He was also the father of Chinese revolutionary Liu Shaozhou, participant of the two first congresses of the Communist international.

Georgia, 1912

At the public square, Registan, Samarkand. Photo taken in front of the Sherdor madrasa.

Yacub and the Kuttab (elementary school) students. Samarkand. Early 1900s

Old Sart man, Samarkand.

Sart women, Samarkand. Early 1900s

Group of Jewish boys with their teacher. Samarkand.

Jewish girls from Samarkand

Bukharan clerk at Emir Shir-Budun’s summer palace. 1906-1907

Said Mir Mohammed Alim Khan, the emir of Bukhara, 1911. “Emir presided over the internal affairs of his emirate as absolute monarch and reigned from 3 January 1911 to 30 August 1920.”