Despite increased industrialization and a 1905 revolution, early 1900s Russia remained an absolute monarchy under Tsar Nicholas II. But while Russia lagged behind the West in many industries, a few pioneering photographers created the most advanced color photography technology in the world.
Developing a technique called digichromatography, Russian chemist and photographer Sergey Mikhaylovich Prokudin-Gorsky traveled around the country photographing landscapes, people, and more. The photos provide a truly unique perspective into a mostly pre-industrial world.
Digichromatography involved taking three photos in quick succession, each through a red, green, and blue filter respectively. Then, the images could be combined into a final product. The vast majority of the photos in this collection come from Prokudin-Gorsky.
1
Three generations of a Russian family. From a color photo collection of Prokhudin-Gorsky, pioneer of color photography, Russia around 1910.
2
The Monastery of St. Nilus on Stolbny Island, Russia, 1910.
3
Prisoners in a zindan, probably in the Emirate of Bukhara under Imperial Russia. 1910.
4
Factory in Kyn, Russia, belonging to Count S.A. Stroganov, 1912.
5
Jewish Children with their Teacher in Samarkand. Early color photograph from Russia.
6
Molding of an artistic casting, Kasli Iron Works, 1910.
7
A fabric merchant in the Samarkand Market, Russian Empire. 1911.
8
A switch operator poses on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, near the town of Ust Katav on the Yuryuzan River in 1910.
9
Original color photo of a man from Dagestan. 1905-1915.
10
The last Emir of Bukhara, an autonomous city-state in the Russian Empire, 1911.
11
Pinkhus Karlinskii, eighty-four years old with sixty-six years of service. Supervisor of Chernigov floodgate, part of the Mariinskii Canal system. Photo taken in 1909.
12
View of Tiflis, (Tblisi), Georgia from the grounds of Saint David Church, 1910.
13
A chapel sits on the site where the city of Belozersk was founded in ancient times, photographed in 1909.
14
Alternators made in Budapest, Hungary, in the power generating hall of a hydroelectric station in Iolotan (Eloten), Turkmenistan, on the Murghab River, 1910.
15
Avar women of Dagestan, 1911.
16
Prokudin-Gorskii rides along on a handcar outside Petrozavodsk on the Murmansk railway along Lake Onega near Petrozavodsk in 1910.
17
General view of the Nikolaevskii Cathedral from southwest in Mozhaisk in 1911.
18
General view of Artvin, now in Turkey, from the small town of Svet, 1910.
19
A metal truss bridge on stone piers, part of the Trans-Siberian Railway, crossing the Kama River near Perm, Ural Mountains Region, 1910.
20
A water-carrier in Samarkand, present-day Uzbekistan, 1910.
21
A general view of Sukhumi, Abkhazia and its bay, seen sometime around 1910 from Cherniavskii Mountain.
22
A dog rests on the shore of Lake Lindozero in 1910.
23
Self Portrait of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky. Near Batumi, Georgia, 1912.
