chained
Well-Known Member
From 1909 to 1912, Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) made several trips to the territory around the Ural Mountains, where he photographed railroad installations, factories, urban settings, and natural scenes. In the summer of 1910 Prokudin-Gorskii traveled along the Samara-Zlatoust Railway (built in 1885–92; now the Ufa-Chelyabinsk line), including the Sim River valley. Seen here is a luxuriant hemp field in the vicinity of Sim Station, located near the Sim Ironworking Factory. At the turn of the 20th century, hemp represented a major source of income for peasants in the western and central provinces of Russia. Hemp fiber was particularly valued for ropes because of its resistance to salt water. Hemp fiber was also used in the making of cloth. Seen in the background here are other fields and forested slopes, with Shelyvaginoi Knob (hill) to the right. During his travels, Prokudin-Gorskii photographed landscapes not only to illustrate the geographical diversity of the Russian Empire, but also to demonstrate the range afforded by his special three-color photography process. Prokudin-Gorskii used this process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. Some of his photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.
Source: http://www.wdl.org/en/item/5345/
Source: http://www.wdl.org/en/item/5345/
