A chemist by the name of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) had a dream to create color photographic images.
He made the dream a reality...more than 30 years before George Eastman would patent his KodaChrome film. He invented a system that would capture images on glass plate negatives. One negative would capture red, another green, the third was blue. The negatives would then be assembled in a projector that would, by alternating levels of luminosity, create a clear color composite of the image. His work would catch the attention, and the enthusiasm of Tsar Nicholas II.
With the support of the Tsar backing his work, Prokudin-Gorskii traveled throughout Russia between 1909 and 1915. He lived in a customized rail car that served as his living quarters as well as his laboratory.
After the Russian revolution, he fled to the west, eventually settling in France. After his death, his heirs sold his photograhic plates to the Library of Congress.
His work has been recreated through digital composites...I found this to be absolutely stunning.
Self-Portrait, from "On the Karolitskhali River"
"Portrait of Pinkhus Karlinsky, 84 years old" (Supervisor of the Cherigov Floodgate, 1909)
General View of the Nikolaevskii Cathedral from Southwest (St. Nicholas Cathedral, Mozhaisk, 1911)
Kareshka Boat Yards (Lake Onega, 1909)
Three Generations, A. P. Kalganov poses with his son and granddaughter who work for the Zlautist arms plant
Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war, 1915.
More info on source link: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire
2 comments:
Holy crap, Carol! Those pictures are amazing!
All I can say is "WOW!"
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