(Thanks to M for sharing this with me!) In the early 1900's, photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii developed a new and cutting edge technique for shooting color photographs. You can read about his work by clicking here, and you can see many of his color photos of turn of the century Tsarist Russia by clicking here. However, I want to point out the contrast (or lack there of) between his pictures, taken almost a century ago, and my photos, taken on June 22, 2006:
Cathedral of St. Dmitry
Photo by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, 1912
Cathedral of St. Dmitry
Photo by me, June 22, 2006
Uspensky (Assumption) Cathedral
Photo by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, 1912
Uspensky (Assumption) Cathedral
Photo by me, June 22, 2006
(Although the lighting wasn't as good
as I would have liked when I took this)
On one hand, I realize that these cathedrals were built in 1194 and 1158, respectively... and if something's been around that long, you shouldn't really expect it to change much over the space of 94 years, but just looking at the photos made me feel like I was living inside some sort of strange time warp. Hope you enjoy them. Anyway, I had decided to run down to Cathedral Square to snap some recent pics of the cathedrals, and I caught a glimpse of the Bogoroditse-Pozhdestvensky monastery, and it occurred to me that in my eleven months in Vladimir I hadn't been inside it. So, I popped on in. To be honest, it wasn't really all that interesting, although there were some intricately carved bells which I photographed...
Bogoroditse-Pozhdestvensky monastery
Bell close-up #1
Bell close-up #2
2 comments:
That's so cool! I have looked at those 1912 photos many times, and it's neat to see new photos taken from the same angle and see how little has changed. BTW, I've enjoyed your blog. I'm an ex expatriate who lived in Russia a couple of times and got my MA in Russian History. I now work as a lawyer, but wish I had just gone on to the PhD. I've been lurking around your site, reading your posts for months. (I've been trying to figure out a way to get back to Russia, but the mountain of student loan debt from law school has narrowed my career options somewhat.) I've really enjoyed it, so I'm sad that you won't be posting from there anymore. Good luck in your future projects, and enjoy your new house!
Jane, I am a native of Vladimir city who has not been "home" for 12 years. Your site and pictures bring a lot of good memories about Russia and the American Home. Good job!
Yevgeniya (also known as Jane:)
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