Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky's Vintage Color Photos

[MV/Liberace!]

Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky was a Russian photographer who lived from 1863 to 1944.  He took these awesome color pictures by taking separate red, blue, and green shots at the same time, and then combining all of those together.  These pictures literally look like they were taken in the last 30 years.  Quite amazing, as we don't really tend to think of these times in color.



The Monastery of St. Nil on Stolobnyi Island, 1910.




Self portrait, 1912.  He's dead now.
Check out the effect this photographic process has on the water. 







Three Russian peasant girls, 1909.  Yup, they're dead now.





Austro-Hungarian POWs in Russia, 1915.  They're all dead now.




A Uzbekistan Prison, 1907.  God damn did life suck.  Check out the dopey guard.  He's dead now.




Railway Administration building, Perm, Russia, 1910.  I see someone walking down here.  He's dead now.




Greek women and children harvesting tea, between 1909 and 1915.  Probably all dead now.

[valdez]

     Wow.  Very cool.  Why did they have to die?

[EvB]

those are very impressive.

[MV/Liberace!]

there are several other photos out there if you do a google image search on this guy's name.

[puddintame]

What a treat!  Amazing.  Thanks, MV!

[MV/Liberace!]

What a treat!  Amazing.  Thanks, MV!

it sure is fascinating, isn't it.

[MV/Liberace!]

just thought i'd bump this thread since i think it's so goddamn cool.

[starrmtn001]

just thought i'd bump this thread since i think it's so goddamn cool.

That it is MV, thank you!   So, everyone is dead?

[coaster]

People like to talk about how far technology has come, but look at this guy. What an innovator.  A hundred years from now people will look at all of our horribly filtered duckface pictures and shrug, and comment about how lucky they were not to live in our day. And they will also point out that we are all dead.

[akwilly]

why red, blue, and green? Why not black, red, blue, and yellow?

[pyewacket]

Большое спасибо, MV! Thank you for sharing.

[MV/Liberace!]

why red, blue, and green? Why not black, red, blue, and yellow?

because red, blue, and green are the primary colors.  all other colors can be made from the three combined in varying amounts.

[whoozit]

It is strange how most think of the world being black and white then.  Very cool and interesting photos.

[albrecht]

It is strange how most think of the world being black and white then.  Very cool and interesting photos.

Yeah. It actually is very bizarre to me when I see rare old color films or photos of WWII, random streets of London or NYC, or ballgames. It is like "not real" since it is in color. People have colored ties and dresses, war has actual blood and fire, etc- I think our grandparents (and before) world was black and white or shades of gray. Of course, that is ridiculous a concept if one thinks about it. But since the only record we (mostly) have was b&w it is like I subconsciously think that's how it was. No color, drab, etc. Actually sort of interesting psychologically speaking.

Pretty cool and interesting photos!

[chefist]

That's why i love BG...never knew this stuff! Amazing!

[SciFiAuthor]

I'm glad I looked at this thread. Those pictures are amazing, especially when you consider what would happen in Russia just a few years after these were taken.

[chefist]

I'm glad I looked at this thread. Those pictures are amazing, especially when you consider what would happen in Russia just a few years after these were taken.

Good point about being dead...that generally happened rather quickly in Russia!

[SciFiAuthor]

Good point about being dead...that generally happened rather quickly in Russia!

Yeah, the revolution, WWII, Stalin, Cold War, none of that had happened yet when these were taken. I was intrigued and have been reading Wikipedia. The monastery in the first photo ended up as an NKVD prison camp where the prisoners from the Katyn massacre were held.

[ShayP]

I just randomly saw this thread after 3 years.    Yeah...wow...all of what's been said in this thread.    This is amazing. 

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

This one died in 1911.  All those bright colours wasted on black and white film.

Thanks MV, and thanks for reviving this thread.