Track Mangoes

Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii was a Russian chemist and photographer, and although the earliest color photography can be traced back to the mid 1800's, Gorskii's work in the early 20th century stands as some of the most vibrant and striking of early color photography. In college, he studied photo chemistry, and his process utilized three monochrome exposures, combined to produce a color effect. His camera took three pictures in rapid succession, each using a different filter, but if any movement occurred 'ghosting' would be visible (an interesting rainbow like effect, most often seen in his images of water).


Gorskii, like other social documenters of the time (In America look at the FSA, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html specifically Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Marion Post-Walcott. In Germany see August Sander and the New Objectivity movement, 'Neue Sachlichkeit') sought to document the Russian social landscape, the people, the work, the everyday. Recently, much of his work has been digitized, and you can find high quality, rich, saturated images at http://www.prokudin-gorsky.ru/database.php3?first=0

With all these images in online archives (there are thousands on the FSA website) why not take a moment and begin sorting through the mass of information at your fingertips. It will be well worth your time.