3-006-902 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Haying, near rest time [Russian Empire], 1909. Farm workers standing near their equipment, taking a short break from hay-making to pose for their photograph. The location, though unidentified, is probably near the town of Cherepovets in north central European Russia. Russian chemist and photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (1863-1944) was a pioneer in colour photography which he used to document early 20th-century Russia and her empire, including the vanishing way of life of tribal peoples along the Silk Route in Central Asia. In a railway-carriage darkroom provided by Czar Nicholas II, Prokudin-Gorsky used the three-colour photography process to record traditional costumes and occupations, churches and mosques - many now Unesco World Heritage sites - as well as modernisation in agriculture, industry and transport.