The Russian Empire, 100 years ago, in colour Group of workers
harvesting tea, between 1905 and 1915 / © LOC, LC-DIG-
prokc-21522 Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii's colour photographs of the
Russian Empire are vividly brought to life in a new book that
features 250 examples of his work from 1905-1915... Prokudin-
Gorskii wanted to capture the entirety of his native Russia as a
way of providing its citizens with a stronger connection to
their country and an idea of common identity. The photographer
was even given a railroad car darkroom by Czar Nicholas II so
that he could produce his pictures on the move. Emir of Bukhara,
1911 / © LOC, LC-DIG-prokc-21887 As both a photographer and
chemist, Prokudin-Gorskii developed a technique first
established by Scottish mathematical physicist, James Clark
Maxwell, in the mid-19th century whereby the visible spectrum
was captured in the form of three black-and-white photographs
taken through red, green and violet-blue filters. Prokudin-
Gorskii's process used colour-sensitive glass pla