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Unique historical Far East pictures published in Vladivostok

It comprises 450 photographs taken by 150 photographers within a period from 1862 to 2012

VLADIVOSTOK, October 23 (Itar-Tass) - "The Best Photographs of the Far East. 150 Years" is the title of a photo album published here on Wednesday. It comprises 450 photographs taken by 150 photographers within a period from 1862 to 2012. Most of the photos are published for the first time.

In 1862, in the city of Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, the principal city of the Far East in those days, Vladimir Lanin, a merchant, opened the first "photographic establishment", setting the beginning of the spread of professional photography throughout the territory. It was precisely Lanin who took the first photographs of the cityscapes of Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, Sretensk, Blagoveshchensk, Khabarovsk, and Vladivostok which was only beginning to emerge.

The album represents photographs taken by Lanin and showing the everyday life of the indigenous inhabitants of the Far East and one of the first panoramas of Vladivostok dated 1874.

The album comprises photos taken by travelers, navy men, and merchants who were developing the new lands, creating photo chronicles of the Russian Far East.

The first professional photographers, Vladimir Matskevich and Alexander Khlebnikov were keeping a diary of the construction of the future capital of Primorye. Their photos depict events which are marked in Vladivostok up to this day as significant to the history of the city: the opening of the first dry dock, the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway, and the arrival of ships.

The album includes the photograph of Dersu Uzala, the famous guide. The photo was taken by Vladimir Arsenyev, the prominent explorer of the Ussurian land, and photographs of polar explorer Georgy Sedov.

Ten pages of the album are dedicated to snaps taken by Soviet-era photographers, war photographers Grigory Sokolov, Alexander Stanovoi, and Gavriil Gaidukevich. The traditions of old cameramen are being carried on by modern masters of photography who go on depicting the chronology of the life of the Far East. Among them, there are two prominent travelers Fyodor and Pavel Konyukhovs, who offered photos taken during their numerous expeditions.

The album is authored by Yuri Lugansky, photographic history scholar and eminent photographer, with the participation of the archives and research institutes of the region. Lugansky said the work on the project would be continued. The second volume of "The Best Photographs of the Far East" is to be published soon to include photos taken by people from all over the region.