Photographs from Kazakhstan / Sergei Ivanovich Borisov

Kazakh woman in traditional wedding dress

I was looking up something on Kazakhstan and came across these beautiful photographs. The photographs were taken between 1911 and 1914, and they are the work of Sergei Ivanovich Borisov (1867-1931), a Russian photographer. More than 1000 of his images from his trek across the mountain areas of Altai were used as postcards for the Russian Empire. They appear to be black & white photographs that were then hand-coloured, but I have not been able to confirm that. Meanwhile, Sergei Prokudin-Gorski, another Russian photographer from that same period, had a few patents for his colour technique. [Source] So, indeed colour images were being produced at this time, but, these shots by Borisov still look to me to be hand-coloured b&ws.; Whatever they are, I hope you enjoy them!

Kazakh man on horse with Golden Eagle

Inside a Kazakh Yurt

View of Cherga Village

Chuya Trakt on the Slopes of the Boma Kyngrar

POSTSCRIPT: As it turns out, two days prior to this post without my having seen it, there was a post on The Photo-Eye Blog featuring the work of John Delaney and his series of photographs on the nomadic people of Kazakhstan and Mongolia and in particular, their training of Golden Eagles. Uncanny timing! I am happy to now have a context for the shot of the man holding the Golden Eagle. Now we have a story behind it. You can read an interview with John Delaney and see some of his work on the Golden Eagle Nomads by clicking here.

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Photographs from Kazakhstan / Sergei Ivanovich Borisov

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