Three Sisters Dramaturgy Page
Play by Anton Chekhov
Pieces of Russian History
Photography in Russia
"The Soviet photographic industry was born in a manner very different from that in Western society. Pre-Revolutionary Russia did not have a domestic camera industry. The small Russian optics industry was dominated by foreigners, and all cameras, paper and accessories were imported [1]. The Soviet camera industry emerged only during the late 1920s and early 1930s, a period of experiment and general social upheaval which followed the October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and the ensuing civil war. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was officially created in 1923, Lenin died in 1924, and Stalin had begun his rise to power. The first Soviet cameras were produced during Stalin's push for the industrial and economic transformation of Russia." -More available at the source.
Magnisium wire. Image source.
Producing Camera Flashes:
"Magnesium was burned as a wire or ribbon twisted into tapers or clockwork lamps with a reflector. There were different lamp designs, each for different use. Despite different ways of using the magnesium, there were no ideal variant for this method.
Burning was often incomplete and unpredictable. Exposures varied considerably and the air remained laden with grey, opaque fumes, making the method unsuitable for studio use.
Even more, the technique was not without its obvious dangers and it also released a lot of smoke, smell and a fall-out of white ash.
Nevertheless, magnesium lamps gained in popularity through the 1870s and 1880s despite the expenses and danger. Trying to solve the unpredictability of the popular magnesium technique, Charles Piazzi Smyth, experimenting in the pyramids at Giza, Egypt, in 1865, had attempted to ignite magnesium mixed with gunpowder. The resulting picture was quite poor but the principle of combining magnesium with oxygen-rich chemical resulting in a combustion was developed.
In 1887, Adolf Miethe and Johannes Gaedicke mixed fine magnesium powder with potassium chlorate to produce Blitzlicht. This was the first ever widely used flash powder. Blitzlicht gave the photographers the ability to produce instant photographs at night at a very high shutter speed. This caused quite an excitement in the photography world.
Being the explosive that it is, flash powder accidents were obviously inevitable. Simply grinding the components was dangerous enough, and a number of photographers died while either preparing the flash powder or setting it off.
In the beginning of the 20th century, the flash powder formula was refined and improvements were made to make the process simpler and safer. The flashes now lasted for 10 ms only, so subjects no longer closed their eyes during the exposure which helped portrait photography." -More available at the source.
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Vintage Kodak adds from 1880-1910, American. Source.
Russian Military
This is a wonderful resource to explore what life might have been like as a Russian soldier.
The Russian Army, compiled in 1892, contains a hundred large photos available to view online.
(Photo on left of the future Nicholas II, photo below is a colonel in the artillery.)
Photo above is the artillery battery, photo below are artillery officers. From The Russian Army.
Military Ranks
"The Table of Ranks was instituted in Russia in 1722, spurred by Peter The Great’s desire to bring the growing state into order, putting it on par with Western countries.
It took three years for Peter and his closest associates to draw up the final version of the ranks. The resulting final version saw the number of state, court, and army ranks grow significantly.
The Table of Ranks borrowed heavily from similar lists existing in Denmark and Prussia, but was constructed with keeping in mind already existing ranks in Russia.
Aside from a wide array of some of the most peculiar employments avialable for nobility at Russian Imperial court, the Table of Ranks also bore a very significant purpose.
Skipping a grade and rising to the highest ranks of nobles was out of the question without actually performing outstanding services for the state. Peter’s vigorous fight against the existing old Russian nobility – the boyars – and the accompanying flagrant nepotism at court were the main driving stimuli behind the creation of the Table.
[...]
The Emperor was not a great fan of the nobility, who preferred to spend their time enveloped in scheming and plotting in palatial residences, doing nothing for the country.
After the Table of Ranks came into effect, everyone’s position and status was determined according to service, and not birthright – something which was met with antipathy from the nobility, many of who at this point were illiterate and shunned an active duty.
[...]
Every rank came with accompanying rules for carriage, dress code, and honors. If anyone demanded greater laurels than appropriate for his or her rank, he or she were to be punished in the amount of two monthly allowances. The whistleblower in the case of reporting a misconduct received 1/3 of the fine. The rest went to state hospitals.
Overall, the Table of Ranks improved and organized the social gradation in Russia, allowing many determined individuals to leave their mark – and get recognized. Ilya Ulyuanov , working in the management of education, progressed to the rank of Acting State Councilor by 1874, which gave him the privilege of hereditary nobility. However, one of his sons – Vladimir -- did away not just with the Table of Ranks, but with the whole Empire altogether. In history books he’s known more by his Communist Pseudonym, Lenin."
All above information about ranks and the included table below are from Of Russian Origin: Table of Ranks.
Land of the Tzars in colour: Fascinating photographs show the people and places of pre-revolutionary Russia
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Colour photographs from one of Russia's most famous photographers, Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky
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Tsar Nicholas II commissioned him with taking photographs after being impressed by a colour portrait of Tolstoy
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The pictures, from the early 1900s, show Russia on the brink of the First World War and on the cusp of revolution
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Click here for full article online.
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