
Sovetskoe Foto (Soviet Photography) - anc84
https://archive.org/details/sovetskoe_foto/
======
hal9000xp
You may like rare coloured photos made by US army Major Martin Manhoff who
served in the US embassy in Moscow from February 1952 until June 1954, when he
was expelled from the USSR on charges of espionage. All of this material ended
up in a closet in his home in Washington State where it lay unseen for over
half a century. Here is a link:

[https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1015584792...](https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10155847922929625&id=629794624)

It includes rare footage of Stalin funeral (made from US embassy building):

[http://www.rferl.org/a/manhoff-archive-part-one-stalins-
fune...](http://www.rferl.org/a/manhoff-archive-part-one-stalins-
funeral/28359561.html)

~~~
amai
See also [http://englishrussia.com/2017/03/23/spy-photos-of-moscow-
in-...](http://englishrussia.com/2017/03/23/spy-photos-of-moscow-in-1950s/)

------
pavel_lishin
Y'all may also be interested in this:
[https://russiainphoto.ru/](https://russiainphoto.ru/)

It combines Russian photographs from government and private collections -
people basically sent in old photographs so they could be put up online. Think
archive.org, but for Russian photographs.

There are 72k photos, sadly only 3k of which were donated by private
individuals.

------
morsch
What an amazing find. The collection spans 69 years, from 1926 to 1995 (with a
few breaks).

There is a bit more info in the (easy to miss) About tab[1]. Petapixel has a
few highlights[2]. I'd love to read more about what lead to the archival
process and how it was done.

[1]
[https://archive.org/details/sovetskoe_foto&tab=about](https://archive.org/details/sovetskoe_foto&tab=about)

[2] [https://petapixel.com/2017/03/21/can-browse-437-complete-
iss...](https://petapixel.com/2017/03/21/can-browse-437-complete-issues-
soviet-photo-magazine-online/)

------
roesel
It's interesting how there was little to no advertisement in a photography
magazine back then. Nowadays, photos are only a decoration of "digital photo
advertisement pamphlets" baiting you to buy them for the six photos in them.

I wonder if this relates to capitalism vs communism or if it is simply a
question of time until anything gets littered with ads.

~~~
myst
Advertisement can not exist in a planned economy. Everyhthing belongs to the
state and there is no competition. No point in avertising then.

~~~
PeterisP
Advertising of consumer goods certaintly did exist in USSR planned economy,
but it was very different style of advertising. It didn't have advertising as
a tool for brands to compete between themselves, but simply as a tool to
communicate about a brand/product.

Companies had ads in various mass media that (a) advertised new products that
had been issued; (b) advertised features & proper usage of products (including
nudging towards desired behavior) (c) advertised the new styles/designs issued
for e.g. clothing. Illustrative product catalogues were a thing. It's a quite
different sort of advertising, more like public information and sometimes a
bit towards propaganda, but it certainly is advertising.

Also, quite a bit of "traditional" advertising material was made in USSR for
export markets.

~~~
sbuttgereit
I'm not familiar with any of it, but...

I would expect any central economic plan to miss consumer needs/desires by a
fair margin on a regular basis. Was such advertising also trying to sway
consumer behavior back to what the economic planners had original anticipated
(as to avoid shortages/surpluses of goods)?

~~~
ivan_gammel
Central economic planning does not automatically mean that it will always miss
consumer needs. It was a big issue in USSR which some academics were planning
to address with advancement in cybernetics (which meant something like what we
call "big data" today), but it never received proper attention from the
government.

Regarding advertising, the customers of advertisement agencies (there were few
in USSR) were firms themselves, not Gosplan. Every Soviet firm or Glavk ("main
committee" \- sort of a business unit in Soviet government responsible for the
management of whole market segment) had a plan, that's true, but it was up to
them how to implement it, so some did invest in advertisement (examples were
beverages, perfume etc etc).

~~~
Pamar
For an incredibly interesting and riveting (even "just" for the fictional
parts) treatment of Soviet's attempt at planning the whole economy I always
suggest _Red Plenty_ by Francis Spufford. Get it, read it, become a fan.

------
mkalygin
Not photos, but related. Recently I found a good website with Soviet and
Russian movies translated to English [1]. As a Russian I can say that at least
some of the movies have very solid dubbing and subtitles.

I was also thinking on making free Apple TV app to support this project.

[1] [http://sovietmoviesonline.com/en/](http://sovietmoviesonline.com/en/)

------
SpaceRaccoon
Here's one my family's photo albums from Soviet Ukraine:
[https://imgur.com/a/1mIwM](https://imgur.com/a/1mIwM)

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VladimirGolovin
Thank you for posting this. "Советское Фото" was an amazing magazine. I still
have some of the issues at my parents' home.

------
salimmadjd
This is such a great archive.

Our tech team is partially in Minsk, Belarus. As a result I've had the
opportunity to sneak to nearby countries and photograph them anytime I go back
for work.

The region is still relatively undiscovered to photographers and in many
places there are many remnants of the old Soviet Union still around.

There are ghost military towns in Latvia. Soviet spy dish, numerous memorials
to WWII, old train stations and tons of brick chimneys that still spew a lot
of smoke and steam to provide heat to the city. There is also something about
aged faces of the region. There is so much character and wrinkles in them.
Then you have places like Georgia that have amazing historical village from
12th century and very beautiful mountainous views. If you have nostalgia like
me for the photos in these archives, there are still opportunities to
photograph some yourself.

On the side note. Belarus just recently opened a 5-day visa free access to the
country.

Georgia and Armenia don't need a visa and they love American tourists. In
Tbilisi the main road out of the airport is named after George Bush.

Best of all, US citizens have the best visa options of western citizen to
visit Russia. There is a 3-year multiple visit visa that is not available to
other European citizens (AFAIK) and with the World Cup hosted there next year,
it might be a good time to apply for your visa now.

edit: added some photo samples

[https://www.skypixel.com/photos/soviet-secret-spy-
dish](https://www.skypixel.com/photos/soviet-secret-spy-dish)

[https://www.skypixel.com/photos/me-monument-and-
snow](https://www.skypixel.com/photos/me-monument-and-snow)

[https://www.skypixel.com/photos/dji_0680_0686-panorama_skypi...](https://www.skypixel.com/photos/dji_0680_0686-panorama_skypix-
jpg)

[https://www.skypixel.com/photos/me-monument-and-
snow](https://www.skypixel.com/photos/me-monument-and-snow)

[https://www.instagram.com/p/BMe3U1ABrQS/?taken-
by=photojourn...](https://www.instagram.com/p/BMe3U1ABrQS/?taken-
by=photojournalist)

[https://www.instagram.com/p/BLpvdTDB0rS/?taken-
by=photojourn...](https://www.instagram.com/p/BLpvdTDB0rS/?taken-
by=photojournalist)

[https://www.instagram.com/p/BHNV4ZfhkD0/?taken-
by=photojourn...](https://www.instagram.com/p/BHNV4ZfhkD0/?taken-
by=photojournalist)

[https://www.instagram.com/p/BHGEV3ahjDb/?taken-
by=photojourn...](https://www.instagram.com/p/BHGEV3ahjDb/?taken-
by=photojournalist)

[https://www.instagram.com/p/BB4qnkbsDnR/?taken-
by=photojourn...](https://www.instagram.com/p/BB4qnkbsDnR/?taken-
by=photojournalist)

[https://www.instagram.com/p/BLg2V_OhzHh/?taken-
by=photojourn...](https://www.instagram.com/p/BLg2V_OhzHh/?taken-
by=photojournalist)

~~~
Bendingo
> US citizens have the best visa options of western citizen to visit Russia

Do you know why this is ?

As an Australian citizen, I am a bit frustrated to have to limit my visit
(planned for later in the year) to 1 month.

~~~
salimmadjd
It's based on some US-Russia agreement signed in 2012 [0]

But I hear what you're saying.

I met a German family who had a custom-made camper van in Georgia. They told
me they drove in Russia but their visa wasn't long enough. I told them I had a
3-year visa and they wouldn't believe me until I showed them my passport with
my visa on it.

[0] [http://www.consulrussia.org/eng/visa-
sub1.html](http://www.consulrussia.org/eng/visa-sub1.html)

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MK_Dev
The first magazine I clicked, page 6 - Baku, 1990. We barely escaped.

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tempodox
Wow, this is fascinating. All that history. Too bad my Cyrillic isn't any
better, but it might be a good opportunity to learn.

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rodionos
This is a great find, browsed thru a 1932 issue and it was like traveling on a
time machine. 2^6 + 2 cover pages. Passes the numerology test too. Makes me
want to travel to North Korea for live footage of the same theme.

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orthur_b
You may also be interested in retro photos by years around the world
[https://pastvu.com/](https://pastvu.com/)

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ptero
Spasibo, tovarisch (thank you, comrade)!

