Travel Photos from Long Ago

The Empire That Was Russia is a site dedicated to the photography of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, a photographer who worked for Tsar Nicholas II. Prokudin Gorskii traveled around the Empire, photographing everything under the arm of Russian rule at the beginning of the 20th century. While he only had the capability of photographing in black and white, color impressions have been reproduced using what remains of Prokudin-Gorskii's collection of negatives; a process of showing glass slides with color filters through a slide projector breathed colors into the still images that he captured with his early camera. These images are striking and exotic--straight out of an historic volume of National Geographic. My favorite section is Ethnic Diversity, which illustrates the lifestyles of different peoples living in the outer-reaches of the Russian empire during this time.

This flood season in Eastern Europe has caused officials to consider proactive measures for the future. Not only has a flood alert system been proposed, but Romanian officials are asking farmers to use their land for emergency resovoirs should the River Tisza overflow in the coming years. Receeding water in Bulgaria has eased the situation somewhat, but a dam bursting in Romania has displaced another 1500 people. These updates as well as photo galleries in Flooding in Eastern and Central Europe.

I have been searching high and low for flood relief funds, but my search has come to naught. If you have any information on organizations that are helping people recover from the 2006 flood season in Eastern and Central Europe, please post a comment or shoot me an email so this information can be shared with others who have been keeping tabs on the situation.

Flood on the Danube in Budapest Photo Credit: Geza Papp © 2006