😉 Hello dear readers! Thank you for choosing the article “Photos for memory or as you took pictures before” on this site! This story was told to me by a neighbor, and I will tell you. A story from her words:
“My grandmother Pelageya Semyonovna told me that during her youth there was no opportunity to take a picture in the studio just for the sake of interest. This required some important reason.
Photo studios were available only in regional centers. Therefore, residents of the surrounding villages and villages walked tens of kilometers to take a photo for a document.
In 1939, my grandfather and other men his age were called up for active service in the city of Novokhopersk. Granny, along with her fellow villagers, decided to go there, to visit their husbands and bring them gifts.
For several weeks they were busy collecting, because the path was not short – 45 kilometers on foot. In addition, women decided to take pictures for their husbands so that the pictures of their beloved wives were always with them.
History of one photo
Shooting preparations began in a day or two. The women tidied themselves up: washed their hair, curled their hair, tinted their eyebrows and blushed their cheeks. And they also took out the best outfits from the chests – blouses, sundresses, lace collars. They rubbed their weekend shoes to shine – lace-up shoes.
A photo card was not cheap at that time. Where did the collective farmers who worked for their work days get the money? It means that it was necessary to sell something. Therefore, they were usually photographed on a market day.
We left the house at dawn. After all, a photo studio with the loud name “Art Photography” was located in the regional center, 15 kilometers from the village where Pelageya lived.
There was a large market square next to the photo studio, however, they traded there only on Saturdays. It is curious that the women carefully wrapped their shoes in a scarf and walked barefoot to the regional center. They only put on shoes in a photo studio, and then took them off again.
But before that they took out to the bazaar who had what. The price was not particularly chased. If it was not possible to sell the product, it would not only have to be carried back, but there would have been nothing to make a photograph.
Granny sold a pot of ghee and a pair of woolen socks that day. Other fellow villagers sold some fluff, some eggs, some yarn. After that, the joyful women went to take pictures.
First, they shot one at a time, and then took a group photo as a souvenir. Unfortunately, we have not preserved a single photograph of my grandmother. She probably stayed with her grandfather, who did not return from the war. The old album contains only a group photo.
For my grandmother, this shooting in the studio was the only one in her life and made an indelible impression on her. Therefore, every time she looked through the family archives, she took the photo in hand and was happy to talk about that trip, not forgetting the smallest details.
Even after many years, I remembered the name of the photographer – Ivan Fedorovich ”.
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