OREANDA-NEWS. On April 30, 2008 the photo exhibition “Russia from the Train” was formally opened at a ceremony in the Moscow State Exhibition Center New Manezh, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

The exposition will include more than 200 photographic works made during a rail expedition throughout the most expressive and unique regions of Russia. The photos will present to visitors a fascinating and majestic panorama of the country spanning 1/9 of the land. The exhibition will be open from May 1 through May 16, 2008.

“Russia from the Train” is a joint project by Russian Railways and the well-known Russian photographer Anton Lange. The idea of the project is to present a modern image of Russia as seen through the camera lens of a rail traveller.

From November 2006 to April 2008, Russian Railways organised special expeditions for Anton Lange and the project’s creative group to travel to the Southern Urals, Lake Baikal, the Black Sea coast, Northwest Russia, Siberia, the Far East, Sakhalin Island, the Golden Ring and the central part of Russia.

The opening of the exhibition represents a progress report of the work so far since Lange will continue taking photographs until the end of 2008.

During the opening ceremony, there will also be a presentation of Lange’s photo album “Russia from the Train”, which contains more than 700 of the author’s best photographs.

The project “Russia from the Train” has deep historical roots. Between 1909 and 1914, the outstanding Russian photographer Sergey Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky held a series of exhibitions “to embody the shape of the Russian Empire with all possible completeness.”

The result was hundreds of unique colour photographs which preserved pre-revolutionary Russia. It was this historical background that inspired Anton Lange and the management of Russian Railways to continue the project.

“Variety in unity – that is one of the leitmotifs of the project ‘Russia from the Train,’” says Vladimir Yakunin, the President of Russian Railways. “We live in huge country which amazes the imagination by its sheer scale. This photo exhibition will give us all a remarkable opportunity to gain an impression of that size, to see Russia’s uniqueness through the lens of the talented photographer Anton Lange and through the eyes of a passenger on Russian Railways.”

“Everyone who lives in Russia only ever sees a small, insignificant part of her during their lifetimes,” says Anton Lange. “We know little of our own country and simply do not realise the greatness of Russia. This project gave me a unique opportunity to see many places that I would never have had the chance to visit on my own. Travelling with a camera on the railways of Russia is one of the most meaningful and interesting projects in my professional life. I hope that each and every visitor to the exhibition will discover for themselves something new about our country.”

“Russia from the Train” is a part of the major cultural project “1/9. Objective Reality.” This is a series of authors’ photo-exhibitions linked by a general theme and following on logically from one another. Their purpose is to show through a camera lens the Russia of the 21st century, to present the different aspects of life in the country and society, to look anew at its geographical features, the variety of its nature, the unique features of the population’s cultural heritage and the life of Russian citizens.

For further information on the opening of the exhibition “Russia from the Train”and the project “1/9. Objective Reality”, see under www.fotorussia.su.

Anton Lange is one of the most individual and successful photographers of modern Russia. A student of Vadim Gippenreiter, he works with Russian Railways, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, Wallpaper, GEO and Vokrug Sveta, Martini, Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, Bookberry and other well-known publications and companies. In the past, he was a graduate and teacher at the Biological Faculty of Moscow State University. He is a professional naturalist and traveller, as well as an honorary member of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).