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Ivan Shagin photographer. Top photography genres

Biography

Famous Soviet photojournalist and artist. Author of outstanding photographs and political posters. Awarded orders and medals of the USSR.

Ivan Mikhailovich Shagin was born in Ivanovo region. Works in a cooperative store in Moscow (1924-1928). Since 1925, the magazine “Soviet Photo” began to be published in the USSR. He immediately gained great popularity and a wave of amateur photography swept the country. In 1925, he began to study photography in a photo circle at the newspaper “Our Life”. In 1928 he published his first works. Since 1930 he has been a professional photojournalist. He was a permanent employee of the editorial offices of the newspapers “Cooperative Life” and “Our Newspaper.” In 1933, he became a photojournalist for the newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda.” Films industrial, agricultural, sports and physical education holidays. Captures daily life in the young Soviet state; the heroes of his photo reports are Soviet youth, athletes, and Red Army soldiers.

Shagin's main working tool of this time was an old large-format camera with bellows. The photographer shot on glass plates, which together with the heavy equipment amounted to considerable weight. Despite his lightning-fast reaction and keen eye, Shagin worked slowly and thoroughly, looking for an opportunity to capture not just the key moment of the action, but to reflect his attitude towards it, to find a unique, expressive angle.

Ivan Shagin devoted himself enthusiastically to his work. Whether he was photographing peasants or sailors, military maneuvers, the achievements of collectivization or industrialization, he created photographs that were technically impeccable and at the same time unusually lyrical. Sincere admiration for his subject, precise gaze and innate talent quickly earned the photographer recognition. In 1934, I. M. Shagin participated in international photographic exhibitions: his works were presented in Warsaw, Prague, and Zaragoza. The press especially noted the success of his photograph “Athletes,” where the principles of constructivist photography were very accurately and convincingly implemented: rigid framing, an inclined horizon, an unusual arrangement of figures and the direction of lines. Shagin addressed the topic of sports with great pleasure: the textured, trained bodies of athletes, unexpected angles and rich dynamics provided great creative opportunities. Living pyramids and columns of athletes became symbols of the new society; the unity of the athletes and their records confirmed the power of the Soviet system.

In 1935, the photographer was invited to participate in the “Exhibition of works by masters of Soviet photography” in Moscow. The exhibition included 13 of his best photographs taken over 5 years. professional work. At the exhibition, Shagin’s works were side by side with Rodchenko’s works. The exhibition proclaimed photo reporting as the main direction of Soviet photographic art, and Soviet specialists and, of course, Shagin turned from artisans - “illustrators” into progressive photographers. In 1935-1940, Ivan Shagin participated in photo exhibitions in the USSR and abroad - in the USA, Great Britain, and Japan.

In the 1930s and 40s he was engaged in propaganda and mass art; makes several political posters, some together with B.F. Berezovsky, A.V. Druzhkov, M.M. Solovyov: “Long live Soviet athletes!” (1939), “We will give the country 25.4 million tons of steel in 1950” (1946), “Under the banner of Lenin, under the leadership of Stalin, forward to a new flourishing of the Soviet Motherland, to the complete victory of communism in our country!” (1947), “Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin”, “We stand for peace and defend the cause of peace” (both -1949), “Under the leadership of the great Stalin - forward to communism!” (1951).

During the Great Patriotic War Shagin worked as a military photojournalist, photographing from first to last day- from the announcement of the German attack on Soviet Union and work in the rear until the signing of the surrender in Berlin in May 1945. Photographs of Shagin's war years are always recognizable. He carefully prepared his photographs - they almost always show heroes, exploits, and glorious achievements. Americans famous for their high requirements to the quality of the positive press, in 1946 they recognized I.M. Shagin’s photograph “To the Reichstag” as the best military photograph. After the victory, he worked in Berlin, taking photographs of the victorious Soviet soldiers and city residents.

After the end of the war he continued to work at Komsomolskaya Pravda. His works were published in the magazines Ogonyok and Smena. In the 1950s and 60s he was one of the country's leading experts in color photography. Although in last years the photographer was not as famous as in the war and post-war times, he was not forgotten and continued to work fruitfully.

The artist's works are in the collection of the Moscow Museum of Photography. Posters by I. M. Shagin are stored in the collections of the Russian Library (RSL), the Tobolsk Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve, and in private Russian and foreign collections.

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Ivan Shagin
(1904 - 1982)

However, the famine and civil war of the 20s of the last century were by no means conducive to enjoying the rural idyll. As a seventeen-year-old boy, Ivan Shagin was forced to go to work and got a job as a sailor in the Volga river shipping company. After a short time, the future photographer changed jobs again. This time he was accepted as an auxiliary worker in a “Nepman” store - that is, practically in his specialty. Here the young man stayed and in two years “grew” to become an assistant store director, and then an instructor at a government demonstration store-school. Probably, the capable young man would not have stopped there if commerce had not been replaced in his heart by a new hobby.

Since 1925, the magazine “Soviet Photo” began to be published in the USSR. He immediately gained enormous popularity, and the Soviet Union was swept by a wave of amateur photography. At factories, clubs, house committees, photography circles and associations of amateur photographers arose like mushrooms after rain. The young and inquisitive Ivan Shagin did not stand aside - the “exemplary” cooperator joined a circle at the newspaper “Our Life”, where he mastered the basics of photo reporting. The new business captivated Shagin completely. Soon his first photographs were already published in publications published under the auspices of the Selkhozgiz concern, and Shagin left his job as a salesman for a career as a photographer.

In 1930, Ivan Shagin began collaborating with the newspapers “Our Life” and “Cooperative Life” of the Selkhozgiz publishing house. The photographer devoted himself enthusiastically to his work. Whether he was photographing peasants or sailors, military maneuvers, the achievements of collectivization or industrialization, Ivan Shagin created technically impeccable and at the same time unusually lyrical photographs. Shagin's sincere admiration for his subject, precise look and innate talent quickly earned him recognition.

Photos from 1929-1934(26 photos)

1. Laundresses. 1929 <
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2. In a workers' dormitory. Late 1920s

3. On a dairy farm. Early 1930s

4. A schoolboy on the field - helping the collective farm. Early 1930s

5. At the procurement point. 1930

6. Steel horses. 1930

7. Inventor. 1930

8. Steelmaker. Mid-1930s

9. At the Leningrad Metal Plant. Late 1930s

10. The first traffic controller in Moscow. 1931

11. Young collective farmer. 1931

12. Preparing agricultural machinery for sowing on a collective farm. 1932

13. Collective farm youth. 1932

14. Pioneer. 1932

15. A schoolboy goes to the field brigade with a poster scourging lazy people. 1933

16. New harvest. 1933

17. Working break. 1933

18. Sailor. 1933

19. Athletes. 1933

20. Javelin throwing. 1933

21. First Congress of the Union of Writers of the USSR. 1934

22. Pioneer leader. 1934

23. Gunners during exercises. 1934

24. Tankman. 1934

25. Machine gunners. 1934

26. Fire extinguishing. 1934

27. Artillery on parade. 1934

Shagin's main working tool of this time was an old large-format camera with bellows. The photographer shot on glass plates, which together with the heavy equipment amounted to considerable weight. But, in addition to the camera and photographic plates, the master had to carry several format cassettes with him. Shooting a reportage requires a large number of photographs, but a format cassette with loaded plates made it possible to take only two or four (if you work on half a plate) frames. In addition, the photographer did not indulge himself: despite his lightning-fast reaction and precise eye, he worked slowly and thoroughly, looking for an opportunity to capture not just the key moment of the action, but to reflect his attitude towards it, to find a unique, expressive angle.

In 1933, Shagin came to Komsomolskaya Pravda. During this period, Shagin’s photographs acquired great “class content” - working in one of the largest periodicals in the country, the photographer exposed shortcomings and sabotage. For example, in 1934 he published a photo report “Tractor Graveyard”, dedicated to mismanagement on collective farms. However, even at this time, Shagin the reporter managed to maintain his “trademark” universality: his stories ranged from industry to the life of an ordinary Soviet person, his heroes were collective farmers, athletes, metro construction workers, workers and Soviet youth Komsomol members. Photo essays “24 hours from the life of a working Moscow family” (1931) and “Collective farmers” (1932) appeared in print.

In 1934-1935, Ivan Shagin took part in a series of exhibitions in the USSR and abroad (in Prague, Warsaw and Zaragoza). The press especially noted the success of his photograph “Athletes,” where the principles of constructivist photography were very accurately and convincingly implemented: rigid framing, oblique horizon, arrangement of figures and direction of lines. Ivan Shagin addressed the topic of sports with great pleasure: the textured, trained bodies of athletes, unexpected angles and rich dynamics provided great creative opportunities. Living pyramids and columns of athletes became symbols of the new society; the unity of the athletes and their records confirmed the power of the Soviet system. However, it could not have happened without pitfalls. A number of sharp-eyed critics saw hidden eroticism in his series “Dynamo” and “Ossoviahimovka”, which, of course, was not welcomed by the Soviet authorities.

Photos from 1935-1940(38 photos)

28. Street. 1935

29. Kyiv military maneuvers. 1935

30. Old Crimean Bridge and new embankment. 1935

31. Metro builders are the first subway passengers. 1935

32. Crossing. 1935

33. Parachute tester. 1935

34. Stratostat and jumping ball. 1935

35. Forward and higher. 1935

36. Voroshilov riflemen visiting the People's Commissar of Defense K. Voroshilov. 1935

37. Best friend athletes. 1935

38. Young football players. 1936

39. On the government platform. Aviation festival in Tushino. 1936
The face in the photo was censored out.

40. Construction of the Moscow-Volga canal. 1936

41. At the port. 1936

42. Vladivostok. Fishing port. 1936

43. Stalin at a meeting of commanders' wives. 1936

44. Main caliber. 1936

45. On dismissal. 1936

46. Charging on a battleship. 1936

47. Morning toilet. 1936

48. Airship "USSR-B6". 1936

49. Airships. 1936

50. Balloons. 1936

51. Pilot. 1936

52. Under the wing of an airplane. 1936

53. Wheel. 1936

54. Stalin's falcon. 1936

55. The first Volga steamships near the walls of the Kremlin. 1937

56. Steeplechase. 1937

57. Column of athletes. 1937

58. Main conveyor of ZIS (Plant named after I.V. Stalin). 1937

59. Building of the Frunze Academy. 1937

60. Carts. 1937

61. Red Army soldier. 1938

62. Dynamics. 1938

63. Parachute landing. 1939

64. VSKhV (All-Union Agricultural Exhibition). 1939

65. Sports parade in Leningrad. 1940

At the exhibition “Masters of Soviet Photographic Art” (1935), the works of Ivan Shagin were side by side with the works of Rodchenko. The exhibition proclaimed photo reporting as the main direction of Soviet photographic art, and Arkady Shaikhet, Max Alpert, Semyon Fridlyand and, of course, Ivan Shagin turned from artisan “illustrators” into progressive photographers. Thirteen of Shagin’s works included in the exhibition were noticed by both the press and ordinary viewers. Benevolent criticism noted the “ability to grasp the characteristic and typical” and the ability to “correctly depict the new collective farm life,” opponents criticized the excessive cheerfulness and non-Soviet optimism of the photographs. However, Stalin’s “life has become better, life has become more fun,” which was soon heard, knocked the ground for criticism out from under the feet of ill-wishers. Now it has become simply dangerous to accuse people of excessive optimism. And Ivan Shagin continued to work with the same passion.

Eighteen photographs by Ivan Shagin were shown at the All-Union Photo Exhibition organized in Moscow for the twentieth anniversary of the October Revolution. The theme of the selected works, given the timing of the exhibition, was quite predictable: portraits and portrait groups of party and government leaders, many of which were immediately distributed in the form of posters and postcards. The photographer achieved real recognition: just before the war, the magazine “Soviet Photo” published an article dedicated to Shagin with a portrait of the photographer, establishing him as an accomplished and recognized photographer, as “an artist of our reality who knows how to see it, understand it and serve it with his art.”

But 1941 came and the reality that Shagin served changed overnight. For the photographer, the war began with a report from a rally, where workers standing shoulder to shoulder listened to V. Molotov’s speech on the radio. The photograph, unique in its expressiveness and dramatic power, illustrated the editorial of Komsomolskaya Pravda the very next day. And Shagin “retrained” as a military photojournalist and got used to the uniform, frequent trips to the front and hasty processing of the footage on the front line. Many people are familiar with Shagin’s photographs of the war years: a wounded commissar, with a bandaged head, rising from a trench to attack, “graphic” air battles, shop windows covered with military posters and Moscow trolleybuses delivering firewood, the December offensive of the Red Army near Moscow, the liberation of Kyiv, the assault on a city roaring in smoke Reichstag, Berlin. The war ended for the master with filming of the meeting with the allies on the Elbe, the signing of the act of surrender and the Victory Parade in Moscow on June 24, 1945.

Photos from 1941-1945(17 photos)

66. Training of militias. Moscow. 1941

67. Moscow. A downed German bomber on Revolution Square. 1941

69. Instead of husbands who went to the front. 1941

70. At the tank factory. 1943

71. Roads of war. 1943

72. Refugees. Belarus. 1944

73. The political instructor continues the battle. 1944

74. Guerrilla patrol. Vilnius. 1944

75. Red Army soldiers in Berlin. 1945

76. Dash. Germany. 1945

77. Killed in the last battle. 1945

79. Salute to Victory. Berlin. 1945

80. Berlin. Reichtag. The war is over. May. 1945

81. Berlin. Infirmary for German prisoners of war at the Brandenburg Gate. May. 1945

82. At Dynamo for football. Moscow. 1945

Photographs of Ivan Shagin's war years are always recognizable. He carefully prepared his photographs - they almost always show heroes, exploits, and glorious achievements. But this has no artistic value even for those photographs that were printed on the front lines. And after the war, viewers were able to see the original “Shagin” photograph in all its splendor: the precise gaze of a great artist, dramatic content, impeccable craftsmanship and the author’s print, of which Ivan Shagin was an unsurpassed master. It is not for nothing that even the Americans, known for their high demands on the quality of positive press, recognized Ivan Shagin’s photograph “To the Reichstag” as the best military photograph in 1946.

After the war, Ivan Shagin continued to work. He took great interest in photographing architecture, was one of the first to “master” color photography and taught young photographers how to work with color. As before, Ivan Shagin’s range of topics remained very wide: sports reports, solemn black-and-white landscapes, still lifes, including culinary ones (it is known that the photographer took part in illustrating the “Book of Tasty and healthy food"). Ivan Shagin’s photographs and articles were published in the only professional magazine of the USSR “Soviet Photo”, the magazines “Ogonyok” and “Smena”, he worked for the newspaper “Pravda”, RIA “Novosti”, capital publishing houses, his photographs of the war years continued to be published in the press us and abroad. Although in recent years the photographer was not as famous as in the war and post-war times, he was not forgotten and continued to work fruitfully until his death. Ivan Shagin died in Moscow in 1982. Interest in his work, which had somewhat faded during the period of stagnation, returned in the mid-1980s, after major exhibitions dedicated to the history of the USSR.
Biography

1904. Born in Yaroslavl province
1916 Gets a job as an “errand boy” in a Moscow merchant shop
1921 Enters the Volga steamship as a sailor
1924-1928 Works in a cooperative store in Moscow
1925 He begins to study photography in a photo circle at the newspaper “Our Life”.
1928 Publishes first works.
1930 Works as a photojournalist for the newspapers “Our Life” and “Cooperative Life”
1932 Works as a photo reporter for the magazine Collectivist. Publishes a series of photo essays about the life of workers and collective farmers.
1933-1951 Works as a photo reporter for the newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda”
1935 As part of a team of photo reporters, he films the Kyiv military maneuvers. Participates in the exhibition “Masters of Soviet Photographic Art”
1935-1940 Participates in photo exhibitions in the USSR and abroad (USA, Japan, UK)
1936 As part of a team of photographers from the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, he makes a report about the Far East
1941-1945 Works at the front as a military photojournalist for Komsomolskaya Pravda
1946 Creates a number of sports photo essays, including the famous reports on Dynamo Moscow football matches in England
1950s Begins to work with color photographic materials
1954-1975 Participates in exhibitions: All-Union Exhibition of Color Photography, Photographic Art of the USSR, My Moscow, exhibitions dedicated to the 20th and 25th anniversary of the victory over fascism, exhibitions “My Country”, “30 Years of the Great Victory” (gold medal). Collaborates with leading publishers.
1982 Died in Moscow.

Ivan Shagin was born in the Ivanovo region of the Yaroslavl province in 1904. When the future photographer was 12 years old, his father died, and a large peasant family was left with very meager means of subsistence. The mother got her son a job as a “boy” in the shop of a Moscow merchant. Here, while running errands, Ivan Shagin learned to read and write and gained worldly experience. He returned to the village again only in 1919, when after the revolution the shop, like many others, closed.
However, the famine and civil war of the 20s of the last century were by no means conducive to enjoying the rural idyll. As a seventeen-year-old boy, Ivan Shagin was forced to go to work and got a job as a sailor in the Volga river shipping company. After a short time, the future photographer changed jobs again. This time he was accepted as an auxiliary worker in a “Nepman” store - that is, practically in his specialty. Here the young man stayed and in two years “grew” to become an assistant store director, and then an instructor at a government demonstration store-school. Probably, the capable young man would not have stopped there if commerce had not been replaced in his heart by a new hobby.
Since 1925, the magazine “Soviet Photo” began to be published in the USSR. He immediately gained enormous popularity, and the Soviet Union was swept by a wave of amateur photography. At factories, clubs, house committees, photography circles and associations of amateur photographers arose like mushrooms after rain. The young and inquisitive Ivan Shagin did not stand aside - the “exemplary” cooperator joined a circle at the newspaper “Our Life”, where he mastered the basics of photo reporting. The new business captivated Shagin completely. Soon his first photographs were already published in publications published under the auspices of the Selkhozgiz concern, and Shagin left his job as a salesman for a career as a photographer.
In 1930, Ivan Shagin began collaborating with the newspapers “Our Life” and “Cooperative Life” of the Selkhozgiz publishing house. The photographer devoted himself enthusiastically to his work. Whether he was photographing peasants or sailors, military maneuvers, the achievements of collectivization or industrialization, Ivan Shagin created technically impeccable and at the same time unusually lyrical photographs. Shagin's sincere admiration for his subject, precise look and innate talent quickly earned him recognition.
Shagin's main working tool of this time was an old large-format camera with bellows. The photographer shot on glass plates, which together with the heavy equipment amounted to considerable weight. But, in addition to the camera and photographic plates, the master had to carry several format cassettes with him. Shooting a reportage requires a large number of photographs, but a format cassette with loaded plates made it possible to take only two or four (if you work on half a plate) frames. In addition, the photographer did not indulge himself: despite his lightning-fast reaction and precise eye, he worked slowly and thoroughly, looking for an opportunity to capture not just the key moment of the action, but to reflect his attitude towards it, to find a unique, expressive angle.
In 1933, Shagin came to Komsomolskaya Pravda. During this period, Shagin’s photographs acquired great “class content” - working in one of the largest periodicals in the country, the photographer exposed shortcomings and sabotage. For example, in 1934 he published a photo report “Tractor Graveyard”, dedicated to mismanagement on collective farms. However, even at this time, Shagin the reporter managed to maintain his “trademark” universality: his stories ranged from industry to the life of an ordinary Soviet person, his heroes were collective farmers, athletes, metro construction workers, workers and Soviet youth Komsomol members. Photo essays “24 hours from the life of a working Moscow family” (1931) and “Collective farmers” (1932) appeared in print.
In 1934-1935, Ivan Shagin took part in a series of exhibitions in the USSR and abroad (in Prague, Warsaw and Zaragoza). The press especially noted the success of his photograph “Athletes,” where the principles of constructivist photography were very accurately and convincingly implemented: rigid framing, oblique horizon, arrangement of figures and direction of lines. Ivan Shagin addressed the topic of sports with great pleasure: the textured, trained bodies of athletes, unexpected angles and rich dynamics provided great creative opportunities. Living pyramids and columns of athletes became symbols of the new society; the unity of the athletes and their records confirmed the power of the Soviet system. However, it was not without pitfalls. A number of sharp-eyed critics saw hidden eroticism in his series “Dynamo” and “Ossoviahimovka”, which, of course, was not welcomed by the Soviet authorities.
At the exhibition “Masters of Soviet Photographic Art” (1935), the works of Ivan Shagin were side by side with the works of Rodchenko. The exhibition proclaimed photo reporting as the main direction of Soviet photographic art, and Arkady Shaikhet, Max Alpert, Semyon Fridlyand and, of course, Ivan Shagin turned from artisan “illustrators” into progressive photographers. Thirteen of Shagin’s works included in the exhibition were noticed by both the press and ordinary viewers. Benevolent criticism noted the “ability to grasp the characteristic and typical” and the ability to “correctly depict the new collective farm life,” opponents criticized the excessive cheerfulness and non-Soviet optimism of the photographs. However, Stalin’s “life has become better, life has become more fun,” which was soon heard, knocked the ground for criticism out from under the feet of ill-wishers. Now it has become simply dangerous to accuse people of excessive optimism. And Ivan Shagin continued to work with the same passion.
Eighteen photographs by Ivan Shagin were shown at the All-Union Photo Exhibition organized in Moscow for the twentieth anniversary of the October Revolution. The theme of the selected works, given the timing of the exhibition, was quite predictable: portraits and portrait groups of party and government leaders, many of which were immediately distributed in the form of posters and postcards. The photographer achieved real recognition: just before the war, the magazine “Soviet Photo” published an article dedicated to Shagin with a portrait of the photographer, establishing him as an accomplished and recognized photographer, as “an artist of our reality who knows how to see it, understand it and serve it with his art.”
But 1941 came and the reality that Shagin served changed overnight. For the photographer, the war began with a report from a rally, where workers standing shoulder to shoulder listened to V. Molotov’s speech on the radio. The photograph, unique in its expressiveness and dramatic power, illustrated the editorial of Komsomolskaya Pravda the very next day. And Shagin “retrained” as a military photojournalist and got used to the uniform, frequent trips to the front and hasty processing of the footage on the front line. Many people are familiar with Shagin’s photographs of the war years: a wounded commissar, with a bandaged head, rising from a trench to attack, “graphic” air battles, shop windows covered with military posters and Moscow trolleybuses delivering firewood, the December offensive of the Red Army near Moscow, the liberation of Kyiv, the assault on a city roaring in smoke Reichstag, Berlin. The war ended for the master with filming of the meeting with the allies on the Elbe, the signing of the act of surrender and the Victory Parade in Moscow on June 24, 1945.
Photographs of Ivan Shagin's war years are always recognizable. He carefully prepared his photographs - they almost always show heroes, exploits, and glorious achievements. But this has no artistic value even for those photographs that were printed on the front lines. And after the war, viewers were able to see the original “Shagin” photograph in all its splendor: the precise gaze of a great artist, dramatic content, impeccable craftsmanship and the author’s print, of which Ivan Shagin was an unsurpassed master. It is not for nothing that even the Americans, known for their high demands on the quality of positive press, recognized Ivan Shagin’s photograph “To the Reichstag” as the best military photograph in 1946.
After the war, Ivan Shagin continued to work. He took great interest in photographing architecture, was one of the first to “master” color photography and taught young photographers how to work with color. As before, Ivan Shagin’s range of topics remained very wide: sports reports, solemn black-and-white landscapes, still lifes, including culinary ones (it is known that the photographer took part in illustrating the “Book of Tasty and Healthy Food”). Ivan Shagin’s photographs and articles were published in the only professional magazine of the USSR “Soviet Photo”, the magazines “Ogonyok” and “Smena”, he worked for the newspaper “Pravda”, RIA “Novosti”, capital publishing houses, his photographs of the war years continued to be published in the press us and abroad. Although in recent years the photographer was not as famous as in the war and post-war times, he was not forgotten and continued to work fruitfully until his death. Ivan Shagin died in Moscow in 1982. Interest in his work, which had somewhat faded during the period of stagnation, returned in the mid-1980s, after major exhibitions dedicated to the history of the USSR.

Source of publication: Stigneev V.T., “Ivan Shagin. Photographic Heritage Series”, M., Art-Rodnik, 2007.

Photographic works

Ivan Shagin
(1904 - 1982)

Photos from 1929-1934(27 photos)

1. Laundresses. 1929

2. In a workers' dormitory. Late 1920s

3. On a dairy farm. Early 1930s

4. A schoolboy on the field - helping the collective farm. Early 1930s

5. At the procurement point. 1930

6. Steel horses. 1930

7. Inventor. 1930

8. Steelmaker. Mid-1930s

9. At the Leningrad Metal Plant. Late 1930s

10. The first traffic controller in Moscow. 1931

11. Young collective farmer. 1931

12. Preparing agricultural machinery for sowing on a collective farm. 1932

13. Collective farm youth. 1932

14. Pioneer. 1932

15. A schoolboy goes to the field brigade with a poster scourging lazy people. 1933

16. New harvest. 1933

17. Working break. 1933

18. Sailor. 1933

19. Athletes. 1933

20. Javelin throwing. 1933

21. First Congress of the Union of Writers of the USSR. 1934

22. Pioneer leader. 1934

23. Gunners during exercises. 1934

24. Tankman. 1934

25. Machine gunners. 1934

26. Fire extinguishing. 1934

27. Artillery on parade. 1934

Shagin's main working tool of this time was an old large-format camera with bellows. The photographer shot on glass plates, which together with the heavy equipment amounted to considerable weight. But, in addition to the camera and photographic plates, the master had to carry several format cassettes with him. Shooting a reportage requires a large number of photographs, but a format cassette with loaded plates made it possible to take only two or four (if you work on half a plate) frames. In addition, the photographer did not indulge himself: despite his lightning-fast reaction and precise eye, he worked slowly and thoroughly, looking for an opportunity to capture not just the key moment of the action, but to reflect his attitude towards it, to find a unique, expressive angle.

In 1934-1935, Ivan Shagin took part in a series of exhibitions in the USSR and abroad (in Prague, Warsaw and Zaragoza). The press especially noted the success of his photograph “Athletes,” where the principles of constructivist photography were very accurately and convincingly implemented: rigid framing, oblique horizon, arrangement of figures and direction of lines. Ivan Shagin addressed the topic of sports with great pleasure: the textured, trained bodies of athletes, unexpected angles and rich dynamics provided great creative opportunities. Living pyramids and columns of athletes became symbols of the new society; the unity of the athletes and their records confirmed the power of the Soviet system. However, it was not without pitfalls. A number of sharp-eyed critics saw hidden eroticism in his series “Dynamo” and “Ossoviahimovka”, which, of course, was not welcomed by the Soviet authorities.

Photos from 1935-1940(38 photos)

28. Street. 1935

29. Kyiv military maneuvers. 1935

30. Old Crimean Bridge and new embankment. 1935

31. Metro builders are the first subway passengers. 1935

32. Crossing. 1935

33. Parachute tester. 1935

34. Stratostat and jumping ball. 1935

35. Forward and higher. 1935

36. Voroshilov riflemen visiting the People's Commissar of Defense K. Voroshilov. 1935

37. The best friend of athletes. 1935

38. Young football players. 1936

39. On the government platform. Aviation festival in Tushino. 1936
The face in the photo was censored out.

40. Construction of the Moscow-Volga canal. 1936

41. At the port. 1936

42. Vladivostok. Fishing port. 1936

43. Stalin at a meeting of commanders' wives. 1936

44. Main caliber. 1936

45. On dismissal. 1936

46. Charging on a battleship. 1936

47. Morning toilet. 1936

48. Airship "USSR-B6". 1936

49. Airships. 1936

50. Balloons. 1936

51. Pilot. 1936

52. Under the wing of an airplane. 1936

53. Wheel. 1936

54. Stalin's falcon. 1936

55. The first Volga steamships near the walls of the Kremlin. 1937

56. Steeplechase. 1937

57. Column of athletes. 1937

58. Main conveyor of ZIS (Plant named after I.V. Stalin). 1937

59. Building of the Frunze Academy. 1937

60. Carts. 1937

61. Red Army soldier. 1938

62. Dynamics. 1938

63. Parachute landing. 1939

64. VSKhV (All-Union Agricultural Exhibition). 1939

65. Sports parade in Leningrad. 1940

Photos from 1941-1945(17 photos)

66. Training of militias. Moscow. 1941

67. Moscow. A downed German bomber on Revolution Square. 1941

69. Instead of husbands who went to the front. 1941

70. At the tank factory. 1943

71. Roads of war. 1943

72. Refugees. Belarus. 1944

73. The political instructor continues the battle. 1944

74. Guerrilla patrol. Vilnius. 1944

75. Red Army soldiers in Berlin. 1945

76. Dash. Germany. 1945

77. Killed in the last battle. 1945

79. Salute to Victory. Berlin. 1945

80. Berlin. Reichtag. The war is over. May. 1945

81. Berlin. Infirmary for German prisoners of war at the Brandenburg Gate. May. 1945

82. At Dynamo for football. Moscow. 1945

After the war, Ivan Shagin continued to work. He took great interest in photographing architecture, was one of the first to “master” color photography and taught young photographers how to work with color. As before, Ivan Shagin’s range of topics remained very wide: sports reports, solemn black-and-white landscapes, still lifes, including culinary ones (it is known that the photographer took part in illustrating the “Book of Tasty and Healthy Food”). Ivan Shagin’s photographs and articles were published in the only professional magazine of the USSR “Soviet Photo”, the magazines “Ogonyok” and “Smena”, he worked for the newspaper “Pravda”, RIA “Novosti”, capital publishing houses, his photographs of the war years continued to be published in the press us and abroad. Although in recent years the photographer was not as famous as in the war and post-war times, he was not forgotten and continued to work fruitfully until his death. Ivan Shagin died in Moscow in 1982. Interest in his work, which had somewhat faded during the period of stagnation, returned in the mid-1980s, after major exhibitions dedicated to the history of the USSR.
Biography

Today one of the strongest, most influential visual aids in the world is photography. Or rather, photography. Photography, with the help of the possibilities given to it, can have a colossal impact on a person. Photography is used both to visualize printed and verbal information, and as an original display, story about some incident or event without the help of words. Everyone has probably heard the popular aphorism: a photo is worth a thousand words.

The art of photography is an accessible, flexible, lively and therefore a form of creativity that has become popular among the people today. Its main advantage over other types of fine art is the relative immediacy of creating a work. In the baggage of a person who is seriously involved in the art of photography, there is a wide field for creativity, for searching, for work. Photography, by its nature, contains a great variety of visual tools, techniques, and effects that help the author penetrate into the most hidden corners of the viewer’s consciousness. Moreover, viewers of any age, nationality, mentality, type of thinking.

Art experts classify photography as a type of activity into three types, three main, main directions: commercial, artistic and technical. Along with all this classification, photography as an art can be divided into many genres.

Each of these genres in photography lives and works according to its own original, internal laws. Today we want to tell you about the ten main genres of photography as an art, to present, so to speak, the Top 10 of them in terms of popularity and significance.

Candid social photography

This is probably the most complex and dramatic genre of photography. Without exaggeration, it can be safely called the most emotional and conflicting. Shots in this genre are almost always taken " hidden camera”, that is, the person who finds himself in the photographer’s field of view usually does not know that he is being photographed. He does not look into the camera lens, does not pay attention to the photographer. Social photographs can be seen mainly in newspapers, magazines, books, today - on Internet news portals and so on. The natural expression of the subject is a distinctive feature of this genre of photographic art. These photographs often completely lack any acting, staging, or direction. Social photography can be called the basis, the basis of photojournalism. Photographs taken in this genre naturally and naturally reflect the real, genuine, living emotions of the characters depicted in them. Without much embellishment, they show and transmit into the viewer’s consciousness the emotions and feelings of the people in the frame. This happens, as we have already said, due to the fact that the person being photographed does not see the person taking the photo. Or for some other reason he simply doesn’t pay attention to him.

In some cases, the emotional impact of such photographs on the viewer is so great that publishers do not risk publishing them in the media.

Here are a few names of photographers who have worked or are working today in the field of social photography : Ivan Shagin, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Becky Depoorter, Alex Masi, Inge Mohr, Dorothea Lange, Christopher Anderson, Robert Capa, Jacob August Riis, Darshan Raghubira, Alexander Glyadelov, Hiroi Kubato, George Roger, Lyalya Kuznetsova, Georgy Pinkhasov, Christina Garcia Robero, Lewis Hine, David Seymour, Tina Modotti, Arno Fischer.

Wildlife Photography

Life wildlife It is very, very difficult to photograph. Photographers who connect their work with this genre of photography voluntarily doom themselves to significant difficulties. Sometimes their work even poses a serious danger to life. Masters of this genre simply need good and expensive equipment, powerful long-focal lenses, with which they can photograph animals at a safe distance. Original photographs of animals taken in their natural habitat are always valuable not only emotionally, but also purely materially. And this is natural: not every one of us is ready to undertake this kind of expedition, both physically and monetary equivalent: As we have already said, the equipment required for such filming is usually very expensive.

Wildlife photography is mainly dealt with by specialized publishing houses. The most famous of them are Animal Planet and National Geographic.

In addition to having expensive and sophisticated photographic equipment, a photographer engaged in this genre of photography must have certain character traits. He must be accustomed to risk, he must not care about cold and heat, he must be attentive and patient. Must know the habits of animals, their lives.

The most famous photographer working in this genre is Mario Herta.

Street photography

The genre of street photography is no less interesting and fascinating than the two described above. And, besides, he is no less complex than them. Street photography is, first and foremost, documentary photography. It is close in essence to the genre of social photography. But its spectrum is somewhat wider. Street photography is far from just photographing the streets of various cities. This is documentation Everyday life, the life of an ordinary person, his routine, life in his usual environment. A good photograph taken in this genre usually reflects the soul of the street, betrays its mood to the viewer, shows its life naturally, without embellishment, without any external intervention from the author of the photograph. Street photography can to some extent be classified as photojournalism.

This type of photographic art is mainly known to news agencies. The most popular of them today is “Magnum”.

Street photography was glorified by such masters as Alexander Rodchenko, Ho Fan, Eliot Erwitt, Alfred Eisenstadt, Ernst Haas, Stuart D. Halperin, Daido Moriyama, Rinko Kawauchi, Trent Park, Eli Reed, Tai Kei Chin, Zoe Strauss, Sibylle Bergemann, Diana Arbus, Eva Arnold, Andre Kertesz, Robert Frank,

Scenery

Without exaggeration, we can say that the landscape genre in photography is the most popular of all its genres. At the same time, landscape is the most rewarding genre. The point here is that the photographer often has no need to invent anything. The surrounding world, the nature of any of the many corners of our majestic planet Earth are beautiful in themselves. The Creator himself took care of this beauty and harmony. A lot of photographers various countries They devote all their creativity to the landscape without a trace, and they have been doing it all their lives.

The genre of landscape photography, just like photography of wildlife, requires enormous attention and patience from those involved in it. In order to have a good result, a magnificent photograph worthy of the attention of the strictest critic - the viewer, its author needs to spend a huge amount of time and effort, both physical and moral. For example, in order to do beautiful shot dawn, you need to go out for shooting long before the sun appears above the horizon in the place the photographer needs. And to capture a stunning sunset with its colors, you need to wait a very long time for it. And sometimes you may not even get what the photographer wants. The landscape genre does not tolerate any fuss or haste. Just like nature itself does not tolerate this. Nature reveals itself in all its beauty and grandeur only to those who love it, who understand it.

The popularity of photographic landscapes is also due to the fact that almost anyone with a camera, even the simplest one, can engage in this genre. Landscape is accessible to everyone, and therefore many people engage in it. For many, this is nothing more than just a hobby; for others, it is a report for friends and family about travel to distant countries or trips to the forest on weekends. But the apparent accessibility of landscape photography does not mean the simplicity of this matter. Do nice landscape Not every master of photography succeeds. And it doesn’t even depend on what exactly the photographer photographs, but how he does it, how he sees the world, what visual means he uses in his work.

The leader in world landscape photography can be called Ansel Adams, who devoted his entire life to landscapes. Dave Hacker, Alex McLean, Don Hong-Oai, William Abranovich, Brian Kosoff, and Michael Levin are also known for their work in this genre.

City or architectural landscape

Generally speaking, in in a broad sense, an architectural cityscape is, first of all, photographing a city, its aesthetics, beauty, and culture. Photographing buildings and structures existing in the urban environment, living in it as their own own life. Cityscape is a bit similar to the genre of street photography. The difference between these two genres of photographic art is primarily that the landscape emphasizes the beauty of the streets, and not what happens on them.

The complexity and interest of this genre is that in his work the photographer is forced to use the light that occurs in a specific place at a specific moment. Unlike studio or reportage photography, when shooting a cityscape it is impossible to use additional lighting. During the day, there is usually only one light source - the sun. In a city at night, the number of light sources is measured in hundreds, if not thousands. These include advertising lights, car headlights, light from house windows, and street lamps. various forms and systems... Sometimes even the light of a cigarette from a smoking passer-by can play a role. And the moon? This is also a great light source. We must never forget about her.

Modern technology and experience creative work in the genre of urban landscape allow modern masters create photographs that are magnificent in their beauty and profound in content. They know how to work with light and shadow, with composition, and carry out all sorts of experiments...

Here are the names famous photographers who are engaged in urban landscape: Josef Sudek, Dave Hacker, Susan Barnstein, Stuart D. Halperin, Joseph Zarub, Ho Fan, William Abranovitch.

Photographing plants

More than a hundred years have passed since Anna Atkins, considered the world’s first female photographer, took the world’s first photographs of individual plants (it’s hard to believe that she was born more than two hundred years ago, two months before Pushkin, in March 1799! ). And since then, many photography masters have devoted their creativity to photographing plants. Hundreds and hundreds of photographers have revealed themselves in this genre of photography. different countries. In the history of photography, there were even such masters who photographed exclusively vegetables, fruits and flowers. This genre of photography art includes not only photographing food and food products in general. Here, the object that the photographer photographs is not just the subject of photography. In this case, the plant acts as an object for photographic experiments, as an object of art. A photograph created in this genre should not only document appearance object, but to show its beauty and perfection. Photographing individual plants is one of the types of minimalism in photography. This is a very interesting genre. To the average person uninitiated in the intricacies of photography, at first glance it may seem that in order to photograph, say, an apple, a potato or a rosebud, it is not at all necessary to have any knowledge and experience. But this is a fundamentally wrong opinion. A photographer engaged in this kind of creativity needs to have not only skill, knowledge of technology, the laws of composition and much more. He needs to have a special sense of style and tact in art.

Magnificent photographs of plants were taken by Anna Atkins, already mentioned today, as well as by Denis Brihat and Joyce Tenneson.

Portrait

The portrait genre is very widespread in all types and genres of fine art. And photography here, of course, is no exception. Just like in landscape, the popularity, apparent simplicity and accessibility of this genre do not mean that it is accessible to everyone who picks up a camera. Take a close look at the photographic portraits made by the great masters of this genre. A portrait is not just a photograph of a person in which he resembles himself in appearance. A good, real portrait conveys a person’s character, his inner world. In order to create a truly good photographic portrait, you need to have vast experience, knowledge of a person, his psychology, and the ability to understand the person being portrayed. Among other things, you need to know and understand light, be able to organize it correctly... Portrait can and should even be called the most difficult genre of all photography genres.

The best portrait photographers in the world can be called Moses Nappelbaum and Yusuf Karsh. Also, the genre of portraiture and their names in it were and are glorified by Alexander Rodchenko, Lilian Basman, Cindy Sherman, Mario Gert, Diane Arbus, Victoria Will, Eva Arnold, Bert Stern and many other magnificent masters of photography.

Fashion photography

The genre of fashion photography has developed in the world along with the development of the fashion industry. Fashion photography is a special genre of photographic creativity, it is completely different from other genres of photography. Fashion photography is varied and broad. It includes studio shooting, and shooting on location, in nature, on the street, against the backdrop of various architectural objects, shooting at fashion shows and much more.

Name the photographers who work today in fashion industry, there is no point. This is a thankless task both for them and for us, the audience. But, nevertheless, we will risk citing a few names. These photographers introduced a lot of new things into the development of fashion photography, their own, previously unknown to them. These names are: Cindy Sherman, Fabrizio Ferri, Annie Leibovitz, Corinne Day, Lillian Busman, Slim Aarons, Deborah Tuberville.

Erotic photo

The erotic genre in photography, like some others, includes elements of several genres. He borrows some from fashion photography, some from portraiture, and sometimes from landscape and reportage. By and large, erotic photography is a photograph of a person’s naked body. The degree of eroticism and nudity here depends entirely on the photographer, on his plan, on the very idea of the photograph. It depends on what goals and objectives the author sets for himself.

Here are the names of the most famous masters of erotic photography: Igor Mukhin, Alexander Grinberg, Newton Hellmuth, Irina Ionescu, Nobuyoshi Araki, Bert Stern, Frantisek Drtikola, Brassaï, Robert Mapplethorpe, Josephine Sakabo.

Experimental photography

Nowadays, in the age of Photoshop and other modern miracles, photography has gained many possibilities that it did not have a few decades ago. But, nevertheless, “Photoshop” in some way existed before. Combined photographs by superimposing one negative onto another were printed back in the 19th century. This technique was first used in his work in 1858 by Henry Robisan. Since then, many photographers began to realize their ideas through various experiences and experiments in photographic technology, both in shooting techniques and in processing techniques. Today, the modern photographer has much more opportunities to achieve his goals than his predecessors. It has become many times easier to create your own unique world in photographs, the fictional world of your dreams, your emotions, your dreams. And more and more photography masters are succeeding in this. Experimental photography is gaining popularity every year, every day.

Here are the names of the best photographers who worked and are working in this genre: Fedor Markushevich, Dave Hacker, Josef Sudek, Francesca Woodman, Frantisek Drtikol, Cindy Sherman, Pep Ventos, Susan Bernstein, Jersey Welsman, Josephine Sakabo.