Sovetskoe Foto - 1984 - No 11

Sovetskoe Foto was a magazine of the USSR's Association of journalists. It is intersting to see the sensibility of the photographers of that time. This magazine is also interesting for anybody who wants to se how ideology infulences the art of photography.

This is the official abstract from the magazine:

"The theme of constructive labour is a leading one in Soviet photojournalism. Closely bound with it is tho Party theme which includes photos, reportages and Feature-stories, telling about the different aspects of life in Party organizations. The magazine acquaints readers with a cycle of materials by P. Krivtsov, a Sovetskaya Rossia newspaper photographer, devoted to the people and deeds of the Andropov Metallurgical Combine in Novolipetsk. This creative approach of the photographer to tho Party theme is a psychological photostudy which recreates the atmosphere of this huge industrial enterprise and the characters of the contemporary workers and which has, for several years, been published regularly in Sovetskaya Rossia under the "Photochronicle: the Factory in My Life" heading (p. 2). V. Tarasevich, Novosti Press Agency photographer, tells, in his article "A Reportage About the CIna Newspaper," about his business trip to Riga for taking pictures lor the feature-story about the 80th anniversary of the newspaper, an assignment which gave rise to pondering over the "formula of success" of the reporter in general and the tasks of a picture story as a genre (p. 8). A. Sekretarev's series of photos, taken at a Ukrainian sovkhoz, are distinct lor their optimistic, good-natured view of life in the modern Soviet village. "This story about a village street gives more information than could fit into the photo," writes journalist S. Vishnyakov who sees the reason for this young photographer's success in his interest in and liking for his "heroes" and the clearly expressed stand of the author (p. 12).
We give a picture story by Y. Vendelin and V. Rudko, reporters from Tallinn, entitled "Day of the Premiere," devoted to an amateur talent children's opera house, organized in one of Estonia's schools. Publication of this story in the republican newspaper coincided with the awarding of the prize of the Union of Journalists of Estonia to tho two photographers, working in a creative tandem (p. 18).
V. Nikitin acquaints readers with the first steps taken by Soviet photojournalism, with the history of the setting up of the illustrated magazines Plamyu, Krasnaya Niva, Ogonyok, USSR in Construction and others, with their themes and authors (p. 21). Lenin Prize winner, writer O. Kurganov recalls his meetings with photographer F. Kislov, who has preserved for history photos of many prominent people of his time, the atmosphere of the thirties, and the grim days of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Noting that the work of genuine master photographers not only retains its freshness but with the years becomes still more stirring, the author writes that "it is not a matter only of the photo lens or the objectivoness of the photograph, but also in the individuality of the photochronicler" (p. 22). "Twenty-three years in the cosmos" is the title of the dialogue about the work of veteran Novosti Press Agen cy reporter A. Mokletsov, who specializes in space subjects.-The dialogue is conducted by Pilot Cosmonaut of the USSR A. Leo-nov and the author of the photos, while N. Zheleznov comments on it (p. 24). A. Mokletsov's photographs are given on the front cover and in the colour supplement of the issue. We publish a review of an album "Treasures of the Moscow Kremlin," in which over 200 colour photos by V. Mendoleyov are included, giving an architectural picture of the Kremlin. The album was prepared by two publishing houses — the Planela (Moscow) and August Tsesarets (Zagreb) (p. 25). SF also informs readers about new photobooks being prepared for press by the country's publishing houses next year (p. 45). In the Photodebut section we present lyrical landscapes and still-lifes of an amateur photographer from Ryazan, I. Sergeyova. She is a member of the people's photostudio Meshchera (p. 26).
V. Gulyayev devotes his notes to the important role of frames and margins in tho realization of a photo-artist's ideas (p. 32). A big part in the Photo-junior section is given to readers' letters and to photos by young amateur photographers (p. 34). The Phototochniquo section opens with a commentary to the editorial office's testing of the new Soviet camera Elikon-35C, equipped with a built-in flash (p. 40). The continuation of the article by the chairman of tho Kharkov club of underwater photographers, S. Glushcheuko, entitled "You've Decided to Film Underwater," is devoted to choosing the film and to filming in natural lighting (p. 41). New material is published, sent in by readers to the competition 10,000 Technical Aids (p. 42), and to advice on accelerated film treatment (p. 44). Under the Interphoto heading we give a short review on photojournals of different countries (p. 46), and about tho results of the international exhibition Photosport-84, held in tho Spanish city of Reus (p. 47)."