Bukharan Jews. Bukharan Jews of Samarkand: expedition photographs by S.M. Dudin

The woman is wearing a traditional loose-fitting dress with wide sleeves and a stand-up collar, made of factory-made jacquard silk; on her neck are coral beads and hoop earrings with traditional pendants. The man is wearing a black satin camisole and a skullcap. Camisoles appeared among Bukharan Jews earlier than among Tajiks and Uzbeks, and became widespread, representing their typical type of clothing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bukharan Jewish women, unlike women of the Muslim population, had greater social freedom. They did not hide from strangers and willingly posed for photographers: thanks to this, the collection contains many photographs of Bukharan Jewish women, which makes it possible to form a real idea of ​​their traditional costume. Samuil Martynovich Dudin made three expeditions to Turkestan and the Bukhara Emirate to collect collections and photograph "types of the multi-tribal population of this region." An artist by education, S.M. Dudin mastered both the photography itself and its practical preparation: he was well versed in photographic equipment. For the trip, the scientist chose two cameras with large-format lenses from Derozha and Zuter, a focal-plane shutter from the English company Thornton-Picard, and he also purchased glass photographic plates from the Ilford Impress company at the expense of the museum. The very list of photographic accessories prepared for the expedition (cameras, a heavy tripod, boxes with packed glass negatives, a camping tent - a laboratory with reagents) testifies to its careful preparation. In addition to technical equipment, Samuil Martynovich prepared for the future shooting: the subject matter was thought out in advance, a list of topics and subjects was compiled. However, having encountered the difficulty of shooting live scenes and costumes in the expedition with the contrast of natural lighting (bright sun – shadow), S.M. Dudin asked the museum for permission to purchase two more Zeiss lenses: a wide-angle lens and a fast-working one “for types of groups and landscapes.”