Faces of the Russian Empire through the lens of a British photographer

Gateway to Russia

Jun 18 2023

Scottish photographer William Carrick documented the different professions and nationalities that lived in Russia in the mid-19th century.

Both William Carrick’s father and grandfather were closely connected to Russia, having traded timber with Russians and spending lots of time in St. Petersburg. William himself was born in Edinburgh, but the family almost immediately moved to Russia, where he lived for the rest of his days, with rare trips to Rome and back to his native Edinburgh to study.

Carrick graduated from the Petersburg’s Academy of Arts, where he studied architecture and painting. Later, he met a photographic technician in Scotland and the idea of photography ignited him. In 1859, Carrick opened one of the first photo studios ever in St. Petersburg. He took pictures of St. Petersburg street life, but, most of all, he became famous for his ethnographic expeditions, during which he collected portraits of different jobs and nationalities living in the Russian Empire.

Have a look at some of Carrick’s incredible photos from his ‘Russian Types’ series that literally bring history to life!