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alexiuss β€” Center of USSR

Published: 2008-04-06 06:43:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 179247; Favourites: 5120; Downloads: 10947
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Description This is Novosibirsk, my hometown, capital of Siberia.

The Chapel of St. Nicholas, originally built in 1915 to commemorate 300 years of Romanov rule, destroyed in 1930 and rebuilt in 1993, gleams in the middle of the photograph.
The plaque on it said: "This is the exact geographical center of Soviet Union."
I always wondered how exactly they measured that.
To me, as a kid, this had seemed like the center of the known world, the axis of intersections of trans-Siberian railways extending across Ural mountains to Kamchatka.

I returned to Novosibirsk during my Siberian trip in summer of 2007, to shoot this image during a thunderstorm, from the inside of a car standing in traffic.
If you're wondering- the sign on the building literally translates to: "Russ-government-fear", it's basically a humongous insurance company. I find the name rather inspiring and amusing either way.

This place, where I had lived for 9 years, had inspired my dreams and many of my paintings, as cloudscapes tend to be quite beautiful in Siberia.
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The sky is dark thanks to HDR photography- 1 over-exposed shot for ground and 2 separate underexposed shots for sky combined into one image.
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Comments: 737

dr3am-arts [2008-04-06 19:41:03 +0000 UTC]

The sky is amazing

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Dartneis-Is-Back In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 19:40:27 +0000 UTC]

Wow that is amazing, love it very much

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Realm-Of-The-Shadows In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 19:40:11 +0000 UTC]

i envy you, you get all the awesome atmosphere and unusual nuances there, here we get blue or gray skies, nothing more! XD

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Once-and-Future-King In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 19:39:53 +0000 UTC]

WOW!!!!!!! I love that sky, those colors are vibrant and pure. This is amazing, defiantly being added favorites.

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ElaineTheMain In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 19:27:49 +0000 UTC]

yeah! great colors

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MatthewZikry In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 19:24:45 +0000 UTC]

hahaha i really like the license plates

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twilightxmoon In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 19:17:13 +0000 UTC]

the sky looks amazing

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Fiskus In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 19:08:42 +0000 UTC]

that is really really cool

and i like the VITALY : S and the SVITART.COM on the license plates awesome

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nemanjacerovic In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 19:07:59 +0000 UTC]

Lovely:]

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rightdirection [2008-04-06 19:04:54 +0000 UTC]

wowowwiwawawa great!

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Danielll [2008-04-06 18:57:51 +0000 UTC]

Whoah, the skies so great and crazy

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BlueVagabond In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 18:56:40 +0000 UTC]

awesome picture
this sky.... *.*

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Jakaroni [2008-04-06 18:50:42 +0000 UTC]

Good Ol' HDR....

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pretty-mimi [2008-04-06 18:39:37 +0000 UTC]

wow the clouds look kind of a heart !!
amazing shot

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liberato [2008-04-06 18:38:35 +0000 UTC]

Wow, that sky looks spectacular.

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Otacon237 [2008-04-06 18:36:25 +0000 UTC]

Back in the USSR, huh comrade? I should visit sometime. BTW, love the license plates, you must be really famous there! lol jk

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ShiMoonWind In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 18:33:53 +0000 UTC]

The effect of the combination of the separate shots really make this piece something special. Great work.

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Armed-Silhoette [2008-04-06 18:27:46 +0000 UTC]

Isn't Vitaly...

Your name?

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alexiuss In reply to Armed-Silhoette [2008-04-07 06:54:19 +0000 UTC]

yeah
why do u think its on the license plate?
creative signature integration!

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jamberry [2008-04-06 18:26:43 +0000 UTC]

Beautiful, and cold. And tragic, because of its associations with a violent and bloody past.

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unknown-girl-n In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 18:22:30 +0000 UTC]

Love the photo.. love the colours.. and most of all.. I love the sky

Great job

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princessxpush In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 18:21:18 +0000 UTC]

the sky is wonderful !

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Drian [2008-04-06 18:18:34 +0000 UTC]

this is just beyond a common photographer could do, when I first saw the thumb I thought "shiny it has to be a CG picture" because I thought the clouds were something like a gigantic wave -tsunami like- but when I took a closer look and read the description, my reaction was "there is no f*cking way"
Just to resume, awesome photograph incredible composition and skillful domain of lights

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Nervooooz [2008-04-06 18:17:11 +0000 UTC]

Holy shIt! Wonder how you making that sky. Amazing.

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emeua In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 18:15:37 +0000 UTC]

I forgot to breath when I saw it xD With this water on street, lights and clouds it looks celestial.

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leanderjorgensen In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 18:11:57 +0000 UTC]

That sky is simply amazing!

I think your photo is a brilliant city portrait! Very nice done

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SpaceMonkey1977 In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 18:11:12 +0000 UTC]

This is an awesome pic

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delta-zulu In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 18:10:57 +0000 UTC]

The chapel dome looks supernatural with its glowing green, the greenish lightnings flashing in the back and the clouds forming a gap above it. The whole image has a very dark yet majestic atmosphere (did you readjust the tones of the sky.. a bit ? ), and I think the simple title, with the words center and USSR in it, is the most appropriate one. Great photo.

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phluph [2008-04-06 18:10:55 +0000 UTC]

Very very cool!
Russia is one of the few places in this world that I haven't been to yet. This definitely makes me want to visit!
Cheers!

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Magic-AL In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 18:10:12 +0000 UTC]

wow..in the bakc it looks like giant angel wings stretched out in the city.

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Imagined-affair In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 18:08:15 +0000 UTC]

this photo is absolutely amazing!

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Dub-T In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 18:07:34 +0000 UTC]

Wow

You have a great eye. So is that a typical Siberian cloudscape or is there a storm rolling in?

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xstarxtearsx [2008-04-06 18:06:02 +0000 UTC]

wooow..its great! i wanna go there xD

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Kamikaze8 In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 18:01:53 +0000 UTC]

wow.
i like what you did with the text too.

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ErilisVampyre [2008-04-06 17:59:32 +0000 UTC]

A beautiful scene...even more so with the glowing Chaple of St. Nicholas.
I too can sense your deep feelings for this place.
It somehow draws one into it.

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G4nesha [2008-04-06 17:58:30 +0000 UTC]

beautiful shot

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MalkavianDreams [2008-04-06 17:48:20 +0000 UTC]

Oh that's beautiful

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tearysun In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 17:42:00 +0000 UTC]

Ρ…ΠΎΡ€ΠΎΡˆΠΈΡ фотография!

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Maverick-Snought In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 17:41:57 +0000 UTC]

that looks really really sweet great shot

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Ephynephryn In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 17:35:57 +0000 UTC]

wow, its looks like a dream

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WhiteEclipse [2008-04-06 17:35:30 +0000 UTC]

Your artwork is beautiful as usual.

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Dornyth [2008-04-06 17:34:41 +0000 UTC]

I adore the way you make the cars look like a combination of a picture and the bold art style you draw. It makes for a very enjoyable, and sometimes confusing pic when you don't know which one it really is.

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maxlake2 [2008-04-06 17:26:03 +0000 UTC]

Wonderful work!

R

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metalgear08 In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 17:25:18 +0000 UTC]

Holy shit, man, these are beautiful. These pictures make me want to visit there sometime

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Dyson247 In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 17:18:50 +0000 UTC]

nice shot!

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anka-elyonka In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 17:15:41 +0000 UTC]

The sky is scary!

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empatmata In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 17:09:38 +0000 UTC]

damnnnn.......

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AnneThePanda In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 17:06:13 +0000 UTC]

Thats a really amazing picture.

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RisingKing In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 17:04:02 +0000 UTC]

that image is amazing!

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JakubTabisz In reply to ??? [2008-04-06 16:57:08 +0000 UTC]

Amzing!

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