ttdz_000_053 text plus photo A day in the life of the Soviet Union

ttdz_000_053 text plus photo  A day in the life of the Soviet Union

In the late spring of 1987, the news spread like wildfire through the international photojournalism community: The unimaginable was about to happen. After three years of negotiation, the Day in the Life team had finally obtained permission to photo­graph the Soviet Union.

For 50 of the Western world’s top photojournalists, an invitation would be the ultimate prize — a ticket to join 50 Soviet-bloc photographers and then to spread out across the Soviet Union to record subjects never seen in the West. Around the world, candidates studied maps of the USSR. Even the names of the cities evoked an air of intrigue: Arkhangelsk and Leningrad, Samarkand, Tashkent and Ulan Ude. This would be the assignment of a lifetime: the chance to capture the world’s largest nation on film in the course of a single day. Photogra­pher Rick Smolan and editor David Cohen gave the photographers unusual instructions: Set aside precon­ceptions and avoid cliches. Instead, do the hardest thing of all — make extraordinary pictures of ordinary events.

In 1987, the Soviet people celebrated the 70th Anniver­sary of the Great October Revolution. They looked back on decades of war and famine, conquest and achieve­ment. They looked forward to sweeping changes during a time of new leadership and new openness. In this year of glasnost, Day in the Life photographers were given unprecedented access to Soviet homes, factories, schools and even prisons. They traveled to all 15 Soviet republics and across 11 time zones. They ventured into areas that have been closed to outsiders for centuries, and they came back with candid images of the daily life of the people behind the headlines.

In A Day in the Life of the Soviet Union, you will go on assignment with illustrious photographers from the East and West. Start the day less than 100 miles from Alaska with award-winning Soviet photojournalist Vladimir Yyatkin; go falcon hunting in the mighty Tien Shan Mountains of Central Asia with Dutch photographer Frans Lanting; attend a meeting with General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev with Soviet photomaster Yuri Abramochkin; then infiltrate the notorious Vladimir Prison with Pulitzer Prize-winner Eddie Adams.

The pictures in A Day in the Life of the Soviet Union were chosen from over 127,000 images shot on May 15, 1987. None is 24 hours older or younger than any other.

You will be guided through A Day in the Life of the Soviet Union by special maps indicating when and where each photograph was taken.

11:30 pm

Also available from Collins Publishers:

A Day in the Life of America A Day in the Life of Japan A Day in the Life of Australia A Day in the Life of Canada

Also available from Workman Publishing Company: A Day in the Life of Hawaii

Coming in Spring 1988:

A Day in the Life of Spain

Available at bookstores everywhere.

To order Day in the Life titles by telephone, call (800) 683-3030. In Maryland, call (301) 824-7300.