Golden fall through the lenses of SOVIET photographers (PHOTOS)

Alexander Ovchinnikov / TASS
Alexander Ovchinnikov / TASS
Fallen leaves, fiery red and orange colors… The most sad and beautiful season captured in these magnificent photos.

Vladimir Rodionov / Sputnik
Vladimir Rodionov / Sputnik

Fall is considered the most romantic time of the year. It inspired Russia’s greatest poets, including Alexander Pushkin and Sergei Yesenin, who found that its “farewell beauty” delights the eyes.

Igor Stomakhin/MAMM/MDF
Igor Stomakhin/MAMM/MDF

Russian artists also adored the colors extravaganza of the fall, as well as the unique light ambience.

Vladimir Rodionov / Sputnik
Vladimir Rodionov / Sputnik

September 1, officially the first day of fall in Russia, is a big holiday called ‘Knowledge Day’, when all the children go back to school after summer holidays.

Vsevolod Tarasevich/MAMM/MDF
Vsevolod Tarasevich/MAMM/MDF

The most popular definition of fall is ‘golden’. Because… it’s golden in Russia!

Ivan Shagin/MAMM/MDF
Ivan Shagin/MAMM/MDF

All the seasons in Russia have quite distinctive weather conditions, and fall is always about trees turning yellow and red, carpets of fallen leaves appearing and walking under the constant rain. While September can still be warm and green, in October, true fall arrives. 

Vsevolod Tarasevich/MAMM/MDF
Vsevolod Tarasevich/MAMM/MDF

It’s time to wear bright colors to match nature and to get rid of the fall depression frequently caused by the end of the summer, by the cold and the gloomy, gray sky, as well as the dreaded sense of the upcoming long winter.

Ivan Shagin/MAMM/MDF
Ivan Shagin/MAMM/MDF

When it’s sunny outside, people tend to go out for walks. 

Rustam Mukhametzyanov/Rustam Mukhametzyanov's archive
Rustam Mukhametzyanov/Rustam Mukhametzyanov's archive

Parents struggle with the first cold, while heavily dressed kids enjoy their time outside.

Vsevolod Tarasevich/MAMM/MDF
Vsevolod Tarasevich/MAMM/MDF

The brightest trees to turn red, yellow and orange - and other shades of fall - in Russia are birch and maple trees. 

Yevgeny Kassin/MAMM/MDF
Yevgeny Kassin/MAMM/MDF

Early fall is always time for fun - playing with all those leaves, collecting them into bouquets. People like to dry them up between book pages, so that they can suddenly come across one years later, neatly pressed and dried. 

Sigizmund Kropivnitsky/MAMM/MDF
Sigizmund Kropivnitsky/MAMM/MDF

But, it is a pain to collect all those leaves. Since Soviet times, Russians have got used to cleaning up all the fallen leaves, so that they don’t clutter the streets - especially in spring, when everything thaws and everything is not covered in this stinky, dirty compost.

Ivan Shagin/MAMM/MDF
Ivan Shagin/MAMM/MDF

Everything is transformed in the fall and looks incredibly different - be it Lake Baikal…

A. Volkov / Sputnik
A. Volkov / Sputnik

…the picturesque Volga River banks…

Yury Somov / Sputnik
Yury Somov / Sputnik

…the Caucasian mountains

Alexei Babushkin / Sputnik
Alexei Babushkin / Sputnik

…or the former royal residence in Tsarskoe Selo near St. Petersburg.

Vsevolod Tarasevich/MAMM/MDF
Vsevolod Tarasevich/MAMM/MDF

Moreover, fall is time for picking mushrooms.

B.Popov / Sputnik
B.Popov / Sputnik

There really are lots of mushrooms in fall and Russians are obsessed with collecting them!

Semyon Maisterman / TASS
Semyon Maisterman / TASS

…and for harvest (having no idea what on earth to do with all those apples later!)...

Nikolai Dobrovolsky / Sputnik
Nikolai Dobrovolsky / Sputnik

…and for hunting.

Vsevolod Tarasevich/MAMM/MDF
Vsevolod Tarasevich/MAMM/MDF

Even Soviet leaders used to hunt. Pictured below is Leonid Brezhnev.

Vladimir Musaelyan/MAMM/MDF/TASS
Vladimir Musaelyan/MAMM/MDF/TASS

Fall was also colored in red, not only because of trees, but also because of the main Soviet fall holiday, the celebration of the Revolution anniversary. A big parade with placards and red banners used to be held on November 7 every year. 

Anatoly Bochinin/MAMM/MDF
Anatoly Bochinin/MAMM/MDF

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