«Fotogorky» (photogorky.ru) — Nizhny Novgorod Internet community dedicated to art photography, founded in late 2006. The site brought together photographers, photo models, and fine art photography enthusiasts from Nizhny Novgorod, and for several years served as one of the most prominent platforms on the city's photography scene. Members of the city's online community described the project as "the cultural face of Nizhny Novgorod."[1]

History and structure

The site photogorky.ru was launched in late 2006 by Semyon Orlov together with Artyom Kozlov as an online platform for art photography in Nizhny Novgorod. The site featured the TOP52 gallery, which published the best works by club members, as well as a section devoted to photo models.[2][1] The community stood out for its author rating system: members were assigned ranks ranging from "contender" to "art photographer," which fostered a professionally oriented environment.[1]

As of November 2011, the photo club had 8,351 registered users, including 5,396 authors, 727 photo models, and 2,228 viewers. Over the course of its existence, authors had published 133,804 photographs, 507,175 comments had been left, and 679,426 ratings had been given. In June 2007, the exhibition "Fotogorky.ru" opened at the Russian Museum of Photography, presenting the site's best photographs from the first five months of that year; the exhibition ran from 6 to 19 June 2007.[2][2]

The site featured thematic sections covering portrait, landscape, genre photography, reportage, architecture, macro, panorama, nude, wedding, and commercial photography, as well as a forum and a section for selling photographic equipment.[2]

Founder

Semyon Orlov (4 July 1982 – 6 November 2020) was a Nizhny Novgorod photographer and engineer and the creator of Fotogorky. In addition to running the site, he was known as the chief engineer of the WOWCube gaming console.[1]

Sources

  1. NN.RU — The cultural face of Nizhny Novgorod: Semyon Orlov and his site Fotogorky (archive)
  2. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — The exhibition "Fotogorky.ru" will open at the Russian Museum of Photography in Nizhny Novgorod on 6 June. News of Nizhny Novgorod — In June 2007, at the Russian Museum of Photography in Nizhny Novgorod… (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — "Foto Gorky" — A convenient photo site — Art Photography — Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Friends Casino official site play online free without registration (archive)
  5. photostudio23.cz — Hlavní stránka (archive)