On July 10, 2020, a themed exhibition “Museum Collection of Cameras as the Chronicles of Humankind” (July 12) was opened in O.O.Osmerkin Art-Memorial Museum.
    The exposition of the exhibition consists of the collection of cameras from the museum collection. More than thirty photo cameras of the domestic manufacturer and well-known firm of other countries made in the past century starting from the 1910s and till the 1990s were exhibited.
    Among the exhibited items visitors can find a camera “FED”, manufacturing production of which has started in 1934 in Kharkiv industrial workshops of the First labour colony named after F.Ye.Dzerzhynskyi; and that is where it takes its title from; photo cameras of Kyiv plant Arsenal – rangefinder Kiev, medium-format reflex Salut, and mini camera Kiev-10, which was the first reflex camera with auto exposure settings.
    The exhibition offers visitors to explore once-popular cameras of famous Soviet enterprises: Leninhrad Optical Mechanical Association – “Smena”, “Leninhrad”, “Sputnik”, rangefinder five program automatic camera “Sokol”, and Krasnohorskyi Mechanical Plant named after S.A.Zveriev in the Moscow Oblast – the first model of the Soviet medium format folding camera with bellow “Moskva”, rangefinder folding camera “Iskra”, miniature reflex single-lens camera “Zenit”, several models of miniature camera ‘Zorkii”.
    Cameras “Compur” and “Solida” made in the 1910s and 1930s by German firms attract the attention of the visitors. For a long time, Germany has had priority in the development of the photographic industry. But at the beginning of the 1960s, the leading positions in the sphere of photo cameras manufacturing took Japan. At the exhibition, you can find a very rare photo camera “Yаshica-mаt” made in Japan – a two-lens medium format camera with a set of accessory lenses. There are also famous cameras of the 1990s – the instant camera of the American company “Polaroid” and a point-and-shoot camera “Wizen” made in Korea.
    The gem of the exhibition is a unique item of the museum collection – a stereoscope of the German production with a set of stereo cards on different themes, the so-called “3D-display of the 19th century”.
    The exposition is completed by the exhibition of literature on photography equipment and photo art, starting from the 1960s and till the modern days – books, p-professional journals “Sovetskoiefoto”, “Svitlo I tin”, “Photographer”, and photo albums, including the ones that present the photo studios of the old Yelisavethrad and works of the modern photo artists of Kropyvnytskyi.
    It’s pleasant to mention that press photographers of almost all local media came to the exhibition opening. They explored the photo cameras with fascination and professional interest. The press photographers also captured the photo vernissage and left their autographs on the poster of the exhibition. The head of Kirovohrad Regional Organization of the National Union of Photo Artists of Ukraine Oleh Shramko demonstrated to the journalists of the TV and radio company “TTV” the work of the camera “Compur”, made in Germany at the beginning of the 1910s.
    The idea to create an art project Photo laboratory, within which to organize a themed installation with the items needed for the work with a raw film, and also to organize different masterclasseswith the famous photographers, and present interesting photo exhibitions.