Dean Conger in Caucasus

Dean Conger was born on August 26, 1927, in Wyoming, USA. He joined National Geographic as a staff photographer in 1959. Over the course of his career, he made more than thirty trips to the former Soviet Union, photographing for National Geographic Magazine and the Society’s book Journey Across Russia (1977). For this work, he received a citation of excellence from the Overseas Press Club and the World Understanding Award from the University of Missouri, the National Press Photographers Association, and Nikon.

In Journey Across Russia: The Soviet Union Today, Bart McDowell and Dean Conger attempt to diminish the mystery. They criss-crossed this epic land on the most extensive odyssey ever undertaken by a writer-photographer team from the Western press. Traveling from the frozen towns of Siberia to the hot dunes of the Kara Kum desert, from the rich Ukrainian wheat fields to a busy seaport of the Soviet Far East, they explored the home grounds and observed the life-styles of Russians and Buryats, Georgians and Tajiks, Armenians and Yakuts: “Among families of all kinds, we have joined in the celebration of weddings and births, the observance of funerals, the recognition of changing seasons and holidays, and all the rites for welcoming guests and bidding them goodbye.”

Visiting collective farms and state-owned factories as well as palaces and cathedrals, the two journalists have recorded their impressions of the heritage and promise of one of the world’s great powers. Illustrated with more than 345 color photographs, Journey Across Russia: The Soviet Union Today is a book of personalized geography—an intimate portrait of the human side of a vast and varied land.

After 30 years with National Geographic, Conger retired on September 1, 1989. He and his wife, Lee, settled in Durango, Colorado, where they built a southwest-style home complete with a projection room and a magnificent view of the Animas Valley and La Plata Mountains. They had three sons, two grandsons, and a granddaughter. In 2012, they moved to Bend, Oregon, and later to The Dalles, Oregon, to be closer to family. He passed away peacefully in 2023.

Below, we explore what he witnessed during his time in the Caucasus.

The first two photos feature Khfaf Lasuria, who was at least 133 years old at the time. She is pictured proposing a toast during a dinner honoring the book's author, Bart McDowell, and photographer Dean Conger. Mrs. Lasuria passed away in 1975 at her home in the Abkhazian village of Kutol, at an age estimated between 134 and 144. Her nephew, Kutol Dzikur Lasuria, was still jumping horses at the age of 85 when this book was released.