The Klodt Brothers technical office opened in 1882 when Karl Klodt was granted the status of a Samara merchant. He controlled asphalt works in the city, traded in mineral oil and wheel grease, and was the official representative of the Otto gas and kerosene engines plant.

His brother Ivan arrived in Samara with his family in the late 1880s; soon after that, in March 1890, the first advertisement of the Klodt Brothers joint office appeared in the newspaper Samarskaya Gazeta. The company repaired water pipes, and sold steam, water and cast iron pipes, pumps, as well as rubber, cement and coal. By 1898, the assortment was supplemented with electrical and technical equipment manufactured by German companies, spare parts for steamboats and sanitary hygiene devices. The Klodts brothers not only sold this equipment, but also installed it.

In the picture, Karl and Ivan Klodt are sitting in the front row in the center of the photograph. Together with them, Peter Kurylev is featured on the picture; he is second from the left in the front row. The card is printed on cardboard with matte photographic paper; it is well preserved. On the frame above and below the picture, inscriptions are seen: Technical and waterworks office, B.R.Bik, Br. Klodt and the name of the city Samara.

Studio photographs brought fame to Boris Bik. Such pictures were taken in a confined space and one of the photographer’s main tasks was to set the light properly, otherwise the picture could become dark and unfocused. Taking pictures was considered a complicated work: the photographer had to construct a composition, arranging people and objects in the frame in the most effective manner. The Klodt Brothers picture is an example of studio photography.