# Chernobyl / Prypyat III, April 2011 - last ones..



## stateless68 (Apr 23, 2011)

I spent two days visiting the exclusion zone surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, this month, a trip that was always destined to be rather sombre, but which took place whilst the world watched the developing drama and tragedy in Japan, and drew comparisons with that of Chernobyl, in 1986. 

I travelled with another photographer, who i met for the first time at the airport. We had already agreed an itinerary and were prepared for early starts and few breaks in order to cover as much ground as possible. So, having spent a night in Kiev, we arrived at the first security check point around 10.30 and after a very brief introduction to our guide, in which we signed 'waiver' forms stating that from here on in, nobody else was responsible for safety but our sense of self-preservation. I hadn't bothered with travel insurance. I wouldn't be able to get any, i hadn't checked, in truth i'd forgotten about it. It soon became very clear that this place was very dangerous indeed. Not because of the background, or foreground, radiation, or the hotspots that still existed, but because it was falling down around our feet. All the drains / man-holes were uncovered. Lift shafts were open to the adventurous and the reckless. Glass lay shattered everywhere. Chemicals in ampulets were unavoidably crushed under one's feet. This was not a place for the unwary traveller. No efforts have been taken to make the place more secure, however the Ukrainian authorities have very recently began to control the number of private visits and to regulate tours on an official basis. This may be to make a decent profit from increased opportunities for profit from tourism in Chernobyl. Big plans are being made, seriously, so now is the time to visit. 

As far as our tour went, our guide let us do what we wanted to do, we could have spent two days in one room in one building, had we have wanted to. It was eerie, wandering alone around a crumbling hospital, picking a route between the stacked steel beds, the water falling through the roof and the corridors, avoiding the said open lift shafts and back into the light. At one point i heard movement, a chap who really shouldn't have been there, mooched around the corner, saw me, with my camera, and ran off into the shadows. That was unsettling. 

We went to the Hospital, School No 3, Kindergaarten, Cultural Palace, the Supermarket, the Playground / Dodgems / Ferris Wheel, the Sports Hall, Railway 'station'/ sidings, the Hotel, the Chernobyl Viewing platform, and the football stadium. 

I was disappointed with my photos from day two. I spent both days feeling crap, and i was beginning to wander whether it wasn't the place rather than my lack of sleep before getting there and my last photos were let down by my not bothering to focus. In fact i couldn't focus, i felt nauseous and needed to get out. Nobody else seemed too worried, in fact we drove back ensuring we got nice and close to the highly radioactive 'red forest' our guide sticking her arm out of the car window and screaming with glee as the geiger counter rallied into overdrive, red lights blazing and beeps-a-beeping. 

the last lot...


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## King Al (Apr 23, 2011)

Pics look fine to me stateless, thanks for sharing


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## stateless68 (Apr 23, 2011)

King Al said:


> Pics look fine to me stateless, thanks for sharing



very kind of you sir! however i have had to leave a few out, ones i was excited about having taken, and on closer viewing they were very soft indeed, for example in the Hotel lounge area, where there must have been huge glass windows looking out onto the city, there is now an old shell of a TV set, stood on an old table, so you can focus on the television, through the non-existent screen, and onto the apartment blocks 200 yards or so behind it. It would have made a great shot, but i just didn't get it. Overall i was very happy with what i got - but 2 or 3 did get away.


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## klempner69 (Apr 23, 2011)

Dont beat yerself up about your pics ok..I would be chuffed to have took your pics as they turned out very well.We are hopefully going next year so fingers crossed things wont have changed for the worst.


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## night crawler (Apr 24, 2011)

The place facinates me I the photo's are great, hat's off to you stateless for taking the time to go.


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## Nobby1974 (Apr 28, 2011)

Chin up stateless, there are always two people in a photo, the photographer and the viewer, and both have moods which can change the meaning of a picture. I think these shots are great and do more far than just serve the purpose of record - they also carry a big lump of how you were feeling, which I think adds to the atmosphere they convey. 

I suspect you just have unreasonably high standards and I'd actually be very interested to see the ones you rejected!


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## heeftmeer (Apr 28, 2011)

Very nice. Like the girl on the skippy ball. What a place to be.


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## muppix (Apr 28, 2011)

Very nicely done. You found some great angles there and avoided the usual "tourist" shots, as much as I hate that phrase. The chap you went with, was it his second time? I have a feeling I accompanied him on his first.

M.


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## Snapshot (May 1, 2011)

Spasibo bolshoi Stateless!

I hope you indulged in more than a couple of Slavutich when you got back to Kiev - you certainly deserved them!

As others have said, I think you are being harsh on yourself, the pictures are great and convey the total desolation of the place brilliantly.

It's strange, I lived in Kiev and am married to a Ukrainian but never thought about visiting Chernobyl. The idea is such an athema to Ukrainians that the idea simply did not cross my mind but, having seen your photos, maybe it is something we'll do next time we visit family over there.

Thanks again for the photos - and the inspiration!


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## Happysacs (May 2, 2011)

Fantastic shots. Incredible location! 

I've toyed with the idea of going after seeing some motorbike adventure post on advrider.com where they rode through the area but I'm pretty sure the idea of invisible gremlins attacking me scares the bejesus out of me although glowing in the dark would save a fortune on torch batteries. 

A friends girlfriends dad used to work at a British nuclear reactor - just before he died recently he told my friend that when Chenobyl melted down off they had no idea it was happening and couldn't work out why their radiation sensors were kicking off. During their tests they realised that the readings were higher as they moved away from their own reactor - this caused no end of initial confusion


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## stateless68 (May 7, 2011)

muppix said:


> Very nicely done. You found some great angles there and avoided the usual "tourist" shots, as much as I hate that phrase. The chap you went with, was it his second time? I have a feeling I accompanied him on his first.
> 
> M.



thanks for the comments muppix, i tried for some more unusual shots and at the end of the two days found i had many shots which were 'representative' of the place, which is what i wanted to achieve, rather than shots that gave a wider view of the town, which has perhaps been done before and can be found easily elsewhere but woulod have been extraordinary all the same. On thing i have found is, on showing the photos to friends or colleagues at work, it is those photos that are the ones people want to see, more than the 'angles' and the close-ups of rust and writing. That's no problem as I had my own agenda - to show decay and see if it can be transformed, occasionally, into something abstract and beautiful on its own, but to maintain the interest of someone who just wants to see what's there, i would want to include a few more 'street' panoramic shots. 

the guy i travelled with was on his second visit, a photographer from Bracknell. I can't say his name on here without his permission, but his first trip very much set him up for the second, in that he knew the specific shots he was after at specific sites.


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## stateless68 (May 7, 2011)

Snapshot said:


> Spasibo bolshoi Stateless!
> 
> I hope you indulged in more than a couple of Slavutich when you got back to Kiev - you certainly deserved them!
> 
> ...



cheers Snapshot!

well i had a small bottle of a local vodka, for sure, bought from the shop in Chernobyl itself. Otherwise our apartment was close to an 'Irish' kind of bar, with a good restaurant, and some good beers. So that was easy. The only day of the 3 we had to do anything in Kiev was on the monday. before the flight back, and i got to see the Dnieper but not the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, which was shut on mondays, that was a shame -next time maybe.


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## stateless68 (May 7, 2011)

Nobby1974 said:


> Chin up stateless, there are always two people in a photo, the photographer and the viewer, and both have moods which can change the meaning of a picture. I think these shots are great and do more far than just serve the purpose of record - they also carry a big lump of how you were feeling, which I think adds to the atmosphere they convey.
> 
> I suspect you just have unreasonably high standards and I'd actually be very interested to see the ones you rejected!



thanks nobby. i'm really not so disappointed about the shots, apart from with 2-3 at the end of the second day, which if i'd paid attention to what i was doing i know i would have loved to have got them on the nail. but i'm still re-trawling through the 700 i took, having culled 300 instantly as rubbish, i am taking another peek at the other 300 or so that i initially stuck to one side, and have found another 5-6 that are a bit better than i first thought. I don't know if i am brave enough to post 200 plus more photos on here though!

and i'm really delighted about your saying that the photos say something about the way i was feeling. That's what i wanted to get over, something a bit more personal even though i had never been to the place before - that's the 'angle' i wanted to find, something similar to Wim Wenders' 'Pictures from the Surface of the Earth', which very much inspired me in terms of open and desolate places in which civilisation has been, gone and nature is taking back control.


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## dobbo79 (May 7, 2011)

those pics are fab - i especially like the fairground ones - i find derelict theme parks and fairgrounds really eerie S


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## Snips86x (May 9, 2011)

More fantastic images. I'm in awe of this place and have an unhealthy facination with Chernobyl - I would love to visit this incredible settlement.


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