Traveled to Chernobly with my Holga.

[samdj1210]

Hi guys,
I thought I would share with the Hogla Freaks on here my photo journey to Chernobyl.
http://www.randomphotographer.co.uk/chernobly.html

One of the most interesting and rather creepy places i've been too.

[-doomed-]

Good stuff. I read a bit about chernobyl a while ago and it included pictures of abandoned fleets of helicopters and military vehicles as well. I wish i could remember where ihad seen it.

[tom.w.bn]

Seems to be quite popular at the moment to visit Pripyat. Discussed also in other forums. Don't know why someone should go there. Cool idea to take a holga there.

[Jamie Pillers]

Thanks for bringing the photos back and sharing them with us.

My favorite is the one with the park bench in the foreground and the ferris wheel in the background. That photo is so sad, especially knowing its Chernobyl.

[samdj1210]

Thank You for all the words
@Pitxu here is the write up http://www.randomphotographer.co.uk/blog/?cat=76

[samdj1210]

loved the photos, especially the 50's car zoom.

did you mean to spell it "chernobly.html"? :p

Doh, damn dyslexia.

[Shok]

Ace pictures!
Love it! Any more to look at?

[samdj1210]

There are a few more on here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/samdj1210/sets/72157608329310019/), we only had 1/2 a day wondering around the old city.

I wish I could have stayed longer (and took more film) as dare I say it, it is a photographers dream.

[tom.w.bn]

If I wanted to take pictures like that I would travel to some areas in Eastern Germany. Alienated but with less radiation ;-)

[35mmdelux]

I heard the place still glows at night.

[Krosya]

Thats how you get a "Leica glow" without getting a Leica? ;)

[-doomed-]

Thats the one. Thank you for finding it.

[dmr]

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chapter6.html

A few years ago there was some evidence presented that Elena's story was either total fiction or else highly embellished.

I wonder if Sam can comment on this one ...

[-doomed-]

Something to do with her paying to go on a tour of the town,items being rearranged for dramatic effect and the illegality of the motorcycle in the area.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the claims but its been said on a few other forums that popped up when i decided to search chernobyl pictures.

[peterm1]

Seems to be quite popular at the moment to visit Pripyat. Discussed also in other forums. Don't know why someone should go there. Cool idea to take a holga there.


I wonder if its due to the effect of the PC game "Stalker - Shadow of Chernobyl" ? The game is very accurate in its depiction of the area around the centre of Pripyat (well apart from the monsters and weird radiation anomalies :^) ) and I easily recognize many features from these photos in that game.

EDIT: In fact judging by some of the photos here the makers of that fun little game have accurately captured much of the feel of the surrounding area too - very eery!

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chapter6.html

[samdj1210]

Wow, just googled "elena chernobyl fake" - got a lot of hits, heh.

I heard the same thing, I heard she took the same tour as me a few years back. Still, she gave me the idea to visit the place. Maybe she works for the tour company.

[-doomed-]

Either way the pictures are interesting and still a reminder that sometimes no matter how in control we feel , we are not.

[MartinP]

The site of Elena Filatova is www.elenafilatova.com (http://www.elenafilatova.com)

According to Ms.Filatova, the motorcycle part came from touring around the large de-populated zone, not from next to Chernobyl, and was written up for a "best ride of the year" competition in a biking magazine some years ago (that link isn't on the site any more though, I think it was dead). The rest of the website grew from there and there is reportage from the empty areas for several years.

The radioactive-pollution / anti-nuclear message is not very popular within the Ukraine government apparently. Do we have any members from Ukraine ? The only Ukrainian person I have spoken to recently says they "know" that the pollution is "all gone now" and there are "people living there again" . . .

[samdj1210]

I wonder how hard is is to sneak into the area anyway. Sure there are checkpoints on the road, but... Not that this would be a good idea, at least without a geiger counter, but...

What I saw when I was there was a huge fence surrounding a massive area, I forget how big the exclusion zone was but it was huge. The main entrance in to the exclusion area was about 30miles away from the power planet. Then we had at least another 2 check points to get through before visiting the town of Pripyat which was also razor wired off. People must sneak in there as there is plenty of graffiti and tagging over the buildings as well as stealing items.

I wouldn't like to risk it, with the huge amounts of radiation that still lays in the unclean part of the contaminated area or worse getting shot by the army. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Chernobyl_radiation_map_1996.svg

[samdj1210]

Either way the pictures are interesting and still a reminder that sometimes no matter how in control we feel , we are not.

@doomed, I total agree. Before going there I didn't really question nuclear power and now it does frighten me..... and I used to live opposite Bradwell Power Station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradwell_Power_Station) and never really gave it a thought if that went up like Chernobyl. The UK would be completely f*cked.

Anyway, on a cheery note.
HAPPY NEW YEAR RFF members

[benkelley]

Great shots–thanks for posting them! Reminds me a story an oncologist I knew told me... he wound up treating a lot of kids who emigrated from there. Said no one really knew what was up after the event–the government was not very forthcoming–but one family knew something was up when that summer the strawberries grew to the size of melons...

[Mr_Flibble]

Wonderful photos,

I've recently played Call of Duty 4, and there's a level in that game where you have to sneak through the area as part of a sniper team. You end up fighting a desperate last stand under the Ferris wheel waiting for the helicopter pick-up.

Your pictures made me realise the level of realism the developers put into the location.

Thanks for sharing.

[Matus]

@doomed, I total agree. Before going there I didn't really question nuclear power and now it does frighten me..... and I used to live opposite Bradwell Power Station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradwell_Power_Station) and never really gave it a thought if that went up like Chernobyl. The UK would be completely f*cked.


Well, I am nuclear physicist (although I work in the particle physics stuff) and I have to admit that I find the case of the Chernobyl very unfortunate.

The Chernobyl power plant was (a little loosely speaking) built for soviet army in spite of protest of the physicist (who new that this particular design was not safe [used graphite as a moderator] and under certain circumstances COULD blow up). Even to save the money on the project there was no concrete cover on the top of the reactor (that would have strongly suppressed the impact of the accident)

But few people seem to know why this has happened and whether current nuclear power plants could blow up the same way. As what has happened in Chernobyl had indeed a huge impact on the society and did cost many human lives (and destroyed many more) it is so often misused just to scare the people ...

[Sparrow]

On the plus side http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2005/sep/06/energy.ukraine

And it has become a refuge for wildlife in the Ukraine

[dmr]

Here's my original posting here on RFF, right after I was informed that the bike ride may have been a hoax:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13620