My Visit to Chernobyl and Pripyat

[standingquiet]

Spent 2 days in Chernobyl and Pripyat at the start of April. I have some work with children that are effected from the Chernobyl Disaster and wanted to see that place that it all happened. The place had such an atmosphere one that was filled with sadness. The effects from the disaster have turned such amazing place into worthless nothing.

History

Pripyat was founded in 1970 to house workers for the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It was officially proclaimed a city in 1979, but was abandoned in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster. It was the ninth nuclear city in Russian, literally ("atom city") in the Soviet Union at its time. Its population had been around 50,000 before the accident. The annual rate of natural increase was estimated at around 800 persons, plus over 500 newcomers from all corners of the Soviet Union each year. It had been planned that the Pripyat's population should rise to 78,000 in the near future. Pripyat had a railroad link to Yazov station (Kiev railroad line) as well as a navigable river nearby.

My Pictures

Took hundreds but here are some of my favorites.

Here is a Video i put together too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVf6nclRTXw

Also link to my Flickr Set with some more in it, i still have 100's to do.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30941421@N06/sets/72157626521958089/



Matt

 

[AppleCode]

Amazing images, Im Ukrainian , it kind of pains me to see these . It horrible .. I wish to visit Ukraine one day.

 

[ViviUO]

Amazing.

Silent Hill comes to mind

 

[gr8whtd0pe]

Amazing but call of duty 4 comes to mind lol

 

[Koodauw]

I remember first seeing pics of the Chernobyl area from this thread. All the pictures from that thread and the OP's are impressive. Standingquiet if you have any more pictures, feel free to post them. I think people would like to see them.

 

[AAPLaday]

Amazing but call of duty 4 comes to mind lol

Agreed. It's the first thing that came into my mind! Lying prone, sniping frantically and waiting to be airlifted away!

Great photos by the way Nikon/Canon?

 

[Mattlike]

Gorgeous shots.

 

[puckhead193]

I remember first seeing pics of the Chernobyl area from this thread. All the pictures from that thread and the OP's are impressive. Standingquiet if you have any more pictures, feel free to post them. I think people would like to see them.

agreed, great pictures but very freaky... what was it like walking around?
the gas-mask shots freak me out a little

 

[Fuzzy14]

I don't normally like the use of HDR but here it gives almost a post-apocalyptic feeling to it. Great pics.

What's the residual radiation levels here, is there any additional risk associated by your visit? Are you all done having children?

Great photos by the way Nikon/Canon?

EXIF data: Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1

 

[EricNau]

Beautiful, albeit poignant photos.

Was the HDR applied later (through image processing software), or did you use a built-in camera setting?

 

[-Ryan-]

Excellent effect. The computerised-look of the HDR photography looks great with such an environment. I have seen thousands of photos of Prypiat over the years, but they all seem to be centred on a very small geographic area - would you see this as being the case? I'm assuming that it's from the standard tour, but even from illegal exploration from many years ago photos seem to be centred on a small area.

 

[AAPLaday]

EXIF data: Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1

Great camera. Id love one of those

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Amazing but call of duty 4 comes to mind lol

+1, although I hate this "+1" typing.

standingquiet, what kind of protection did you wear? Or was it okay to visit those sites without one, only where there is no firm ground, like sand, it would have been dangerous?

 

[standingquiet]

agreed, great pictures but very freaky... what was it like walking around?
the gas-mask shots freak me out a little

It was very surreal, i have watched many videos and looked at many pictures and never thought i'd have the chance to visit one day.

I don't normally like the use of HDR but here it gives almost a post-apocalyptic feeling to it. Great pics.

What's the residual radiation levels here, is there any additional risk associated by your visit? Are you all done having children?

The radiation levels are not to bad most is now in the ground, of course there are hot spots and areas we had to stay away from. The military guide had a Geiger Counter and it was always between 0.200-0.500 microroentgens per hour. Some places it went 1-5 roentgens per hour but we didn't stay there very long. Its takes around 500 roentgens in 5 hours to be fatal to humans.

My friend went 2 years ago and has a baby since


EXIF data: Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1

Beautiful, albeit poignant photos.

Was the HDR applied later (through image processing software), or did you use a built-in camera setting?

I used the auto-bracketing settings on the the camera to get the different exposures and then when home used Photomatix Pro and then Aperture 3 to create the images.

Excellent effect. The computerised-look of the HDR photography looks great with such an environment. I have seen thousands of photos of Prypiat over the years, but they all seem to be centred on a very small geographic area - would you see this as being the case? I'm assuming that it's from the standard tour, but even from illegal exploration from many years ago photos seem to be centred on a small area.

You have a military guide with you some are more friendly than others and each has the own tolerances to the rules. To get into the Exclusion Zone you have to be approved by the Ukrainian Government then with you paperwork there are a list of off limit areas which change with the seasons due the the radiation moves around. The list goes with the guide and they take you to where you can go. This is why there areas photographed are pretty similar. There are police and military everywhere so is easy to get caught breaking the rules.

The place is huge i didn't even scratch the surface, some of my friends have been twice now and still have so much to see. I plan a 3 or 4 day trip at the end of the year or early next.

+1, although I hate this "+1" typing.

standingquiet, what kind of protection did you wear? Or was it okay to visit those sites without one, only where there is no firm ground, like sand, it would have been dangerous?

Correct, no protection needed just sensible footwear, no food or drink, avoid soft ground and mossy areas as much as possible. No placing stuff on the ground, no sitting down etc... just basically do as your told and everything is fine.

 

[0098386]

For a moment there I thought they were screenshots from STALKER . Great pics. Really well done.

 

[standingquiet]

Here is a Video i put together too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVf6nclRTXw

Also link to my Flickr Set with some more in it, i still have 100's to do.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30941421@N06/sets/72157626521958089/


Matt

 

[bruinsrme]

I have followed a number of such threads. Many of the same sites, different angle and light conditions though.
What strikes me is the depiction of the horrific impact the incident had.
While I was in the Navy I had the opportunity to read some material covering the incident. Very very scary stuff when the thought process of humans breaks down and the resultant is now reality.
One thing that strikers me is the dolls, they almost look planted.

Excellent shots OP

 

[lewis82]

Amazing but call of duty 4 comes to mind lol

Same here

But wow, these pictures are really amazing

 

[wordoflife]

That's awesome! Post some more! (edit: didn't see the links)
I don't think I would have the guts to go there.

 

[bruinsrme]

Matt,
Many photos across the web and some of yours show buildings with few windows. Did you happen to take note of of that and did it look as if the windows were removed or smashed?
The dolls definitely add affect to the pictures. There were thousands of people on clean up teams removing articles for destruction or segregation. Were there a lot of personal effects still present?

 

[Goohfy]

Wow, those photos are well taken, and really allow you to think about the effect this disaster had. I'd also love to see more of your photography.

 

[Apple OC]

Creepy pictures ... however they are very well done

Thanks for sharing

 

[cherry su]

Amazing! At first the pictures look rendered as mentioned above. The HDR really brings out the pop and sharpness of the images.

 

[ghostshadow]

I have a big soft spot for these types of images. Old abandoned buildings, psych wards, hospitals, etc. I've seen these or some like these before and they are very nice. I really liked the video as well. I think I've seen your work before too, so this is great.

I'm not big on HDR, so I'd love to see them non HDR, but they are still pretty damn slick.

 

[TRUCRACKER]

These are amazing.
Reminds me of Fallout 3