Now you too can glow in the dark

Recently tours have begun to be led through Chernobly Power Plant. I have to admit that I am slightly against this, and not because you may come out with slightly more of a glow than you had when you went in, but because I have to wonder if it will ruin the whole reason that people seek it out.

There are plenty of people who travel to Chernobly for the thrill of walking around a nuclear desolated land, but there are many of us who are drawn to the absolute beauty of places like Chernobly, this place frozen from human interaction and turned back over for nature to try and recover from what was done to it.

The place is an archive of that time, to bring tours in will, well, commercialize the place to begin with, something that was once considered a sacred space for those photographers willing to take the risk and make the journey will be a place any one can visit with their wife and three kids on the yearly family holiday. When the town was finally evacuated after the reactor went at Chernobly they left most of their belongings behind thinking they could come back in a few days, since they were never allowed back these possessions represent the life at that time and what was left behind and lost.

There are memories and life held in those walls, along with the radiation. I'm not saying other people shouldn't have the option to see this, in fact it should be seen, that is why photographers go in there to begin with, to show the beauty that still survives in the faces of that disaster, but making it so accessible does seem to detract the importance of those images that do make it out.

And speaking of those magical images, take a look at some of them that have been taken by brave adventurers.

Ruins of Chernobyl, Over 20 Years Later

And:

Photograph by Gleb Garanich

Photograph by Sergey Supinsky

 

 

 

Photograph by Sergey Supinsky