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

 

Archive of the Lost

I have been working recently on an article discussing photographing ruins as an archive of the place. Photographic archives have come into popularity the past few years, used to document the life of an event. I feel that ruins themselves can be archives, they can remain as they were at their last use, a moment frozen in time, they can show evidence of the years that have passed through items left behind by people who have traveled to the site. While in Fiji I had the opportunity to photograph what I consider an archival ruin.

Korolevu was the first resort on the Coral Coast and business boomed while it was open, business was so good that an airport was opened across from the resort to fly the guest from Nadi straight to the resort. Sadly, in 1983 a hurricane hit the resort knocking out all power that wasn't restored for months, around the same time there was a lease despute that saw the hotel stripped down to nothing. The resort was family owned and opertated so the money was not available to get the resort back on its feet. So there it has sat since 1983.

The photographs I have taken show the resort 27 years on, the buildings still standing, the paths barely visible in the underbrush and natural vegitation taking back over. Soon the land will be sold and redeveloped and there will be no evidence of what original stood on the site, that is where the photographic archive comes in. My images are just part of that archive, photographs were taken of construction, of the building while it thrived, the initial destruction and now the regrowth, all of this makes up the life of the building. I hope you enjoy my contribution.