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Chernobyl
Chernobyl
Mephisto


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Free Study 2008-07 (Advanced Editing VII)
Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro
Lens: Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D
Location: abandoned town of Pripjat, Ukraine
Date: Jul 31, 2008
Galleries: Urban, Photojournalism
Date Uploaded: Jul 31, 2008

 actually this town is called Pripjat, the biggest ghosttown in the world! 48000 people used to live here, mostly employees of the nearby nuclear power plant of chornobyl, until on april 26 1986 a chain reaction made a part of reactor nr.4 to explode and spread a massive amount of radioactive material all over north western part of europe and of course the nearby regions including several villages and the biggest town in the area of pripjat.

during my stay in kiev i got the opportunity to join one of the rare group tours that get to visit the locked down military zone (30km in diameter around the reactor) including the reactor itself and the ghost town. really bizarre trip and i definatly gonna post some more shots when i get home. this photo is probably not the best i got on my trip so far and i would have liked to submit a couple of other shots for this FS but unfortanetely i have most of my shots on cd's and don't have access to them in this internet caffe here in moldava so here goes the probably most bizarre image of the trip.

the picture was taken from a roof of an abandoned hotel overlooking the southern part of the town of pripjat and the collapsed reactor in the background, you can see how close the town was built to the reactor...

resizing and saving for web was done by a friend of mine, because i did't have access to any editing software here so this one falls under minimal editing, which will probably cause some people to say it looks flat and stuff but i don't care to much. well, i guess i'll see, i predict a mid 4 ;)

Statistics
Place: 520 out of 524
Avg (all users): 4.2470
Avg (commenters): 4.7273
Avg (participants): 4.2362
Avg (non-participants): 4.2821
Views since voting: 755
Views during voting: 242
Votes: 166
Comments: 15
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
 08/08/2008 09:30:41 AM
Chris, your prediction was almost spot on ;)

to bad you didn't have a chance to post what you wanted. I'm looking forward to your other shots!!!!

Keep me posted!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2008 07:04:30 AM
haha, almost another brown!
big thanks to the people who actually "got" the bleakness of the shot and it's connection to the photo.
i wish i could have editited it and would have probably submitted a b&w version (as deb suggested), but it's still interesting to see how minimal edited images like these score so horribly bad in challenges.
 08/08/2008 01:44:01 AM
This location must be nirvana to a searcher for lost (un)civilizations like you ;-). The trees look healthy! I'll hear more about this place from my Ukrainian hairdresser... Thanks for the revelation.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
08/07/2008 07:46:42 PM
It's interesting this one, because on the verge of clicking a low vote. On reading the title and looking for longer I realise how deeply affecting this image is. I'm intrigued to know what you were doing here and what you may have discovered for yourself.

This is one scene that would look a whole lot less impactful for some good 'golden hour' light. The drab, depressive quality of the flat light is what makes one dwell on the events that happened there. I may have been tempted to desaturate a little further and add gravitas by boosting the contrast (which I'd do in Lab colour and mess with levels on the Lightness channel which does not affect colour).

It's actually well composed this one. Good luck.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/05/2008 09:42:26 PM
Low scoring shot for me...if you would like an honest critique of this photo please PM me. Best of luck. Scott
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/05/2008 07:30:25 PM
i know it is supposed to be bleak. and it is. Just not a very memorable photo.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/04/2008 05:07:10 PM
This looks slightly blurred.
 08/03/2008 08:38:53 PM
not picture perfect, but very interesting place!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/03/2008 07:45:42 PM
Such an eerie feeling , seeing a place so uninhabitable, and sad.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/03/2008 07:49:34 AM
one of the best thing about this site is the peek it gives to other parts of the world, this is great, thanks
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/02/2008 01:15:55 PM
Doesn't look like somewhere I'd want to live. :P

Shows the character of the place well.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/01/2008 11:33:45 PM
Yikes ! Is it safe to be there?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/01/2008 10:57:17 AM
not sure of the subject here - things in composition compete for my attention.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/01/2008 09:48:22 AM
An interesting facility to photograph - I find it intriguing how healthy the trees are and how abandonned it looks (and is, I'm quite sure.) The light is rather flat which renders the photograph a bit dull - not much you can do about it other than to wait for better light. The composition seems somewhat unstructured, though I'm also not sure how to recommend a better composition. I wonder if this might have a bit more impact in B&W with some additional contrast added.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/01/2008 02:48:34 AM
really?! wow...the image is a little bland, but then again, so is the place...
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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