I have to admit that I have a serious fascination with Chernobyl. As the world’s most famous nuclear disaster, it’s a great study on what might happen to our cities and homes after an exchange of atomic weapons. As a Cold War baby, I have a pretty fierce fascination with all things nuclear war. Photographer Pedro Moura Pinheiro managed to get behind the gates in Prypiat, Ukraine (the town where Chernobyl was located) for an amazing set of nuketography photographs. There’s another great set of Chernobyl photos from Joao Rechena here.
I’m not sure why this has always been such a source of fascination for me, but it has been. If you tell me something happens after the nuclear war, then for some reason I’m already won over. Maybe it’s all the post-apocalyptic fiction I devowered as a child, or maybe it’s just because, for many years, I figured playing Fallout and watching flicks like Radioactive Dreams was preparation for the next age of mankind.
Or maybe I’m just weird. That could be it, too.
Tags: unusual images, Chernobyl, Prypiat, Pedro Moura Pinheiro, Ukraine, photo essays, nuketography, wastelands