CHERNOBYL OVER THE YEARS
taking and posing for pictures, and
looking at pictures on their phone
next to a statue of Lenin. ‘This is
normal. That’s the way people are.
But it’s still hard for me to accept.
Tourists will never understand the
pain of the inhabitants of Pripyat.
As a child, I could not imagine that
this ordinary city would become
famous to the whole world this way.’
If you’re planning a trip to the
CEZ, here’s some advice: ‘Good
shoes with thick soles. There’s a lot
of broken glass and debris on the
floors,’ advises David.
‘Do it properly – get a good guide
and the correct permits,’ says Luke.
‘You need to plan a story that you
will shoot – not a visit. There is a
huge number of photos from the
Chernobyl zone. And they are all thesame. Do not be afraid of radiation;
you will not be taken to dangerous
places. But stay away from large
metal structures. And take batteries
for the camera,’ says Andrey.
As I flick back through the work
of David, Luke and Andrey, I’m
reminded of the poignant words
of Gerd Ludwig, photographer of
the book, The Long Shadow of
Chernobyl (Edition Lammerhuber,
2014). ‘As engaged photographers,
we often report about human
tragedies in the face of disaster,
and take our cameras to uncharted
areas with the understanding that
our explorations are not without
personal risk. We do this out of a
deep commitment to important
stories told on behalf of
otherwise voiceless victims.’Find out more about the
photographers mentioned
in this article by visiting
the following.- Luke Massey
Instagram/Twitter: @
LMasseyImages,
Facebook: @
lukemasseyimages and
lmasseyimages.com - David McMillan
dsmcmillan.com - Andrey Lomakin
andlomakin.com
Tourists reflected in the
windows of abandoned
village Zalesye,
Ukraine. April 2015
Left: Riverside
Cafe, Pripyat.
October 2016Below right: The
cranes of Pripyat’s
shipping yard,
unused and rusted,
provide perfect
roost sites for
cormorants© LUKE MASSEY
© ANDREY LOMAKIN