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The Sarcophagus’s Labyrinth: Photographing the unseen parts of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant  

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It’s been nearly 10 years since I first visited the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It was a great experience for me. I could finally see the place I’d previously only known from books and TV and the tart taste of the Lugol’s iodine I had to drink a few days after the disaster. After many visits to the plant, I was finally even allowed to enter the damaged Reactor 4 and see the notorious control room. It was here that the failed experiment resulting in the reactor exploding and the uncontrolled emission into the atmosphere of terabecquerels of radioactive isotopes was conducted. A decade ago, obtaining the necessary permits to see the epicenter of the events of April 1986 was extremely arduous and complicated. Today, this place is a must-see on most tourist excursions.

Today I return once again to the plant. This time, I want to see new places that I haven’t yet photographed. When I got permission after several months of efforts, sending letters and making phone calls, I was very excited. As one of the staff members in charge of my visit said, I had been granted exclusive access to the nuclear power plant. I can’t wait to find out what this actually means. So, I will be spending the next two days taking photos that I hope to use in the next HALF-LIFE album. It probably won’t be done any time soon, so in the meantime I’ll share with you my thoughts about my visit to the power plant and tell you what it was like to photograph it. But, who knows, maybe 10 years from now, you’ll be able to see these places with your own eyes.

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Forgotten app shares abandoned places for photography, killing urban exploring for everyone

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This is one of those things that’s definitely going to split people up into two camps. In one, there’s those who’ll think it’s awesome, and in the other, there’s those who believe that the types of locations to which this app allows access should remain secret.

You guys can discuss the camps to which you belong in the comments, but let me introduce you to Forgotten, a new mobile app for iOS and Android. It’s an app to help you discover new place to shoot or “sell” your locations. It’s the latter part of that which Forgotten says makes them different from similar apps and services that have popped up in the past.

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I took a trip to Chernobyl’s exclusion zone and photographed it in infrared

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We always hear praises of the might of Mother Nature, how it renders useless mans’ creations, and bears life above the ruins. Well, it’s something that is always felt, but never on such a huge scale. This place IS the place for these contrasts. It’s pretty hard to describe the overall atmosphere I experienced during this trip. Despite the events of 1986, the ruins, and the rust, I didn’t have grim feelings while traveling there. On the contrary, it felt like I was in a “kind of” paradise on a different planet.

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Dying for Likes

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In the usual places we’re seeing the monthly “Urbex (urban exploration) photographer dies in fall” story making the rounds. These are guys that trespass on rooftops, on ledges, in abandoned buildings, and so on, to take photographs. You’ve probably seen their pictures. The peeling paint covered over with graffiti, the rooms filled with mysterious junk, the long long hallway. Sometimes they bring a hot model along to decorate the scene, sometimes not.

Back up.

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Tips for finding and shooting abandoned locations in an unknown city

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While I lived in my hometown, I visited and photographed most of the abandoned buildings in it. I knew exactly where I could enter and how. Sometimes, you can just walk right in. Other times, there’s a guard you need to ask for permission and hope he’s in a good mood. And sometimes you need an official license if you want to shoot somewhere.

Unfortunately, when you go to a new city or country, all these things aren’t something you know from the start. I moved to another city last year, and I am learning and exploring anew. This is why I’d like to share some tips for all urbex enthusiasts who are planning a short or a long trip, or who are moving to another city. From my experience, I’ll share the best ways to find great locations, get inside and shoot without trouble.

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Photographer sneaks inside wrecked Costa Concordia to shoot these haunting photos of the ghost ship

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On January 13, 2012, Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia hit an underwater rock. The ship wrecked, taking 32 lives away. The disaster attracted a huge attention of the public, and one photographer was among them.

Two years after the disaster, Jonathan Danko Kielkowski managed to sneak inside Costa Concordia just before it got scraped. He brought his camera and small tripod with him and brought back the images of the ghost ship – one of the largest ones ever to be abandoned. He shared his images with DIYP, and they are beautiful, haunting and sad beyond words.

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Orphans of Time: Photographer travels the world for five years to capture the beauty of decaying places

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How do you feel when you pass a decaying old house? Is it just an ugly ruin or you see something more? Photographer Rebecca Lilith Bathory sees beauty in these objects most people just seem to pass by or even avoid. Sure, they are sad, ruined, chaotic and even scary – but Rebecca finds beauty and art precisely in these things.

In 2012, she stepped into an abandoned school and instantly fell in love with the beauty she found in decay. Five years and over 500 abandoned locations later, she brings a stunning photo series of truly wonderful abandoned locations in her project Orphans of Time.

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Photographer documents abandoned places in Fukushima in this devastating photo series

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The very thought of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster can bring tears to your eyes. It’s been more than six years since this event, and consequences still remain visible.

Many photographers have tried to explore this place and document the aftermath of the terrible accident. Very few of them have succeeded, and one of them is Rebecca Lilith Bathory. She managed to get the necessary licenses, and she was granted access to the site of one of the worst nuclear disasters in history. In her series of images and a recently published book, she tells the moving story of Fukushima, where time stopped on March 11, 2011.

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