Chernobyl, Pripyat and Polish Boot Camp

schmoo

Some of you may remember a visitor to Dgrin some time ago who posted incredible shots from the most famous radioactive wasteland.

I had to know, and go. After a series of PMs and emails and the greater part of one year, I was on a plane, several automobiles and one Soviet ghost train. All aboard to Kiev, Ukraine!

We did a little bit of travel for several days before meeting him at the lobby of the Rus Hotel. More on that later, but the important point is that we weren't jetlagged for this adventure. Oh no, I wanted both eyes wide open for this.

Edited to add the movie:

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The town of Chernobyl is about an hour north of Kiev. It's the base camp for most of the activity in that area... and it most certainly is base camp for tourists who are looking for trouble in the Zone.

There's only one hotel there, so it's not like you get much choice. Here was our home for 4 days.





It wasn't bad, just spare. And rickety. And it hasn't changed (or been vacuumed) in 30 years. Although we've had some questionable East European accommodations before, the shower in the Chateau du Chernobyl is probably the second scariest shower I've ever used.

( BTW, you'll find the #1 scariest shower in the world in a small hotel just off the Avenue of the Giants in NorCal)

Anyone exploring in the exclusion zone must have a military escort, so we picked him up in what I called the Lodge. If you go on one of those 6-hour day trip tours from Kiev, you typically stop there to sign some paperwork and get briefed. I asked about our briefing, and they just kind of laughed.

There are a dozen adorable radioactive kittens pouncing around the lodge. Maybe it's because they kitchen is in there, too. Maybe they love to greet tourists. I've never seen kittens jump vertically before. This one was just outside of our hotel room door, and he would meow loudly every time he saw us, demanding that we say hello! Some things are universal.



The dogs in Chernobyl are as friendly as the guards are not. I'm glad the universe made up for hospitality in other, fuzzier ways:






First stop was one of the stores in Chernobyl. When you work here on one of your two-week shifts, I'm guessing you learn where they are pretty fast. They're hidden, no signs or anything at all. Just follow the people, since there aren't a lot of 'em around these parts.







This entire area is trapped in time. Although it's no longer under Soviet rule, things are very... cold War-esque here. And the weather matched.









Each night we picked up a couple of beers at whatever store was open and unwound in our living room. It was quiet nice not only to get to know our new friend and guide, but to catch up with two friends from back home who made up the rest of our little group.



(The only thing that 10-22 ever did this whole trip was sit on the table. Time to sell it, I guess.)

Each day our driver and our escort would watch a movie... erm, while driving:



... and when we were out shooting, they'd smoke like chimneys.



Since only one of us spoke Ukrainian and Russian, they'd largely ignore us. I guess we were just another set of tourists to them, albeit ones with a little more flexibility. They did warm up by the third day. Literally. They shared their coffee which was hot, rich, and sweet:



Over the next few days we saw many wonderful things:

Hospital







Schools















Office and Factory buildings







Trains and Cranes













Reactors 5 and 6















Super-duper shoddy electric wiring



Research labs and Water cooling towers











Apartment buildings with great views













This is where Polish Boot Camp comes into play, because despite these buildings being almost 20 stories high, the elevators don't work. It's an ideal way to burn off the roast chicken and beets the babushkas served you for breakfast.

There were a few hairy moments and a couple of times when, as promised, I stopped and thought "What the hell am I doing out here?" A handful of times when we stumbled upon a particularly hot spot or notable location I would feel sick to my stomach, remembering.

Chernobyl is not a happy place, and while the vodka flows from every corner there is little laughter to be found... and few women and absolutely no children. But what you learn about the world, people, and the aftermath of gruesome politics is well worth traveling for.

Full gallery here.

Andy

WOW what a great trip. Your journey reports are always a treat, Schmoo Excellent photos, really excellent.

aktse

Amazing.... Just amazing! bowbow

Llywellyn

Haunting and amazing. I can't imagine what it was like, but I've been wishing and hoping for you to be able to make this journey for a while. Wonderful, wonderful photos.

I love the handless clock on the pile of gas masks...and then I saw the headless doll holding the gas mask, and my jaw dropped. I think I even shivered.

Thank you so much for sharing.

Qarik

that was was a f*cking awseome set. the little doll and gasmask *shivers*

Foques

Great work!

Every time I see images from there, I am reminded how much I do not miss all that, and how blessed I am to live here, in US..

schmoo

Thanks guys, and yes it was a trip I am so fortunate to have been able to take. Not sure I'd do it again, unless it was in 10 years to see how much more things have changed. But I can already tell that such a trip would be even more depressing.

Foques I couldn't agree with you more. I don't feel like I have any right to make comments about how Ukrainians live their life, because many of them do not have a choice.. and I'm pretty sure that in 1986 they definitely didn't have a choice. I learned so much from our guide on this trip, who has visited the Zone 10 times now. He's familiar with the history and many of the military escorts there, getting all kinds of inside information that is seemingly boundless.

While we did get to see Reactors 5 and 6 (in one building), he had finally petitioned long enough to be able to take a peek at Reactors 1 and 2, the ones that are still active. I am assuming that the number of people who continue to work in Chernobyl are there in relation to that. I don't know enough about the Ukrainian military or nuclear physics to have an idea of what they're doing, but I do know that they can't just switch it off.

There was a sign by the door in our hotel, pretty much the only thing in the building that was in English: Complete instructions on what to do and where to go in case of another nuclear disaster. Even better than a bedtime story, eh?

David_S85

Stephanie, I would willingly sit through many more photos from that trip if you've got them to share. These were fantastic. Looks like you will have some awesome lifetime memories from that journey.

schmoo

Thanks David, that means a lot! I took way too many photos and just pulled ones that caught my eye when I got home.

I shot a ton of video footage for a movie I had in mind, but that is going to be a little while longer. I just wanted to get the pics out of the way so I could focus on home, work, life.

steelephotography.com

Unbelievable images. Very powerful. Thanks for sharing.

Foques

congrads on the Smugmug feature!

kris10jo

Wow, what amazing photos from what looks like a very memorable trip.

Ed911

Wow, like a good book, where you can't stop turning the pages...I wanted to see more. You certainly captured the ambiance. But, from what I saw in you images...it would be almost impossible not to. What a bleak place.

I didn't know that they have two more reactors operational there.

What were the buildings across the river? They looked well maintained...

Definitely, thanks for sharing.

Elaine

Wow. Amazing images. So eerie. I just keep looking at them. Stunned.

Thank you for sharing.

schmoo

Ed911 wrote: »

Wow, like a good book, where you can't stop turning the pages...I wanted to see more. You certainly captured the ambiance. But, from what I saw in you images...it would be almost impossible not to. What a bleak place.

I didn't know that they have two more reactors operational there.

What were the buildings across the river? They looked well maintained...

Definitely, thanks for sharing.

I wasn't aware they had active reactors either until just before our trip. Reactor 3 was closed in 2000 but 1 and 2 still remain up and running. However, they are on standby and do not actually produce power. I saw the photos our guide took on the LCD of his 5D and am curious to hear what he learned while in there. He said he had been asking for permission to visit since the last 1990s. Persistence pays off!

While we had our traditional stop in front of Reactor 4, they actually told us to point our cameras forward and to not photograph anything to the left or right. Military stuff.

Not sure which buildings you're referring to, but the cranes lie just west of the town of Pripyat... which can look almost "normal" from a distance.

eoren1

Wow Schmoo
Awesome set...but this one:

Are you kidding me???

ows4428

To echo everyone else's sentiments, this is a fantastic, powerful set. Nice work indeed.

schmoo

Thanks Eyal! I'm actually finding it very interesting that the posed shots are the crowd favorites. There are tons of dolls in the kindergarten building set up very obviously by other photographers who've come through. I have also noticed that for people that visit Pripyat, you tend to see many of the same kinds of shots involving doll and gas masks. I went out of my way to avoid taking staged shots, but some of them are just unavoidable.

MileHighAko

Stunning. I am speechless.

Thank you. Very well done.

denisegoldberg

Your photos are simply amazing!

--- Denise

moose135

Incredible, Schmoo! Outstanding, powerful photos, and an amazing story to go along with it. Would love to see more!

pathfinder

Great series of spooky images for Halloween, comrade.

So, do you still glow in the dark, now??

How "hot" was it there in the reactor rooms you visited?

hersh86

Nice set!

BradfordBenn

Just plain amazing and moving photos Schmoo. The handless clock just held me for a few moments in mid thought. It was very powerful. Great stuff. Now to go look through the gallery.

richtersl

What an amazing trip and photos! I'm sure this is something you won't forget for a long time.

Some of your photos reminded me of Eastern State Penitentiary.

Wicked_Dark

Wonderful, mesmerizing. +1 on what everyone else said. Congratulations. I'm in awe of your bravery, sense of adventure and photography skills.

Foques

pathfinder wrote: »

So, do you still glow in the dark, now??

hey don't diss glowing int he dark!! It is VERY comfortable for the outhouses out there.. you don't need a flashlight...

DavidTO

Steph, those are so very awesome.

dlplumer

Talk about abandonment. You had to be in pig heaven. Seriously amazing, and worthy of being part of a historical documentary. You are so talented, Schmoo.

schmoo

pathfinder wrote: »

Great series of spooky images for Halloween, comrade.

So, do you still glow in the dark, now??

How "hot" was it there in the reactor rooms you visited?

I certainly hope we don't glow -- we ran the geiger counter over everything before we left. I had been concerned about the soles of my shoes, since the ground and moss are relatively high, but they were just fine. The "highest" levels I could find on myself were the cuffs of my jacket sleeves.

I'd packed clothes that I wouldn't mind throwing away when I got home, but I haven't yet because after a good wash, they're fine. I'll still chuck my boots, but more because I need new ones than because they glow.

The radiation levels in Pripyat, the closest area to Reactor 4 have background levels just like anywhere else: home, hotel, Kiev, etc. Our counter measured in sieverts, so that was at or under 0.20 μSv. (Yes, micro.) The moss was slightly higher, one patch being as high as 25 μSv near the ferris wheel. Another patch was about 50 μSv, but it was growing on the wheel of one of the military tanks.

The air right in front of Reactor 4 was pretty high, as in about 17 μSv. I guess this is why people take photos of it there.

We visited one of the crane claws that had been used to remove debris from the reactor during liquidation. That capped at about 375 μSv, which was the highest we'd seen. We didn't stay there beyond taking photos of the readings.

I don't know about the inside of the Reactor rooms, but they were probably the same as anywhere else because the radiation travels on the dust. Insides of buildings were much lower than the environment outside, and the construction of Reactors 5/6 was never finished.

The very highest place was the basement of the hospital. In a closed room lie the clothes of the firefighters who died right after the explosion. Laid down on the cloth, the counter read 3.77 mSv (or 3,775 μSv). Don't go there.

schmoo

dlplumer wrote: »

Talk about abandonment. You had to be in pig heaven. Seriously amazing, and worthy of being part of a historical documentary. You are so talented, Schmoo.

You know Dan, I thought it would be awesome being around a whole abandoned city and I was surprised to find out I wasn't. I felt obligated to take photos the first day and was uninspired, and then I realized that it was because there's very little human aspect left to the town. You have to look closely because so much of what would make Pripyat "real" is gone. And that is the saddest part of it.

It was a much greater challenge (and more interesting, IMO) to observe the people that live there now in and around Chernobyl. They are not just people who lived through the accident and persevered, but they are now Ukrainians with a true Ukrainian heritage. They're their own country now and are managing to pull through, though not without growing pains.