Chernobyl 2009 – Tim Suiss
News is a fickle and fleeting medium but several stories have cropped up based on discovered photos that show the world a new perspective on major historical events. Here are three of the best examples which provide proof once again (as if that is needed) that photography offers the definitive word on the human experience some choose to call life.
The line between amateur and professional is not drawn at capturing an angle that the amateur would not think about but also requires photographing accurately the tone, visual or significance of the moment. It might be capturing the angle exactly as an amateur would but making the photo sparkle. After all not all photos from the top of the Eiffle Tower are created equal, although they are all taken from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
For me a very powerful post genocide imagine from Uganda was a simple shot of some rusting weapons leaning against the wall of an outhouse. Yet this photo caught the horror of the moment more respectively than graphic spreads on newspaper front pages, and has a longevity which makes this photo permanently visually relevant. So following on that theme the following three links take you to the most interesting photo essays (published recently) and worth 10 minutes of your browsing time.
Business Insider has a side show of photographs capturing Chernobyl as it is today, empty and abandoned. Taken by Timm Suiss for anyone familiar with Call of Duty 4 several of the shots explore the settings featured in the game.
Wired has a feature about some previously unreachable and lost photos of the Moon dating from the 1960s. Which not only capture the pinnacle of the space race but also shows the complicated relationship between photography and technology. Although it was capable to take the photographs back then the science was not advanced to be able to actually open or process the photographs.
Finally, DPReview has some rare colour photos from Britain taken in 1939 they show the peaceful daily life for folks just before it is about to be shattered by WW2.
What do you think? Have you seen any stories recently showing how photography provides the best historical souvenirs?
