MFR photoblog

3 new exhibits: Brattleboro, Cherry Valley + Woodstock

2012-01-29T12:03:00.006-05:00

I am delighted to announce 3 new photography exhibits coming up:

In Vermont:

My After Chernobyl exhibit opens in Brattleboro, VT at the Vermont Center for Photography. Opening: Fri. Feb. 3, 5:30 pm, with a short talk by me at 6.
“Art, Social Action, and Spirituality” lecture + discussion, Sun. Feb. 5, 11 am at the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community Center.
Photojournalism workshop focusing on nuclear power: Sat. Feb. 25, 10-4, at the In-sight Photo Project in Brattleboro, VT. (Register here.)
Public forum discussing how Vermont Yankee has affected Brattleboro for better and worse. Not a debate but a chance for people on both sides of the issue to hear each other. Sun. Feb. 26, 2 pm at VCP.

In New York:

Show of Face exhibit, Cherry Branch Gallery, Cherry Valley, NY. Opening: Sat., Feb. 4, 5 pm. Hours: Wed-Sun, 12-5 pm.
Some of my Chernobyl portraits will be included in this exhibit.
NYFA exhibit, Kleinert/James Center for the Arts, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY. Opening: March 31, 4 pm, through April 29.

the Moment is here!

2012-01-03T12:03:00.008-05:00

Today is the release date for The Moment, a new book of stories about moments that changed our lives.

I am happy to be one of the 125 "artists famous & obscure" to be featured in the book. (Yep, I'm here to represent the obscure).

I have a photo and essay about the moment I fell in love with my baby son Jacob, who is now 5 and very proud to be featured.

Check it out:
Editor Larry Smith is discussing the book today on NPR's Talk of the Nation.
Fellow contributor Shalom Auslander's piece was in the NY Times Magazine on Dec. 18 – in the Lives column.

Our first reading from the book will be next Mon. Jan. 9, 7 pm, at McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince St. in NYC. Details here. Hope to see you there!

our flood book is now out!

2011-12-16T12:03:00.003-05:00

Flood cleanup in the Oakdale section of Johnson City, NY, near Harry L Drive, after the Susquehanna River overflowed the city during Tropical Storm Lee on Sept. 7-8.

Our Flood 2011 book has now officially been released. I understand it is selling quickly. You can order a copy here.

Peace Corps calendar

2011-12-11T00:03:00.001-05:00

One of my photos from Chernobyl is featured in the new 2012 Peace Corps international calendar. You can order a copy here and help support some great programs.

When the Soviet government constructed Novo Ladizhichi in 1987 for Chernobyl evacuees, they built a public sauna but no church. Now the new church has been under construction for over a decade, as villagers have had trouble raising enough money to continue.

Essex Farm

2011-11-15T23:18:00.004-05:00

Last summer I spent a few lovely days at Essex Farm in way-up-north New York, shooting an alumni magazine story. The farm, a "full-diet CSA" (meat, dairy, vegetables, even maple syrup) runs on horse and solar power and was the subject of Kristin Kimball's great book The Dirty Life.

Anyway, the magazine story is now out, finally. Check it out here.

Flood 2011 book coming soon

2011-11-05T08:13:00.003-04:00

I spent a lot of time this fall photographing the floods and aftermath in upstate New York, in the Catskills and along the Susquehanna River valley.

Now my photos will be in this new book, Flood 2011, coming out next month from the Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin and Pediment Publishing. The book features my photos and photos by Casey Staff, Rebecca Catlett and others.

See more details and order the book here.

SUNY exhibit opening 11/3

2011-11-02T12:03:00.001-04:00

A set of my After Chernobyl photos are in this exhibit opening tomorrow at SUNY Oneonta's Martin-Mullen Gallery. The opening reception is November 3 from 5 to 7.

fracking for the NYT

2011-10-30T15:22:00.005-04:00

I was gratified to see my work on the front page of the New York Times this morning.
Read the story here.

Last week I photographed this story about the battles between neighbors over fracking and banning natural gas drilling. I've shot for the Times before but I never know how the photos will get used, so it's nice to be featured on A1 of the Sunday paper.

UPDATE 10/31: An additional story and photo are now online here.

Hunter Mountain

2011-10-16T00:03:00.021-04:00

On Monday I took the day off and went to climb Hunter Mountain in the Catskills. Of course I brought my camera. Here is the result.

(Click on thumbnails to see larger versions.)

The hike was part of the annual Lark in the Park, a week of fall celebrations with outdoor activities organized by the Catskill Center and the Catskill Mountain Club. It was great to get up and out — lately it seems I'm only in the Catskills to photograph flood damage.

Nature photography workshop

2011-10-02T00:03:00.006-04:00

Maple leaf in Wilber Lake

My fall nature photography workshop is coming up soon in Cooperstown, NY.

The class is Sat. Oct. 8, 3 to 6 pm, at the lovely SUNY Cooperstown Graduate Program facility near the Fenimore Museum. (Directions here and map here).

Sign up here: http://www.oneonta.edu/academics/conted/noncredit/default.asp
Or call: 800-SUNY-123 x2548 or (607) 436-2548

Workshop description:
There is natural beauty all around us, but creating beautiful nature photographs requires patience and practice. Most of all, it requires us to slow down and look carefully. For this class, you should know how to use your camera, but the kind you have does not matter. Bring your camera plus two favorite nature photos (printed) with you to class- they can be yours or anyone's. If you have them, also bring your camera manual, tripod, macro and telephoto lenses. Wear comfortable shoes for walking.

Next workshop:
Portrait Photography. Mon, Nov. 14: 6-9 pm: Hunt Union, SUCO campus, Oneonta

Here Comes the Rain Again

2011-10-01T22:48:00.000-04:00

On terror, floods and a vanishing decade

A muddy flag hangs in a flooded basement in Binghamton.
It’s 9/11 and I am driving down Interstate 88 towards Binghamton, towards the flood. We live on the backside of the Catskills, a landscape of narrow valleys where a creek is never far away. Two weeks ago, half the towns in this corner of New York were washed out in Hurricane Irene.

Flood cleanup in Prattsville.
In villages like Schoharie and Margaretville and Prattsville, we were still digging out the mud, our boots and basements still wet, when we got hammered again by Tropical Storm Lee. Ten inches of rain in 24 hours and the rivers were soon muddy roiling torrents.

Silver Creek in Oneonta is usually a quiet, mossy trickle this time of year.

The Binghamton area, where the Chenango River spills into the Susquehanna, was the worst hit. 20,000 people are still evacuated. Water poured over banks and berms, flooding bridges and entire neighborhoods. Today I'm photographing the aftermath for the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin.

I drive through Otego. Three days ago, this valley was impassable. I-88 follows the Susquehanna River, as does NY Rte 7, and County Hwy 48. After the water covered the floodplains and cornfields, it came for the roads. I stood here near Exit 13, middle of the empty interstate, watching Otego Creek stream over the pavement before turning my car around. That day, it took me two hours on the mountain roads to find a way through.

Butternut Creek water rises over the bridge in Gilbertsville.

In Otego, the mud lines are clearly visible. A layer of silt coats every plant and wall, up to 2, 3, 4 feet off the ground. Now the water is finally receding. The highway is open except for a mudslide in Chenango. Mud and water, that’s all we’re thinking about now.

Johnson City. Many roads remain flooded three days after the storm.

In NYC, however, they are thinking not about water rising but planes falling. For 9/11, NPR is trying to broadcast simultaneously from Manhattan, the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA, while I drive downriver. The result is a disjointed potpourri of speeches and grief. Politicians recite poems and psalms. Bells toll for each plane crash. Amazing Grace, somber, a cappella. Two by two, the survivors at Ground Zero read from the endless list of names. But every time there’s another moment of silence, the damn Morning Edition announcer interrupts it. We are afraid of silence.

I pass Unadilla. On Thursday, they were underwater on 3 sides. A firetruck was the last vehicle down Main Street before they close it. I stopped then in the middle of the intersection:

The water over the road is the color of coffee with too much milk. A state trooper tells me: “I can’t advise you to cross, but I won’t stop you from trying.” I get out and walk into the moving water. There’s a sheen of oil on top, swirling. I feel the current as the river overtops my boots. I keep my eyes on the double yellow line and I’m soon across. A second officer is turning motorists back to the highway. I slosh back to my car and make it to Exit 10.

Houses underwater in Unadilla near Exit 10.

On NPR, the reading of names continues. Of all the speakers, it is Bush — the one we loved to hate, the one who marched us to war nearly a decade ago — who brings tears to my eyes. He reads a letter from Lincoln to

"the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.” Hearing that voice, I talk back to my radio: What might have happened had we sought peace? Why did you do it?
He answers: “I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming.”

Clinton Street in Sidney.
It’s five miles from Unadilla to Sidney, same distance as Central Park to the WTC. I pass Sidney, where they are still underwater, and on to Ninevah when NPR plays the screams of eyewitnesses watching as the South Tower falls. Governor Cuomo, who was up here just last week, taking flood photos out the window of his SUV, quotes FDR on freedom from fear.

Photograph in Margaretville by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

In Chenango, I’m detouring around the mudslide when Paul Simon gets on stage. “Hello darkness, my old friend,” he sings. “I've come with talk with you again.” I’ve seen houses washed downstream. “Neath the halo of a streetlamp, I turned my collar to the cold and damp.” I’ve seen basements still full to the top step.

I think of my friend Andrew, who lives just up from the Pentagon. In 1999, when we moved to Kazakhstan, Andrew stored a box for us in his basement, and he recently shipped it back. I opened it last night and wondered at the familiarity of the past. How a dozen years can vanish in a moment. Here is a notebook with phone messages. A dinner receipt from Las Placitas. A book I’ve been looking for — I knew it would turn up, how is possible it’s been missing twelve years?

Shoes float inside a Sidney home.

“Fool, said I, you do not know, silence like a cancer grows.” I’ve seen people despair over what they’ve lost, but many more resolute, determined to salvage what they can. “Words, like silent raindrops fell, and echoed in the wells of silence.” I’m going to Binghamton to listen. So I can report how people are surviving the biggest disaster in their own lives.

Paul Simon performs on 9/11.

I feel no older, but how different the world is a decade after this all began. Can you remember 2001? We were so hopeful then. We thought there could be peace. Was it simply naiveté? Because I can see now, the wars and the floods, they are never going to stop. Not until we change the ways we live. Until we become brave enough to accept some blame.

From Ground Zero, Amazing Grace again, haunting on flute. Former Governor Pataki reads from Billy Collins’ poem The Names:

Names rising in the updraft amid buildings.

Names silent in stone

Or cried out behind a door.

Names blown over the earth and out to sea…
So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart.

Why do we memorialize our suffering? Will it really help us heal? In Binghamton, I get out of my car in the mud below Riverside Drive and get to work.

The flooded Susquehanna River, in Vestal.

Next post: photos from Binghamton.

floodwaters rising

2011-09-09T00:03:00.000-04:00

The Susquehanna River floods Sidney, NY, after Tropical Storm Lee.

First we were swamped by Hurricane Irene and now 10 days later we're drowning under Tropical Storm Lee.

I've been photographing the flood across upstate NY and I can hardly believe what I've seen. Today I was waist-deep on River Street in Sidney with the waters of the Susquehanna still rising.

I'm just posting this one photo for now and as soon as life calms down I'll share more.

You can also see a sampling of my flood photos on the Zuma Press website.

Flying Cloud camp

2011-07-21T00:04:00.005-04:00

Campers at Flying Cloud, one of the Farm & Wilderness summer camps, dance around the massive bonfire during the camp's first naming ceremony of the year.

I have returned from my week at Farm & Wilderness and started to edit through the 5,000+ photos I shot for them. I definitely love having a week for an assignment as it gives me time to really settle into the rhythms of a place and understand where the best pictures are.

More F&W photos will show up eventually on the Education pages of my website.

dead hares!

2011-07-20T04:18:00.004-04:00

What exactly is the Dead Hare Radio Hour? I'm still not 100% sure, but I participated in a forum for them on the links between art, nature and technology, and we talked about artist professional development.

Aired last night on WVKR, Vassar's station in Poughkeepsie, and now online here: http://deadhareradio.matthewslaats.com/projects/2011/07/19/show-17-nyfa-mark-in-conversation/

Farm & Wilderness camps

2011-07-05T12:03:00.005-04:00

Early this morning I arrived in Vermont for an assignment working for Farm & Wilderness camps. They've hired me to spend a week photographing daily life and activities at their five summer camps near Plymouth, VT. I'm looking forward to this – I can think of no place I'd rather be in July than in the woods, in the mountains, at camp.

Here, the mist rises over the Indian Brook apple orchard, seen across Woodward Reservoir before dawn.

mother of the groom, mother of the bride

2011-07-03T12:03:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to Rachael Milavec and Mike Shaughnessy on your beautiful wedding and your future lives together. Mike's mom and Rachael's mom were busy snapping photos as the couple danced their first dance together.

I seldom shoot weddings, yet I always enjoy it when I do. I make it clear ahead of time that I am a photojournalist. I'll be there looking for stories to tell. Interesting moments. People being themselves. Sure, I can do family portraits, but I prefer the natural to the staged.

I recently got into a 3-day-long discussion with an artist friend. I contended that my photos tell stories. They capture genuine moments of people's lives. I love that I get to observe and explore such varied experiences people have. I then distill what I see into moments that reflect the personalities and events I witness.

My friend told me that my photos are works of art, that they are really about mood, and that they say as much about me as about the nominal subject within the image. I suspect we're both right.

What I saw at the wedding was joy, kinship, and a bit of nervousness. I am so glad I could be part of the celebration! Congratulations!

Making a statement

2011-06-27T00:03:00.001-04:00

Why do we make photographs?

Come see 15 answers this Thursday, June 30, 5-7, at the opening of Statement, our invitational exhibit of central NY photographers, at the Smithy Pioneer gallery in Cooperstown. The show runs through July 28.

This is my first time curating an exhibit. We spent today hanging the show, and I am excited about the amazing work.

We asked each photographer what motivates you? What inspires you? Many of us support ourselves by making photographs for clients, but we also create work for ourselves. Artwork we care about so deeply that we continue to create it even when we are busy, tired, or poor.

The 15 photographers in this exhibit describe how they make photographs as meditation, as discovery and as expression. Making photographs helps us to see the world more clearly.

Gallery hours and info here.

closing reception for Philly exhibit

2011-06-02T12:03:00.000-04:00

On Saturday June 4, 3 - 5 pm, there will be a closing reception for my After Chernobyl exhibit in Philadelphia.

Four of my photos from Chernobyl are part of an alumni exhibit in the List Gallery at Swarthmore College. The gallery is in the Lang Performing Arts Center. This is where the reception will be.

My full exhibit is across campus in McCabe Library. Both exhibits will be open until Monday.

remembering Chernobyl

2011-04-26T11:12:00.006-04:00

Vasily Fedirko stands in the Pirogovichi village graveyard on April 26 as he pays tribute to his wife’s parents. Every year at Easter time, Ukrainians return to their native villages to eat a ceremonial meal in the cemetery and remember those who have died. Especially in Chernobyl-affected areas, this tradition has become a reunion as former neighbors come together once more to feast and reminisce. Vasily and his wife Valentina moved back to Pirogovichi in 2003 when her parents died. This year their daughter Oksana came all the way from the Russian Far East for the holiday.

On this day, 25 years ago, the Chernobyl tragedy began. It hasn’t ended yet.

Some 350,000 people were displaced by the accident. They will never return home. 850,000 liquidators worked in the clean up after the accident. Many of them now have health problems. A total of six million people still live in the contaminated region today.

Every year, at solemn anniversaries such as today, somber government officials stand up and make speeches about how we must never forget. They will make these speeches today.

I disagree. We will forget. In fact, we must. We can’t spend all our lives mourning the tragedies and mistakes of the past. At best, we would all become paralyzed.

Memory is a curious thing. It ebbs and flows. After my years in the Chernobyl region, I remember it 100 times a week, but it is not the tragedy I recall. I see the lilac and cherries blooming here and I think of spring arriving in the Ukrainian village where I lived. I get on a train and I remember Lyuda and her friends playing the card game Durak on their daily commute to the Chernobyl plant. I see a tattoo and I grieve for a moment for Vasily, who died last year of cancer at age 57. I picture the drawing of his wife, which he tattooed on his shoulder after she died, also from cancer, in 2007.

The more personal a memory is, the more different ways it gets triggered. This is one reason I share people’ stories, to personalize the catastrophe. And this is why I object to the news wire photos you’ll see today. Essentially the same shots you saw last year: The abandoned Ferris wheel in Pripyat. A dosimeter outside the Chernobyl plant. Mourners at the memorial in Slavutych. How quickly our vision narrows and our collective memories grow worn!

The people who live near Chernobyl don’t think and talk about the accident every day. How could they? They have lives to lead. The ones who can’t cease talking about it sound like soldiers with post-traumatic stress—not the healthiest of the survivors.

So let us not dwell on death. Let’s celebrate 25 years of perseverance. Let’s ask how we can help those who are still struggling. Let us remember and honor the tragedy today, and tomorrow, let us forget, and go on to remember other things. The lilac and cherry trees are blooming.

media roundtable tomorrow

2011-04-21T23:59:00.002-04:00

On Friday, I'll be part of a media roundtable discussing environmental disasters. We'll talk about the BP oil spill, Chernobyl and Fukushima.

The show is Your Call. It airs on NPR stations in San Fransisco (KALW 91.7) and Santa Cruz (KUSP 88.9).

Your Call, a daily public affairs program, is on from 10 to 11 PST/1:00 to 2:00 pm Eastern, rebroadcast at 5:00 pm PST.

AP: Exhibit chronicles lives of workers at Chernobyl

2011-04-17T22:59:00.003-04:00

Associated Press ran a nice story about my New York exhibits yesterday. And almost all of it was true. (3 points for anyone who can find one of the small errors...)

NEW YORK (AP) — Families walk their children to school. Teenage girls smile backstage before a concert. Couples work out at a gym not far from villages where subsistence farmers draw well water and raise crops.

Welcome to the present-day Chernobyl region.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ik-YGS3iJwX6tE8j0bR5GK77ORNQ?docId=ce32d4fdf3e242c3ad22489996802596

New York exhibit openings

2011-04-13T22:22:00.006-04:00

Next on the agenda: my two Chernobyl exhibits in New York City open this coming week. Really looking forward to the receptions. Click on the fliers to read details.

Ukrainian Museum: Sun. April 17, 2 to 5 pm

Ukrainian Institute: Tues. April 19, 6 to 10 pm

Additional New York events are coming up April 26, 27, 29 and 30. More information here.

Chicago exhibit open

2011-04-09T09:59:00.002-04:00

My After Chernobyl exhibit opened last night at the University of Chicago. Here is a story broadcast on the WGN Evening News.

Chernobyl exhibit on tour

2011-04-04T01:15:00.008-04:00

I am excited that my After Chernobyl exhibit is on tour this spring, with shows in NYC, Philadelphia, Chicago and Madison, Wis. Here are details about all the events:

Philadelphia:
(Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA)
• Exhibit dates: April 6 to June 10
• Opening lecture and reception: April 6, 4-7 pm
• Gallery talks April 16, 10 am and 1:30 pm, April 17, 1 pm
Exhibit details here.

Chicago:
(University of Chicago)
• Exhibit dates: March 28 to May 20.
• Opening lecture and reception: April 8, 6 to 8:30 pm
Exhibit details here:

New York City:
(Ukrainian Museum, East Village)
• Exhibit dates: April 17 to May 8. (Inside Chernobyl exhibit.)
• Opening reception: April 17, 2 pm
Exhibit details here.

New York City:
(Ukrainian Institute, Upper East Side)
• Exhibit dates: April 19 to May 1. (After Chernobyl exhibit)
• Opening reception and concert: April 19, 6 pm
• Panel discussion 4/29, 7 pm
• Film screening 4/30, 7 pm
Event details here.

New York City:
(United Nations)
• Chernobyl conference: April 26 - 27
Event details here.

Madison, WI:
• Exhibit dates: April 1 to June 15.
• Reception: April 26
Event details here.

Chernobyl and Fukushima

2011-03-14T22:40:00.006-04:00

Last Friday, I was sitting at my desk, editing photos for my upcoming Chernobyl exhibits when the phone rings. My dad says: I am watching CNN. There may be a nuclear meltdown in Japan after the earthquake. I am horrified, after my years in Chernobyl, to think it is happening again. It is with prayers for the people of Fukushima Prefecture that I share this:

It's a curious feeling to stand at the epicenter of a disaster.

Original post continues here.

New version will be posted here.

Alexia Competition

2011-02-19T13:20:00.002-05:00

Today I am watching the judging of the Alexia Foundation photojournalism competition. The judges have just chosen a winner in the professional category:

Bharat Choudhary, for his project The Silence of Others about young muslims in the US and UK. One judge, Bob Sascha, commented early on that "This project stands out above all the others. It is the only entry this year where I said 'I have to learn the name of this photographer'." Seeing Bharat's portfolio, I must agree!

Another stand-out finalist was Aaron Huey for his project on Pine Ridge. Aaron has been a finalist for the past 3 years, and according to former Alexia chair David Sutherland, his work on this story keeps getting better and better.

It's always an inspiration to see this great work and hear the judges commentary. The other finalists:
GMB Akash, Deanne Fitzmaurice, Dominic Bracco and Jennifer Emerling. Info on all finalists will be up on the Alexia website soon.

wishes granted

2011-02-15T23:41:00.003-05:00

My son Jacob peers out the window. No, this photo has nothing to do with this post, beyond the fact that I shot it last week.

Sometimes I spend a lot of time applying for grants and it looks like a giant waste of time. But then, when I actually win something, it all feels worthwhile.

This week I am celebrating two wishes granted.

I was accepted by the New York Foundation for the Arts to participate in their MARK Program for artist professional development.

And I received a grant from the National Press Photographers Association for Multimedia Immersion.

Both will be great programs.

Unfortunately, the third grant I won recently — a Rotary International month-long exchange to Taiwan — I had to decline because my life is too full right now. Maybe next year.

I am flattered...

2011-01-06T12:03:00.006-05:00

This week, I am flattered to report, my local paper ran a lovely profile story about me and my new Fracking Pennsylvania photography project.

Here is what managing editor Cassandra Miller wrote in her kind intro:

The area seems to be teeming with artists of all types. I was overwhelmed by responses after asking friends (via Facebook) for suggestions of artists to feature.

One of the suggestions was Oneonta-based professional photographer Michael Forster Rothbart, who I’d met but hadn’t seen his work (or his impressive resume) until this week.

Not only is he a nice guy, he’s a talented photographer and artist, and he’s newly back from a yearlong Fulbright Fellowship to work on his “After Chernobyl,” an independent documentary photography project about Chernobyl survivors in Ukraine.

His photos have appeared in the New York Times, Newsday, Psychology Today and the Washington Post, to name a few. Forster Rothbart shared some of the photos from his “Fracking Pennsylvania” project on the hydraulic fracturing situation in Northern Pennsylvania and upstate New York. His photos, along with their stories, are captivating.

Read the full article here and here.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T12:03:00.002-05:00

My son Jacob and I built and photographed this winter scene together. Jacob, who is already 4 1/2, says he wants to be a photographer when he grows up. Or a fire dog. Or a T-rex.

2010 has been a wonderful year for us, and we hope it was great for you as well.

In the coming year, I hope our lives (yours and ours) are full of activities and people that bring us joy and happiness. May our days be free from worry and our nights free from fear.

It may sound cheesy but I mean it. Happy new year!

Fracking exhibit opens 12/7

2010-12-05T18:47:00.011-05:00

Some photos from my new project Fracking Pennsylvania are in an exhibit opening this week in New York City.

In Dimock, PA, Craig and Julie Sautner are among 14 families whose drinking water wells became contaminated after gas drilling on their properties. Here the Sautners drive by a new drilling rig on a neighbor’s property.

FRACKING: Art and Activism Against the Drill
An art exhibition and public dialogue about the ravages of natural gas drilling

Dates: December 7, 2010 - February 5, 2011
Opening Reception: Tuesday, December 7, 7-9pm

Exit Art
475 10th Avenue, at 36th Street
New York, NY 10018
www.exitart.org/exhibition_programs/current_programs.html

Exit Art announces Fracking: Art and Activism Against the Drill. Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) is a new means of gas extraction that is now beginning in New York and Pennsylvania. This exhibition will expose this process of gas extraction that is contaminating water supplies and polluting the air worldwide. Artists were invited to submit documentary videos, photography, paintings, sculpture, mixed media, and works of literature. Through public lectures and calls to action, this exhibition will engage the public in dialogue on this issue, and encourage audiences to continue educating themselves and their communities on fracking and its detrimental effects.

Organized by Lauren Rosati, Assistant Curator, with Peggy Cyphers, Ruth Hardinger, and Alice Zinnes.

ABOUT FRACKING
Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) is a means of gas extraction that accesses gas trapped more than a mile below the earth’s surface. When a well is fracked, small earthquakes are produced by the pressurized injection of millions of gallons of fresh water combined with sand and chemicals, releasing the gas, as well as toxic chemicals, heavy metals and radioactive materials that contaminate air and water.

Read more about the exhibit here.
See more of my photos here.

Nanotech story for the Washington Post

2010-11-03T12:03:00.004-04:00

Last week I shot a story for the Washington Post about nanotech research at the University of Albany. It ran today. I particularly liked this portrait, which I shot from under the honeycomb tabletop where he was working.

Caption: ALBANY, NY - OCTOBER 26: Willie Murchison, IBM Senior Lab Technician, plans recipes for upcoming experiments at a laptop in the NanoFab North cleanroom at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. Researchers in the CNSE NanoTech Complex at the University of Albany-SUNY are developing new nanotechnology materials in an enormous 35,000 square-foot cleanroom. 2010. (Photo by Michael Forster Rothbart/For the Washington Post).

The light in a cleanroom is bizarre, so yellow that my camera could not compensate for it. So I put a flash on a stand to clean up the edges a bit and set my WB on Flash.

See the rest of the photo essay here.

Permalink: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/02/AR2010110205134.html

skeletons in his closet

2010-10-30T23:40:00.003-04:00

Got a skeleton in your closet? John Hawks does. His physical anthropology lab at the University of Wisconsin contains cupboards full of skulls and bones. These skeletal remains and reproductions used for teaching range in age from decades to millennia old.

Hawks, an associate professor of anthropology, has published genome research revealing that the rate of human evolution has increased over the last 10,000 years.

I shot this photo for Science Illustrated last time I was in Madison, but it didn't get used (they ran a portrait I shot instead).

Anyway, I just wanted to say

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Out in the mountains

2010-09-27T15:39:00.002-04:00

A group of backpackers, including Katie Peeso and Carolyn Rein, sing spiritual songs beside their campfire at Crane Mountain Pond, elevation 2620 feet, in Adirondack Park near Johnsburg, NY. The hikers are college students participating in the LIFT program, a semester-long discipleship and leadership training program operated by Camp-of-the-Woods, a Christian family resort and conference center in Speculator, NY.

This week I spent time up in the Adirondacks shooting the beautiful fall foliage. One night I ran into this group of Christian college students camping and singing up on Crane Mountain.

I have to thank Strobist for changing what I carry in my bag. In the past, I would not have hauled flashes and pocket wizards up such a seriously steep mountain, just in case. Today I do, and this photo is why.

Tech geek details:
Lens (mm): 20
ISO: 1250
Aperture: 4
Shutter: 1/60
White Bal.: Flash

1 Nikon SB-26 flash on a rock at right, with orange (1/2 CTO) gel, about 1/8 power, just skimming the smoke and background boulder.

What color temperature is a campfire, anyway? I shot some frames on Tungsten and the fire still looked orange but the fill flash light looked too neutral to match it.

Up the Delaware

2010-08-13T12:03:00.007-04:00

Basket Creek flows into the Upper Delaware River near Long Eddy, NY. The Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, part of the National Park Service’s Wild and Scenic Rivers System, stretches 73.4 miles along the New York – Pennsylvania border.

I spent time in northern Pennsylvania this week shooting a magazine story about fracking. (What is fracking?)

The upper Delaware River is a really beautiful place. Amazing how pristine it is considering how close it is to NYC and Philadelphia. I can understand why local residents are worried about plans for 35,000 natural gas wells along the river. (As of 2009 there were already over 77,000 gas wells in Pennsylvania, but none yet in the protected Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River area.)

Researchers have identified volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, methane and xylene found in contaminated drinking water near drilling sites. Other environmental concerns include surface water contamination, air pollution, forest fragmentation, and human health problems. The 2005 Energy Policy Act exempted natural gas drilling from the Safe Drinking Water Act (plus some regulations of the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act), and exempts companies from disclosing the chemicals used during fracking.

On the other hand, gas companies and property owners stand to earn up to one trillion dollars in profits from drilling in the Marcellus Shale. And it's clear that these small towns need income, with nothing else but tourism to hold up the economy.

The article will be out in October and I'll post my full photo essay then.

Can you light your water on fire?

2010-08-12T12:03:00.011-04:00

Bill Ely of Dimock, Pennsylvania can.

Bill and Sheila Ely are among 14 families near Carter Road in Dimock, PA, whose drinking water wells became contaminated with methane and other chemicals after gas drilling on their properties. Cabot Oil and Gas, the company held responsible by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, has had at least 21 spills in Dimock township in less than two years.

The Elys’ well has so much methane that the water appears carbonated and Bill regularly lights his water on fire to show visitors.

How does he do it? Bill takes a five gallon jug and fills it from his hose via a hole on the side. Extra water pours out overflow holes while the methane bubbles up to the top, up the tube, where he lights it like a giant lantern.

Here, the Elys' neighbor Craig Sautner tries to burn his water.

The Sautners have less methane in their water than the Elys, so Craig feels safe holding a lighter directly to his hose.

Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” is new method of drilling for natural gas: millions of gallons of water, sand and proprietary chemicals are pumped down a well under high pressure. The pressure fractures the shale, opening fissures so that natural gas can flow more freely. In August 2010, fracking is being widely used in the Marcellus Shale formation under Pennsylvania while New York is considering a temporary moratorium on the practice until the environmental effects can be reviewed.

Photos in Arena on Friday

2010-08-04T12:03:00.006-04:00

You are all invited to this shindig on Friday. (By the way, this is not a fancy fundraiser, just come and see the show. Though donations to FOCCUS are welcome, they do great work!) Don't worry about RSVPing, just say I sent you.

summer camp

2010-07-27T12:03:00.009-04:00

On the last night of Timberlake camp's July session, Jarod Wunneburger watches campers leave a candlelit closing ceremony. Timberlake, a summer camp for boys, is one of six of the Farm & Wilderness camps based on the Quaker values of simplicity, honesty, self-reliance, and respect for all life.

I have just returned from two weeks at a summer camp in Vermont. I've been photographing at the Farm & Wilderness camps in Plymouth, VT. My life is far from perfect, I admit, but I feel very fortunate to get to go to such great places.

It's amazing how quickly a group of boys and young men, living in the woods together, can form a real, intimate and supportive community. Coming home to my hectic daily life, I realize how much I long for such a strong community around me.

In case you're curious: Lit by candle. 1/60, F2.5 at 3200.

a picture from the exhibition

2010-07-19T12:03:00.005-04:00

Photo: SLPS

Here is a photo from the show in Woodstock on Saturday. If you have not been to a Slideluck Potshow, I strongly encourage you to get off your hiney and find one: www.slideluckpotshow.com

Screening in Woodstock, NY on July 17

2010-07-14T12:03:00.000-04:00

Photos from my After Chernobyl project will be screened this week in Woodstock:

July 17, 2010, 7 pm potluck, 9 pm show
Center for Photography at Woodstock
Street: 59 Tinker Street, Woodstock NY

More details here: http://network.slideluckpotshow.com/events/slps-woodstock

Screening in Barcelona July 1

2010-06-29T23:14:00.003-04:00

Photos from my After Chernobyl project will be screened this week in Barcelona:

SLIDELUCK POTSHOW BARCELONA IV
DONDE: Mau Mau Underground. Fontrodona, 35
CUANDO: Dijous, 1 de julio a les 20.30h.
El encuentro gastronómico empezará a las 20.30h y las proyecciones se podrán ver a partir de las 21.30h y terminarán alrededor de las 23h.

More details here: http://network.slideluckpotshow.com/events/slps-barcelona-iv

Photo District News

2010-06-22T12:03:00.007-04:00

Sorry to brag again. Just wanted to share that I have a collection of Chernobyl photos featured on the PDN website today: www.pdnphotooftheday.com

Those of you who are not photographers may not be familiar with Photo District News. It's a monthly magazine for professional photographers, focused on contemporary photography and useful business info.

Ahem. Since I seem to have your attention for the moment, I'd like everyone to know: I’m pregnant. No, excuse me, I meant: I'm looking for a publisher for my Chernobyl book. Anyone, anyone?

Upper Catskills exhibit

2010-06-18T19:47:00.006-04:00

A Ukrainian teenager passes a closed storefront covered with signs, including many offering jobs. High unemployment is a problem in many Ukrainian communities; the problem is especially acute in radiation-affected areas, which new businesses have avoided due to the stigma of Chernobyl.

My work is part of a new exhibit of Central New York artists at UCCCA, the Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts. (Note "Central NY": what New Yorkers refer to as "upstate").

The exhibit runs until July 25. More details here.

Update:
At the exhibit opening they announced that my above photo won the first place award for photography. Very kind of them, since there is a lot of excellent work in the show.

another photo a day

2010-06-14T22:24:00.004-04:00

I am flattered to have another photo of mine chosen for A Photo A Day. (Reading this later? Find the photo here, under June 14.)

APAD is a fabulous daily sampling of the best of contemporary photojournalism, direct from the photographers themselves. Since APAD does not include captions, here is more about the photo above:

Late on a long winter's night, Nina Dubrovskaya and her friend Lena Priyenko walk home to their village Sukachi, Ukraine, from the nearby town of Ivankiv, 2 miles away. The two women, both divorcees, went out to the bars in Ivankiv in search of company, but found all 4 bars they visited nearly empty. "When the money gets short, people just get drunk at home," says Dubrovskaya.

thinking of kyrgyzstan

2010-06-13T12:03:00.008-04:00

Osh, Kyrgystan. A soldier at Osh City Military Base practices using his gun during an evening drill. There are long-standing political and ethnic differences between the northern and southern halves of this mountainous country, and the southern borders with neighboring Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have repeatedly been the scene of violent local conflicts since independence.

Once I've lived someplace I find I am always listening for news from there. Over the course of several assignments I spent 8 months in Jalal Abad and Osh, Kyrgyzstan. The news, unfortunately, is worse than I ever imagined.

For large part, Uzbeks and Kyrgyz have lived peacefully together. But as happened in the former Yugoslavia, it seems those with a political agenda have been inciting violence between neighbors. A Red Cross official today estimated 700 dead in Osh; if true that would make it worse than the 1990 riot in nearby Kara Suu that killed 300.

Even though it's hopeless, I feel a need to quote Rodney King here:

"People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids?... It’s just not right. It’s not right. It’s not, it’s not going to change anything. We’ll, we’ll get our justice....Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to work it out."

This footage of mob victims arriving at the hospital in carload after carload is very hard to watch.

(Note: the above video is emotionally disturbing but not graphic. More footage here, some of which is graphic: www.citizentube.com/2010/06/kyrgyz-mobs-burn-slaughter-during.html )

a photo a day

2010-05-31T12:03:00.002-04:00

If you love photojournalism, you should check out APAD (a photo a day) and not just because they are featuring my photo today. (Reading this later? Find the photo here, under May 31.)

APAD is a fabulous daily sampling of the best of contemporary photojournalism, direct from the photographers themselves. Often the posted photos are ones that newspaper photogs shot for themselves, or ones that didn't make the paper.

If you really really love photojournalism (and are a photographer yourself) you can join the APAD listserv. Of course, I've hit nearly 30,000 messages now in my APAD email folder; it's hard to keep up with so prolific a crowd.

Since APAD does not include captions, here is more about the photo above:

A wall of dials in the Chernobyl First Block control room once marked the depth of each fuel rod in the reactor core. Just down the hall is the burnt-out Fourth Block control room, where a combination of design flaws and human error triggered the accident during a late-night safety test. Most estimates say ninety-five percent of the radioactive materials remained on the grounds of the power plant or spread to the adjacent forest. Both were decontaminated, using the labor of about 850,000 liquidators from across the Soviet Union.

getting my mo jo

2010-05-21T12:03:00.003-04:00

This month Mother Jones magazine is featuring a nice photo essay on my Chernobyl project.

It is interesting to see what different photo editors pick as a lead image for the story. I like this photo as an introduction, the way it shows something out of the ordinary. What you can't tell from this shot is that the Semikhody checkpoint has a row of about 8 radiation detection gates. As workers come out to board one of the trains home, over 1,000 workers pass through these checkpoints in a short period of time.

Baltimore screening

2010-05-20T20:25:00.006-04:00

Photos from my After Chernobyl project will be screened this weekend in Baltimore. The screening is part of Slideluck Potshow, an evening of eating beautiful food and viewing delicious art. Or something like that.

Here are details:

Baltimore — Saturday, May 22. 6-11 pm.
Gallery Four
H & H Building
405 West Franklin St. (at Eutaw), Baltimore
See map.

Slideluck: 6 pm (bring a dish!)
Potshow: 8 pm (bring your eyes!)
No RSVP needed.

Never heard of Slideluck Potshow? Read more — recent articles from the New Yorker, Pop Photo and NYTimes Lens.

Come feast!

NPR Picture Show

2010-04-27T23:15:00.010-04:00

Yesterday NPR published a nice story featuring my new exhibit in DC. It was on the NPR Picture Show — if you haven't seen this site, take a look. They do a great job publishing all kinds of interesting photography stories.

Everyone's been so positive about my exhibit I am in danger of getting a swollen head.

Easter in Ivankiv

2010-04-11T12:03:00.001-04:00

Residents of Ivankiv, Ukraine, attend a midnight Easter service at the Russian Orthodox church in town.

A woman makes the sign of the cross as she enters the church near midnight.

For two hours, attendees stand, pray, light candles and follow the traditional orthodox ceremony.

Lay leaders of the congregation make a circuit of the church at a midpoint in the midnight Easter service.

A girl waits outside the church for her family's Easter basket to be blessed with holy water.

After the mass, the priests come outside and make a circuit of the churchyard and adjoining street, showering hundreds of families with blessings and holy water.

Ivankiv is the closest inhabited city to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Books Alive!

2010-04-10T23:46:00.009-04:00

Singer Lee Knight sings, dances and reads stories with kids from Oneonta, NY, on April 10, during Books Alive!, an interactive performance organized by the Oneonta World of Learning.

The Oneonta World of Learning, a “children’s museum without walls,” organizes educational events for children in the Oneonta area. For more information on OWL see their website or blog.

Update, May 2010:
Here are additional photos from the Books Alive event. Parents, feel free to download these photos for personal use, or you can contact OWL for many more photos.

kyrgyz revolution, again

2010-04-07T13:03:00.011-04:00

Breaking news from Kyrygzstan: another revolution. But if you don't have any leaders to replace the ones you depose, how are things going to get any better?

More news here.

I followed Opposition leader Omurbek Tekebaev during earlier protests, when he was running for President in 2000.

I spent several weeks following Tekebaev, and at the time I was very impressed. He answered our questions openly and thoughtfully. I thought he was the first honest politician I had met in Central Asia.

Since then, as one revolution after another has flared up, replaced the people in power and then quickly returned to the status quo, I've grown pessimistic than any leader, even an honest one, would make any significant changes in how the country is governed.

In short, I'm sorry to say Kyrgyzstan has not improved much in 10 years.

But as I look at my old scans, I am pleased at least to see that I have improved as a photographer in the last 10 years.

Palm Springs Photo Fest

2010-03-26T12:03:00.003-04:00

Sergii Koshelev has a unique job: cameraman for the Chernobyl Shelter Implementation Plan. He documents conditions within and around the destroyed 4th Block reactor. He recalls expeditions inside the Shelter as full of adrenalin and devoid of light. Though showered with radioactive particles, he was not scared, he says.

After facing danger, some men brag. Not Koshelev. He has faced extreme radiation for 20 years, yet remains modest about his work. “Chernobyl is in us and we are in Chernobyl,” he explains matter-of-factly.

At home, his feet get cold and he pulls on his wife’s Minnie Mouse slippers.

I was happy to hear this news today:

My After Chernobyl project is a finalist in the Palm Springs Photo Festival competition. A slideshow of my photos will be screened during the festival at the Palm Springs Art Museum. April 1, 9 pm, during the evening presentation.

Read more here.

zReportage: Chernobyl Today

2010-03-19T22:27:00.012-04:00

I am pleased as punch to have my Chernobyl project featured in this week's zReportage, an online magazine of investigative photojournalism.

After quietly working on this project for years, I am delighted that more people are getting to see the work. There are so many important and bizarre and interesting stories to tell about the Ukrainians who continue to live near Chernobyl.

If you saw my 2009 After Chernobyl exhibit, you'll find 20 new photos in this story.

In addition: Zuma Press will now start to sell my Chernobyl (and other) stock photography.

Thanks for all the good words, everyone!

Chernobyl tourists

2010-03-12T23:46:00.003-05:00

Tourists photograph the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear accident, on March 1. On the night of April 26, 1986, the Fourth Block reactor (visible at center) exploded during a safety test, sending radioactive particles into the atmosphere and eventually around the world. The population within 30 kilometers was permanently evacuated, including residents of Pripyat city and many villages.

As spring comes, the snow melts and the tourists start flowing into Chernobyl. The flow will peak in late April, the anniversary of the accident.

I find it bizarre that Chernobyl is now Ukraine's hottest tourist attraction. It seems almost every day a different van or busload of tourists pull up outside the Fourth Block with their cameras and gas masks while the workers are just sitting around smoking their cigarettes.

This day-long tour was organized by Pripyat.com, a historic preservationist group founded by evacuees from Pripyat, working to save their hometown from ruin before looters and weather destroy what remains.

Voices from Chernobyl

2010-02-20T19:03:00.011-05:00

Contamination checkpoint at the Chernobyl plant. At the end of the day, workers check their hands and feet for radioactive contamination one last time before boarding the train home.

My Chernobyl photos will be screened tomorrow night (Feb. 21) at the Montshire Museum of Science, in Norwich, Vermont.

Sunday's event is a reading of the play Voices from Chernobyl, based on the powerful book of reportage by Svetlana Alexievich.

Alexievich, a journalist from Belarus, spent years interviewing Chernobyl evacuees, liquidators (veterans) and scientists. She weaved together an incredible collection of first-person stories. If you are interested in Chernobyl, or nuclear power in general, this is the first book to read. I recommend the 2006 English translation by Keith Gessen.

The play is part of the noisy debate Vermont is having about the future of nuclear power in the state. The Vermont Legislature will vote next week to either relicense or decommission the 40-year-old Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant near Brattleboro, VT. In the past two months, there have been revelations that radioactive tritium has leaked underground below the plant.

The Sunday event starts at 7 pm at One Montshire Road, in Norwich. More details here.

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

2010-02-11T12:03:00.002-05:00

Last night I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge in the blizzard. Slowly. With my camera. It was, how shall I put it, a little bit on the chilly side. What amazes me, however, is that I was not the only one out there in the gale. There were joggers and pedestrians and other photographers. All of us nuts, every one.

A solitary hardy pedestrian crosses the Brooklyn Bridge despite blustery winds and icy blowing snow. By sunset on Feb. 10, 2010, 7 inches had fallen in Manhattan, although this was enough to slow transportation across the region.

Street crews were working overtime to keep roads clear, with snowplows working on the Brooklyn Bridge 3 at a time.

Pace University freshman, including Twinkle Vakharia, center, play in the snow at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan, before returning to their dorm for hot chocolate.

Snow Day in NYC

2010-02-10T16:03:00.002-05:00

Today New York City took the day off. Except the photographers.

The streets were filled with snow — and sledders and shovelers — as the city celebrated a snow day on Feb. 10 with a rare school closing.

Two girls duck under a bridge out of the snow as they take a break from sledding in Riverside Park in Manhattan.

Sledders of all ages filled the hills in Riverside Park.

A man pushes a stroller through the snow across 78th St. in Manhattan's Upper West side.

Alistair Stewart waits to cross Amsterdam Ave. in the snow.

A street sign at 77th St. and Broadway is barely visible beneath the snow.

The snowfall was heavy at times, although accumulation was less than the predicted 12 to 18 inches; by 4 pm, 7 inches had fallen in Manhattan.

Liam Emerson, age 2, tries to help shovel the snow at the 72nd St. subway station.

And now I've warmed up and I'm headed back out for more.

city snapshots

2010-02-09T22:16:00.009-05:00

I'm in New York city this week, meeting with a bunch of interesting people. But in between, I'm finding time to take some snapshots. I am reminded why people get addicted to street photography here. The city offers up an never-ending supply of little personal dramas to witness.

Kendall Maxwell (right) and John Doe flirt during a date at BAU bar in the East Village of New York City. (Doe requested that his real name not be used online).

At 2:48 am, Anna from Harrisburg, PA, is drunk as she rides the 1 train uptown to Penn Station, talking about how she hates New York rats, and New York in general, while her boyfriend Zach tries to sleep it off.

This collage was an experiment, to see how the frames looked pieced together this way. Graphically interesting, but I don't think it tells a story any better than the best frame does by itself.

what the frack?

2010-01-25T19:03:00.011-05:00

Should New York allow natural gas drilling using an intensive technique called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking?" This question is dividing communities across the southern tier of New York where the gas-rich Marcellus shale formation is found.

Community protestors from across New York state converged on the state capitol in Albany, Jan. 25, 2010, for two simultaneous rallies about proposed natural gas drilling. Drilling opponents chanted "statewide ban" as they marched through the Empire State Concourse.

Some 600 members of community groups and local environmental groups attended a rally in the concourse. “The water has always been good here. We want to keep it that way,” said Onondaga Nation faithkeeper Oren Lyons (center). “Tell your governor he's got to change his ways now.” Other speakers included Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh (D-Manhattan) and Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, (D-Ithaca).

Meanwhile, Senator Thomas Libous, (R-Binghamton) addressed a counter-protest in Lafayette Park, across from the Capitol. Calling drilling opponents "environmental extremists," he said "we have before us an opportunity and we can't blow this opportunity."

Media estimated 250 to 700 drilling supporters attended the event, organized by the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York. The Department of Environmental Conservation is currently reviewing public comments on a draft Enivironmental Impact Statement for the “hydraulic fracturing” drilling method.

Representatives from Oneonta and Elmira-area community groups met with Assemblyman Tom O’Mara during the day of rallies and lobbying in Albany. 327 of the drilling opponents stayed on to lobby their legislators after the rally.

Photography Workshops

2010-01-12T12:03:00.009-05:00

This spring I will be teaching a series of photography workshops at SUNY-Oneonta (also known as SUCO). The classes are:

Introduction to Digital Photography - Feb. 2, 5:30-8:30 pm
Introduction to Digital Photography - Feb. 16, 5:30-8:30 pm
Digital Photography 2 - March 9, 5:30-8:30 pm
Photographing People - May 4, 5:30-8:30 pm
Nature Photography - May 15, 9 am-noon at SUCO College Camp

Each class meets for a single, 3-hour session.

For details about each class and registration, see: http://continuinged.oneonta.edu/noncredit.
Or call: 800-SUNY-123 x2548 or (607) 436-2548.

UPDATE as of JAN. 26:
The classes on 2/2, 2/16 and 3/9 have all filled. We have added new sessions as follows:

Introduction to Digital Photography - NEW SESSION: March 1, 5:30-8:30 pm
Digital Photography 2 - NEW SESSION: March 23, 5:30-8:30 pm

Thanks!

About the photo above: This portrait I shot of instrument maker Wes McEachron always amused me so I pulled it out of my files. Credit: MFR for UW-Madison.

Caroling for Orthodox Christmas

2010-01-08T12:03:00.001-05:00

Father Momotyuk Nazarii (in black) goes Christmas caroling with members of his congregation to celebrate Ukrainian Orthodox Christmas. The group spent two days going door to door through Sukachi and Novo Ladizhichi villages, singing, offering blessings, and collecting donations for the church.

Nazarii is the village priest at the church in Novo Ladizhichi, Ukraine, which was built in 1987 to house evacuees from the original village of Ladizhichi following the 1986 Chernobyl accident. When people donated candy and fruit, the carolers redistributed it to children and elderly residents.

A resident of Sukachi, Ukraine, bows her head as she listens to a blessing from Father Nazarii.

hazy shade of winter

2009-12-20T20:50:00.014-05:00

A few weeks ago, my friend Andy Adams at Flak Photo put out a call for winter photos. I just spent a fascinating hour looking through some nominations that came in. There are remarkable and beautiful photos here.

Two faves:
Bejamin Wirtz Siegel
Chibi Lai

And yet: I'm troubled by the entries as a whole. Over and over and over again, these photographers are portraying winter as snowy, bleak and desolate. Or beautiful and desolate. Or icy and desolate. Snow. Fog. Gray. Trees. Ice. There is a sameness to many entries that soon becomes numbing.

Take the photos of empty, snowy roads. I counted at least 8 of them. Ashley Lebedev's version was my favorite, but you know, it is still another empty snowy road.

Yes, there are notable exceptions that show originality:
- Miniatures by Walter Martin and Paloma Munoz
- Bizarre Christmas trees by William Lamson and Peter Riesett and Ben Huff.
- This shot by Rachel Hulin.
But sadly they are too few and far between.

As a photojournalist, maybe I'm just missing the point. Why create photos that are neither informative nor beautiful nor interesting nor entertaining nor surprising nor emotive? I mean no one offense, but I generally aspire to at least one of these criteria in a photo.

In my work, I seek to create beautiful or troubling images that tell a story. The best photoreportage is both aesthetic and narrative. Take for example, Damon Winter's snowy Central Park photo in today's New York Times.

But back to the monotonous desolation. What if winter, perhaps, means a little bit more?

I mean, where are the kids playing in the snow?

Where are the people dying of exposure?

Where are the people, period? Except for some ethnographic portraits of reindeer herders, the Flak entries are often devoid of life.

And if it's desolation you want, why not go all the way? Where are photos of the long dark nights?

I'm not saying my photos are any better than those entered, but at least I hope they show more variety.

Tomorrow Andy reveals his favorite winter shots on Flak Photo and I'll be eager to see his choices.

(All above photos are mine from Chernobyl.)

award winning

2009-12-09T21:13:00.002-05:00

Returning home from Chernobyl. In the winter, it is still dark when Chernobyl workers leave Slavutych and already dark again by the time they arrive home. In total, over 3,800 out of 24,300 Slavutych residents work at the Chernobyl plant.

I never win any photography competitions. It might have something to do with the fact that I never enter them. This year, I decided to enter the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar's competition. Partly because I am looking for a gallery or museum to exhibit my Chernobyl project in 2011.

So I was delighted to win the First Place prize in the Pictorial category for the above photo. I always liked this shot that I made almost a year ago, but it got cut from my Inside Chernobyl exhibit because it was too similar -- visually and thematically -- with another photo we included.

See the other 2009 winners here and here.

So there you go. Now you can add award-winning to the list of compound adjectives that describe me, along with hard-working, clear-sighted and big-nosed.

Moscow exhibit

2009-12-01T21:53:00.004-05:00

A wall of dials in Chernobyl's First Block control room once indicated the level of each fuel rod in the reactor core. Although the plant stopped producing electricity in 2000, nuclear fuel remains stored inside three reactor halls.

Some of my recent photographs from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant are in a new exhibit, opening this week in Moscow.

The exhibit, ХОТИМ, ЧТОБЫ ПОМНИЛИ (Wanting Rememberance) includes documentary photos and video installations showing life in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone before and after the 1986 accident. The exhibit has work from 5 Ukrainian photographers and filmmakers, 3 Russians, and me. The show, organized by Pripyat.com, coincides with the annual memorial day for liquidators (Chernobyl veterans) on December 14.

Exhibit opening: December 2, 6 pm.

The show runs December 2 to 13 in the выставочном зале «Творчество» (Gallery Creativity), Ulitsa Taganskaya 31/22, between Rimskaya and Marxistskaya Metro stations. (Map here; directions here).

Other events include:
Daily - Screenings of films by Rollan Sergienko
Dec 6, 2 pm - Roundtable discussion by former residents of Pripyat.
Dec 12, 3 pm - Presentation: Status and Future of Chernobyl's "New Safe Confinement".
Dec 13, 12 pm - Presentation: Understanding Radiation A to Z.

Exhibit site: www.rememberit.ru

Download the press release (in Russian) here.

Wisconsin Trails

2009-11-12T13:18:00.000-05:00

Today I got the December issue of Wisconsin Trails. They did a nice little article about my Chernobyl exhibit in Madison. I was afraid they would run the photo the size of a stamp, so I was happy to see it runs across a full page.

Revisiting Chernobyl
Madison photographer Michael Forster Rothbart spent a year in Chernobyl on a Fulbright Scholarship to photograph and interview Ukrainians who remain in villages near Chernobyl a generation after the 1986 nuclear power plant accident.

This Forster Rothbart photo (above) shows Leonid Budkovskiy with his grandson Slava. When the Chernobyl plant exploded, Budkovskiy was a mailman in Ivankiv. For four years, he was reassigned to deliver top-secret mail from Ivankiv to the military headquarters in Chernobyl. One after another, the drivers he worked with refused to drive to Chernobyl. He continued, however, out of a sense of duty. His legs slowly stopped working and by 1996 he was confined to a wheelchair. Currently, he spends most days sitting on his back stoop, overlooking the vegetable garden, and getting assistance from his wife and grandson.

"Most visitors think Chernobyl is a place of danger and despair, and so this is what they photograph. For me, however, Chernobyl tells a story about endurance and hope," says Forster Rothbart. "I created this exhibit because I want the world to know what I know: the people of Chernobyl are not victims, mutants and orphans. They are simply people living their lives, with their own joys and sorrows, hopes and fears. Like you. Like me."

Forster Rothbart's next exhibit, Inside Chernobyl, is currently showing in the Ukraine and will open in Washington, D.C. in April with additional showings planned for Milwaukee and Chicago. After Chernobyl can be seen online at afterchernobyl.com.

Hartwick College panorama

2009-11-11T13:06:00.000-05:00

Hartwick College sits on a hilltop overlooking the Susquehanna river valley in upstate New York. This panorama was created by digitally compositing 6 consecutive vertical photographs. (Click on the photo to see it larger).

My wife Amy now works in Golisano Hall, the building with the white tower at right.

Infidelity

2009-11-02T22:08:00.008-05:00

Last week I had another assignment from NPR's This American Life. To create an illustration for this week's episode: Infidelity — stories of cheating, cheaters and the cheated.

I immediately recalled a book of cartoons my parents had when I was growing up: Sam, the Ceiling Needs Painting, by Woody Gelman. The cover gives a good idea of the content:Great way to imply sex with virtually no bare skin. So I set out to find six feet willing to pose for a photo. (See the final shot with all six feet here.)

This week's photo contest:

Free 5 x 7 print of this photo to the first person who correctly identifies the brand of jeans worn in this photo. Send your guesses to: blog@mfrphoto.com

Deadline: Nov. 8, 2009.

---------
[UPDATE 11/9:]
The correct answer: the jeans were Wranglers.
After making my first contests too hard I guess I made this one too easy -- almost everyone who entered got it right.

The winners are:
1: Jim Gill of Madison, WI was the first to answer correctly. HOWEVER
2: Sara Lynn Platt of Florence, KY was the first one to answer correctly AND follow the submission rules.

Both will get photos.

red maple leaves

2009-10-26T12:03:00.003-04:00

Red maple leaves shine through the ripples at the edge of Wilber Lake, Otsego County, New York, on a sunny fall day.

Sometimes it's nice to just get out and make some pretty pictures.

drugs for This American Life

2009-10-20T12:03:00.003-04:00

Last week I shot another assignment for NPR's This American Life. They asked me to come up with an illustration for this week's episode — Someone Else’s Money: a look inside the health insurance industry. Aired this past weekend.

After pondering it for a few days, I was hit with a stroke of brilliance (or lunacy) one night. I got up at midnight to fashion this stretcher out of a dollar bill and q-tips.

Last week's photo contest got such great responses I'll try it again.

Free 5 x 7 print of this photo to the first person who can correctly identify the secret ingredient I used to attach the stretcher to the pill bottles. Send your guesses to: blog@mfrphoto.com

Atomic Lake

2009-10-19T22:05:00.003-04:00

Lake Balapan was created when an underground nuclear test in Kazakhstan blew the top off of a mountain.

Sixty years ago, the Soviet Union began testing nuclear bombs on the steppe in northern Kazakhstan. In the Semipalatinsk Polygon, researchers detonated nearly 460 nuclear explosions above and below ground over a 40-year period, ending in 1989.

Today, October 19, 2009, marks the twentieth anniversary of Kazakhstan’s nuclear testing moratorium, the result of a rare Soviet grassroots environmental campaign. Kazakhstan once had the world’s fourth largest nuclear arsenal. It has since become the first country to become nuclear-free.

Lake Balapan, also known as Atomic Lake, was created when an underground nuclear test blew the top off of a mountain. The resulting crater filled with water and is one of the most radioactive sites within the 6,950-square-mile Polygon. Recently, local shepherds have watered their sheep at the lake, not believing scientific warnings about the dangers of doing so.

Nurlan Khamiev is the director of the Shorskoye Mine, one of two mines still operating within the contaminated Polygon.

See another Polygon photo here.

drowning for This American Life

2009-10-12T07:22:00.002-04:00

I'm a photojournalist. I don't get into the studio that often. So it was a fun change of pace last week to shoot this photo for NPR's This American Life. I was asked to create photos to illustrate the theme of this week's show, More is Less: the rising costs of health care.

Wait, you say, isn't TAL a radio show? Yes, but nowadays even radio shows need good photos.

Free 5 x 7 print of this photo to the first person who can correctly identify either the doll or one of the pills used in this photo. Send your guesses to: blog@mfrphoto.com

homecoming in a new home

2009-10-07T05:03:00.002-04:00

With all my years of experience as a staff photographer for the University of Wisconsin, I decided I should start seeking new clients at the many colleges and universities here in New York.

So last weekend I photographed Homecoming at Hartwick College, just across the valley from our new home.

The Hartwick College football team runs out on the field at the start of their homecoming game against Ithaca College.

Alumnae Judy Lindberg and Kathleen Carver-Cheney and many other alums covered the hillside above Wright stadium.

No matter how many times I photograph cheerleaders, I always get a kick out of them. It was a lovely day, even though Hartwick lost to Ithaca 24-20.

Capital Times article

2009-09-19T12:03:00.000-04:00

The Cap Times today has a nice little article about my new Chernobyl exhibit.

Find it here.

radio show on WORT

2009-09-15T14:58:00.003-04:00

I'll be doing a one-hour interview about Chernobyl and my After Chernobyl exhibit on A Public Affair, the noontime talk show on WORT (89.9 FM in Madison). Those of you far from Madison can stream the show here: www.wort-fm.org/listen.php

That's Wed. Sept. 16, 12-1 pm CST, or 1-2 pm for you east coasters.

UPDATE:
If you missed the interview, catch it here. (The show starts 5:40 into the hour, after the news.)

Streaming: http://archive.wort-fm.org/pls.php?mp3fil=35450
Download: http://archive.wort-fm.org/mp3/wort_090916_120402apawed.mp3

New Madison photo exhibit

2009-09-11T05:03:00.005-04:00

My new Chernobyl photo exhibit is up in Madison, Wisconsin! A big thanks to Rob, Dick and Jon who hung the exhibit! Come check it out.

Madison Municipal Building ARTspace gallery
215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, 1st floor
September 3 to October 30, 2009
Hours: Mon-Fri 7-5, Sat 8-12
(Eves and weekends you can still get in - enter the building via the Doty St. entrance.)

After Chernobyl: photo exhibit

2009-09-11T05:02:00.001-04:00

Press Release - September 4, 2009 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

After Chernobyl: Photo Exhibit by Michael Forster Rothbart

If you lived near Chernobyl, would you stay?

Madison photographer Michael Forster Rothbart has just returned from a year in Chernobyl. He received a U.S. Fulbright Scholarship to photograph and interview Ukrainians who remain in villages near Chernobyl a generation after the 1986 accident.

After Chernobyl, an exhibit of Forster Rothbart’s documentary photographs, will be displayed for two months...

Read full press release.
Download the press release.

Polygon Nuke Test Site

2009-08-29T05:03:00.003-04:00

Shepherd Vlodya Lionchev works on a sheep ranch in Kazakhstan at the edge of the Semipalatinsk Polygon, the Soviet-era nuclear weapons testing site.

Sixty years ago today, the Soviet Union began testing nuclear bombs on the steppe in northern Kazakhstan. Researchers detonated nearly 460 nuclear explosions above and below ground over a 40 year period, ending in 1989. The testing range was officially closed 18 years ago today, August 29, 1991.

The ranch where Lionchev works is across a small valley from Lake Balapan, also known as Atomic Lake, created when a nuclear test blew the top off of a mountain. The resulting crater filled with water and is one of the most radioactive sites within the Polygon. Recently, local shepherds have watered their sheep at the lake, not believing scientific warnings about the dangers of doing so.

I first visited the Polygon nine years ago (hard to believe!) to shoot a story for AP. I was fascinated and long wanted to return. This week I'm finishing editing a story I shot there about the people who live in and around the Polygon.

Flying baby!

2009-07-30T21:36:00.006-04:00

Andrei Balta throws his fifteen-month-old son Vanya in the air during a summer evening in Slavutych, Ukraine. Every evening, parents with babies and toddlers gather in the central square of Slavutych to socialize. Andrei and his wife Anna both work at the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, as do over 3,800 other residents of Slavutych.

During an intense week photographing inside the Chernobyl power plant, it was a pleasure to relax in the evening by photographing some parents playing with their kids. Andrei and Vanya were very impressive, with little Vanya doing flips and aerial somersaults.

Pripyat pano redux

2009-07-19T00:37:00.003-04:00

My friend Dave Menninger suggested this version of yesterday's image. Something to think about...

abandoned apartment, Pripyat

2009-07-18T17:55:00.004-04:00

Living room in an abandoned apartment in Pripyat, 2 km from Chernobyl. Click on photo for larger version.

The last time I was in Pripyat, the city next to Chernobyl, I tried an experiment. I've been looking for a way to photograph abandoned apartments. They have very small rooms and are often fairly empty. This living room had more in it than most do.

Does this four-tych approach work? I am still undecided. In this project I've shot a number of 360 degree panoramas, but it didn't seem like that would work well here. Instead, I put my wide-angle lens at 17mm and stood back to each wall and shot the whole room.

This week I am going back to photograph the former apartments of people I've interviewed and photographed. Should be interesting.

making hay

2009-07-09T17:18:00.002-04:00

while the sun shines.

Petro Konovalenko, head of the village council for Sukachi, Ukraine, helps neighbors load hay into their barn. Nearly half the population of Sukachi was relocated here from the village of Ladizhichi after the Chernobyl accident.

Man was I ever dirty after this shoot.

Old family photos

2009-07-06T15:09:00.004-04:00

Leonid Budkovskiy and a friend celebrate a successful hunting trip near Chernobyl, sometime in the 1970s. (Photo courtesy Budkovskiy family.)

No, this is not my photo.

As part of my Inside Chernobyl documentary project, I have started going through old photo albums and drawers of old photos with the 15 main families I've been following. We're picking some favorite photos and I am getting them scanned.

I can get a lot more depth of family history by integrating my new pictures with old family shots. I still need to figure out how it will all fit together, but in the meantime it is fun hearing family stories triggered by old snapshots.

I especially liked this hunting photo because Leonid's legs stopped working after his five years at Chernobyl. He has been in a wheelchair since 1996. See my more recent portraits of Leonid here.

Where's the website?

2009-06-14T19:20:00.005-04:00

If you tried to visit my website www.mfrphoto.com lately, you've discovered that it is not there.

Gone. Vanished. Up in a cloud of pixels.

Here is what went wrong: Northwest merged with Delta. Really. That's why.

See: no NW = no more NW Visa card = new account number = failed automated billing = big electronic burp = unpaid bill = warning sent to old address = this morning, they deleted my entire website.

Even though I plunked down my electronic 59 bucks before I rushed off to the next thing (packing my bags for heart surgery), it didn't help.

Of course, they could undelete it, but I am not willing to pay their ransom. My homepage will forward here to my blog until I return to the U.S. and have time to deal with it.

open hearts

2009-06-10T17:03:00.008-04:00

Latafit and Valekh Sulemanov try to hold back tears as they watch their daughter Parvana, age 18 months, get wheeled away for heart surgery.

I just finished my first day photographing open heart surgeries in Kharkiv for Chernobyl Children's Project International. I'll be back in the hospital for another 12 hour shift tomorrow.

I am also recording audio as I go —— both background hospital sounds and interviews —— so we can later put together a slideshow conveying this experience.

Both the ICU and the Operating Room are tough places to photograph, in different ways, emotionally and logistically. I'm working with a fabulous and dedicated team of volunteer doctors and nurses (3 surgeries back to back? in a baking hot operating room? that's dedication!). The team brought here by the International Children's Heart Foundation, will do 20+ operations in a typical 2 week mission.

Now a few hours sleep before we go do it all again.

Exhibit opening in Slavutych

2009-06-02T16:54:00.003-04:00

Press Release - June 2, 2009 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Inside Chernobyl: life goes on
Photography Exhibition

If you worked at Chernobyl, would you stay there?

A new photography exhibition reveals the inside of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant today, focusing on the everyday lives of nine people who still work there. Created by an American photographer and Fulbright Scholar, this exhibition honors all those who work inside the Chernobyl plant, and the city of Slavutych where they live.

Read the full press release.

Congratulations Irina and Bas!

2009-05-23T17:03:00.005-04:00

Bas Wels and Irina Leonenko got married in a lovely ceremony at Saint Alexander Catholic church in Kyiv. I felt privileged to attend and take photos, my way of thanking Irina for all her time and invaluable help preparing my exhibit last month.

Congratulations!

media coverage of the exhibit

2009-05-01T05:03:00.012-04:00

There was a gratifying burst of media coverage during the first week of my Inside Chernobyl exhibit in Kyiv. Here are some of my favorite stories:

Global Comment — interview
Russia Profile — magazine article
Unian Photo Agency – coverage of opening
Korrespondent magazine – photos
Kyiv Post – exhibit preview
Inter – TV interview (link to come)
Gamma – TV interview (link to come)
Uncatalogued Museum – commentary

Some other coverage:

Afisha magazine – events guide
The Day – article
National Radio of Ukraine – news brief (interview audio link to come)
UkrInform national news agency – news brief

installing my exhibit

2009-04-24T14:39:00.006-04:00

This morning we set up my Inside Chernobyl exhibit in Shevchenko Park, in downtown Kyiv. You can see installation photos on Linda Norris's uncatalogued museum blog. Then I had a brief lull to be nervous before our very nice opening ceremony.

I am a very grateful to everyone who made this exhibit possible. I was honored to have such a group of distinguished speakers at the event.

The best part of today, for me, was seeing audience reactions. It's been a laborious 4 months to bring this exhibit from conception to completion. Today it felt worthwhile, as I watched so many passersby stop and really examine the exhibit.

After a brief pause to relax, I will post photos of the exhibit and more details.

Arriving at Chernobyl

2009-04-09T05:03:00.004-04:00

Every weekday morning, about 3,800 Chernobyl plant workers arrive at the plant via the Semikhody train station. One former worker called the train platform "the daily fashion show." Immediately afterwards, employees enter giant locker rooms and change into their work clothes.

I love the matching red-dyed hair of these women.

In every exhibit, some favorite photos get cut. I am posting a few this week and explaining why you won't see them in the exhibit.

One section of the exhibit shows an overview of a typical day at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. This photo got cut to make room for a more essential photo at the train station, showing workers passing through the final radiation checkpoint of the day.

Inside Chernobyl

2009-04-07T09:54:00.004-04:00

Inside Chernobyl: life goes on

My photo exhibit opens in 2 weeks. Last week, I delivered all material to the designer to lay it out. Now I can take a deep breath before I dive back into preparations.

Inevitably, in every exhibit, some favorite photos get cut because they don't support the story of the overall exhibit or are redundant with other photos.

This week I will post a few of my favorite images that did not make it into the show.

Lira Barbash is sixteen months old and entranced by feeding pigeons. She throws sunflower seeds to the birds while her mom shops in the Moscovskiy Kvartal open-air bazaar in Slavutych.

This is a lovely image, but it does not tell enough of the story of Slavutych, the city that is home to the Chernobyl plant workers. So the photo had to go, alas.

Inside Chernobyl downloads

2009-04-05T05:03:00.016-04:00

Inside Chernobyl: life goes on
Чорнобиль зсередини: життя продовжується
Photography exhibit in Shevchenko Park, Kyiv
April 24 - May 8, 2009

The photographs here are available free for media use, for articles related to the Inside Chernobyl exhibit. For any other commercial or editorial uses, contact Michael Forster Rothbart at info@mfrphoto.com.

All published photographs should be accompanied by a credit:
Photo by Michael Forster Rothbart.

Click on any photo to get a larger version.

Caption: In Chernobyl's liquid radioactive waste treatment facility, wastewater will be purified and the remaining radioactive sediment will be safely stored in barrels. Serhiy Bokov and his colleagues are readying this new facility for operation.
Підпис: На заводі, де переробляються рідкі радіоактивні відходи, стічні води очищаються, а радіоактивний осад буде надійно зберігатись у цистернах. Сергій Боков і його колеги готують цей новий завод до експлуатації.

Caption: Morning rush hour in the H.I.R.C. department: workers undergo internal radiation control before starting their shift on the New Safe Confinement construction site near the 4th Block “Shelter Object.”
Підпис: Ранкова година пік у відділі ЦРБ: працівники проходять внутрішній радіаційний контроль перед тим, як заступити на роботу на промисловій площадці об’єкта «Укриття»

Caption: At the Chernobyl plant, more than 3,800 employees still come to work every day. Here, workers check their hands and feet for radioactive contamination one last time at the end of the day, before boarding the train home.
Підпис: На Чорнобильську атомну станцію щодня приходить на роботу більше 3800 працівників. Остання перевірка рук і ніг на радіоактивне забруднення наприкінці робочого дня, перед посадкою на електричку.

Caption: Morning with the Evteev family. Tanya Evteeva checks her work schedule while her family finishes breakfast.
Підпис: Ранок в домі Євтєєвих. Таня перевіряє розклад роботи, поки сім'я закінчує снідати.

Caption: In Slavutych, Lira Barbash is sixteen months old and entranced by feeding pigeons.
Підпис: В місті Славутич, Лірі Барбаш шістнадцять місяців і вона із захопленням годує голубів.

liquid radioactive waste

2009-03-09T17:25:00.001-04:00

I've been too busy shooting to blog. I shot over 12,000 photos in the first 2 months of 2009. For me, that's a lot.

I've returned from a few weeks photographing at the Chernobyl plant and Slavutich, where the Chernobyl workers live. So now it is time to pay the price: this week I'm editing photos 10 hours a day.

Sergii Bokov lives in Slavutich, Ukraine, and commutes to his job at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. He is an engineer in the liquid radioactive waste treatment facility. In total, about 3,800 out of 24,300 Slavutich residents work at the Chernobyl plant.

Liquid radioactive waste? I never thought about it before either. But what do you do when you have a large site that is radioactive? When you clean the floors, where do you dump the water? When you flush the toilet? Chernobyl NPP now has separate pipe systems for the dirty zones, and all the water, with low levels of radioactive particles in it, has to be treated separately.

Control room panorama

2009-02-11T05:28:00.001-05:00

Last time I wrote a long post about visiting Chernobyl's Control Room 4, the epicenter of the disaster. It is dark and skeletal. In contrast, here is Control Room 1.

Oleg Ryazanov is a Control Room Shift Supervisor in the Chernobyl 1st Block. His job is to sit in an empty room watching inactive machinery and make sure nothing happens. (Click photo to see larger).

Unlike the destroyed 4th Block, the other 3 reactors at Chernobyl are still functional. Although they have been shut down since 2000, they could be restarted at any time. (Theoretically. Only theoretically. If politics and world opinion did not exist.)

I am now working on a series of panoramic portraits of Chernobyl employees en milieu. The photos are equally about the people and the places they inhabit. Daily lives in this unique environment. This is Oleg Ryazanov, Chernobyl control room shift supervisor.

If the reactor was active, Oleg would oversee three other operators. As it is, he sits in an empty room and does, essentially, nothing. But it is a very important nothing, as there is still nuclear fuel in temporary storage in the reactor hall. As long as the fuel remains inside, Oleg and his peers will continue to sit in their seats all day and all night.

How long will the fuel remain? A very good question. I can tell you only this: many others have wondered the same thing.

Oleg did not work at Chernobyl at the time of the accident. He came later, "because the package on offer was good - more pay and a bigger apartment."

"I earn about 4,000 hryvnia per month [about US$500], which is quite high on the power station's pay scale. In Ukraine it is a very good salary. My job is to keep the reactor under control, to keep the water cooling system running and to monitor the spent fuel tanks."

"It's depressing. Soon my job will cease to exist. I can only do the job I was trained to do for another two years here... I don't rule out going to work abroad. People have gone from here to China and Iran. I would not go to Iran, but China is a possibility."
(Oleg interviewed by Stephen Mulvey/BBC).

Chernobyl's heart of darkness

2009-02-09T15:21:00.020-05:00

It's a curious feeling to stand at the epicenter of a disaster. On April 26, 1986 in the middle of the night, in Control Room 4 of Chernobyl, things went wrong during a test. Very wrong. The rest is, as they say, history. Plenty of books have been written and decades of debate about what exactly went wrong and who was to blame.

But I just want to tell you about the experience of actually standing in the half-dark, half-destroyed room, dosimeters on, taking it all in.

View of Chernobyl's dark Fourth Block Control Room, where the 1986 accident began. This panorama was created by stitching together 12 photographs. (Click to see larger).

First comes anticipation. It took me two years of working on this Chernobyl documentary to get here. We got our security clearances, crossed the border twice today, and passed five different checkpoints. We put on our protective clothing. I work for an hour photographing in Control Room 1. All the time we are getting closer to Ukraine's ground zero and I wonder what will we see.

Then comes fear. Some people think I am crazy to go inside Chernobyl, but the working areas have been cleaned regularly for two decades and are no longer dangerous. So my first flicker of fear came only when we paused outside Control Room 4 to pull rubber slippers over our protective boots. How puny we are, I thought, in the face of such a monumental disaster. We are entering the enormous Sarcophagus, the shell constructed to contain the radiation. Here or anywhere, I wonder, why do we live our lives believing that we are safe from harm?

Next comes surprise. We enter. It is dark. One security light high above casts one small pool of light. My first thought is that it doesn't look real. It looks like a stage set, the house dark. Or a movie set. The bridge from Star Trek. Control Room 4 once looked similar to Control Room 1, but no longer. The first block control room is still alive: it has lights, workers, ceiling panels, a pen holder on a desk, a fridge for lunch food, office chairs with wheels. Everything has been stripped from the Fourth Block.

A central panel of the Fourth Block controls.

On the other hand, the room is not burned out. Somehow, I expected charred concrete and twisted metal. There is plenty of such debris at Chernobyl, but not here. The control room was protected by a 3-meter reinforced concrete wall. Even though there was an enormous explosion in the reactor, just 5 meters north and 15 meters below us, this room was spared. The nearby reactor hall and turbine hall remain too radioactive and unmapped to allow any visitors inside.

I'm also surpised that the control room, which I always imagined as an isolated place, now serves as a hallway for workers. The original corridor, on the other side of the reinforced wall, is too contaminated for use.

Next, a moment of panic. My rubber slipper falls off, and I suddenly feel naked. I envision the invisible radiation drilling holes through my foot. Of course, to my escorts, it is a minor matter. They tell me to simply pull it back on, reminding me to put on my gloves first. Later, they tape my boot on, mostly, I think, just to make me feel better.

Next comes a sense of solemn awe. Hundreds of thousands of lives were changed forever because of what happened in this room. More than that, the very course of world history changed. The Cold War ended because of Chernobyl. Even the Soviet Union itself ended because of Chernobyl: after the accident, people lost faith in their government, protests began, and the whole system crumbled. Like 9/11, Chernobyl marked the end of an era. Afterwards, nothing looked the same.

We look at the hole in the reactor control panel where the 3 big red emergency buttons used to be. (Yes, they really were red. But most of the buttons and controls were long since stripped during decontamination). Here, on 4/26/86 during the 41 seconds between 1:23:04 AM and 1:23:45 AM, an operator desperately hit these buttons to insert all emergency shutdown rods back into the reactor. But it was too late.

Finally comes anxiety. Time is passing quickly and I have work to do. This is a very dark and very large room, and I brought just one off-camera flash to light it, since I was advised to carry as little as possible into the dirty zone. I jump into working, leveling my plastic-wrapped tripod and directing my voice-activated light stand (AKA Sergii), and there is no longer room in my head for thinking about the implications of this space.

After we emerge, I study a model of the plant. I can't quite believe we were inside the belly of the beast. And I am also amazed how low our radiation dose was. We received just 0.007 milliSieverts of radiation during our hours inside, about what you'd get on two hours of a transatlantic flight.

Chernobyl has gotten inside my head. Although my photography mostly focuses on people, it is important to include the epicenter from which all other effects radiate. I'm grateful to have this opportunity.

During my interviews, I've realized that what Chernobyl means to people says more about them than about the disaster. Some discount it entirely. Some mourn for a paradise lost. Some fear it. Some blame it. For me, when I started, Chernobyl was a lingering danger that needed to be uncovered. And now? I'll get back to you on that.

More inauguration party photos

2009-01-26T17:46:00.015-05:00

Each morning when I awake, I still find it hard to believe that Barack Obama is really our President. I started reading his autobiography, Dreams from My Father; I find it inspiring that we now have a leader who is a good writer, felt an early calling to do public service, and lived abroad as a child.

By popular request, here are two dozen photos from the Kyiv Inaugural Ball. Feel free to download these photos for personal use. For other purposes, contact me.

To get high-resolution copies of these photos, email the event organizers, Democrats Abroad in Ukraine. Eventually, they will also put photos on their website.

Click on each thumbnail to see a larger version. Enjoy!

Chernobyl Control Room 1

2009-01-24T05:03:00.002-05:00

An inactive information panel in Control Room 1 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant showed the status of all the fuel rods in the reactor pool.

The Chernobyl plant has been inactive since 2000, but it took Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) until last week to approve decommissioning. Depending on your perspective, this is either big news — because it allows for the nuclear fuel rods to be finally moved to safe storage — or unimportant, because it is just another small bureaucratic step in a 75 year clean-up process.

The day after the law passed, I had my first opportunity to visit the inside of the Chernobyl plant. Once I have time to edit and organize photos, I will post a description of a day in the life inside Chernobyl.

Yes We Did!

2009-01-21T05:03:00.003-05:00

Ukraine celebrated the inauguration of Barack Obama with a giant formal ball in Kiev.

Ukrainian pop star Gaitana, I must say, was amazing.

Like Obama, Gaitana rocked the house. (Like Obama, she is half-African, her mother Ukrainian and her father Congolese.)

The ball was attended by hundreds of Americans and Ukrainians, plus dignitaries and diplomats from around the world. Here, some ambassador and some famous Ukrainian writer and the chair of Democrats Abroad in Ukraine all dance their hearts out.

I am not much of a celebrity-monger, but wasn't that just the Speaker of the House? Accompanied by that famous philanthropist? And there goes the Director of the National Security Council!

Obama takes an oath. Svetlana pours drinks.

Oh yeah, now and then we paused in our festivities to watch the actual historic event unfold in Washington.

As an American far from home, I simply felt proud.

[Note to my regular readers: yes, it was a bit of a shock to jump from the village where I've been photographing straight to the Hyatt Regency Kiev. Fear not, I'll be back in the village tomorrow.]

[Note to my new readers: I am processing requests for photos from the Ball as fast as I can. I'll add more photos to the blog next week and I'll send out copies of photos to those I've promised, but it may take me a week.]

Father Nazarii in the snow

2009-01-12T05:03:00.002-05:00

Father Momotyuk Nazarii, the village priest at the church in Novo Ladizhichi, Ukraine, walks through the swirling snow as he goes Christmas caroling with members of his congregation.

The group spent two days celebrating Ukrainian Orthodox Christmas, January 7, 2009, by going door to door all over Sukachi and Novo Ladizhichi, singing, offering blessings, and collecting donations for the church. When people gave them candy and fruit, they redistributed it to children and elderly residents.

Novo Ladizhichi was built in 1987 to house evacuees from the original village of Ladizhichi following the 1986 Chernobyl accident.

This photo was inspired by my favorite photo of Thomas Hoepker's. (His is better). This photo of an old German woman in a snowstorm opens his recent exhibit in Bratislava, Slovakia.

New Years Eve

2009-01-01T05:03:00.003-05:00

Natasha and her friends spend New Years Eve driving around Kyiv in a very long limousine. Shortly before midnight they headed downtown to Maidan Nezhelezhnosti (Freedom Square) to enjoy the crowds and fireworks.

I returned to Ukraine a few hours before 2008 ended. Too late to get home and too tired to go out, I spent a quiet evening in Kyiv with my friend Sergii, brainstorming designs for my next photo exhibit. Near midnight, we went for a walk around the block and met Sergii's neighbor Natasha, getting ready to party with her friends in a very very long stretch limo.

С Новым Годом! Happy New Year!

Exhibits + Events Archive 2008 - 2009

2008-12-31T05:03:00.010-05:00

This is a list of Michael's past Chernobyl photography events.

Dec. 2-13, 2009: ХОТИМ, ЧТОБЫ ПОМНИЛИ (Wanting Remembrance), Gallery Creativity, Moscow. See details.
Sept 3-Oct 30, 2009: After Chernobyl exhibit, Madison Municipal Bldg. Artspace, Madison, WI. See details.
June 5-July 3, 2009: Inside Chernobyl exhibit, Slavutych Museum, Ukraine.
June 5, 2009 at 7 p.m. Inside Chernobyl exhibit opening.
April 24-May 8, 2009: Inside Chernobyl exhibit, Shevchenko Park, Kyiv, Ukraine.
April 24, 2009 at 3 p.m. Inside Chernobyl exhibit opening.
Dec. 21, 2008. Chernobyl Today: talk and slideshow, 1420 Hill St., Ann Arbor, MI.
Dec. 11, 2008. Chernobyl Liquidators: slideshow, Centre Dovira, Ivankiv, Ukraine.
October 30, 2008. Benefit event. Oakwood West, Madison, WI. See details.
July-August, 2008. After Chernobyl exhibit. UW Health Sciences Learning Center, Madison, WI. See details.
June-July, 2008. After Chernobyl exhibit. Bethel Fireside Gallery, Madison, WI. Reception June 22. See details.
June 27, 2008. Chernobyl Town Meeting. See details.