Wisconsin Trails

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

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

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.

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[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.