Earth

Stark, haunting images show Kazakhstan's former nuclear testing ground

These stunning photographs are all shortlisted for the Sony World Photography Awards 2024

6 March 2024

Eddo Hartmann is a finalist in the Professional Competition of the Sony World Photography Awards 2024, exhibition at Somerset House, London, 19 April-6 May 2024 worldphoto.org/ Photographer Name: Eddo Hartmann Image Name: Untitled Year: 2024 Image Description: An infrared image of the remains of an observation tower at Opytnoe Pole. This was the first testing ground at the Semipalatinsk Test Site, which was a large-scale facility used between 1949 and 1962 for atmospheric nuclear tests. Series Name: The Sacrifice Zone Series Description: This series explores a remote area of Kazakhstan known as ?The Polygon?, which was once home to the Soviet Union?s major nuclear testing facilities. Between 1949 and 1989 more than 450 nuclear tests took place here, with little regard for their effect on the local people and environment. The full impact of radiation exposure was hidden for many years by the Soviet authorities and only became clear after the test site was closed in the early 1990s. The location is still heavily contaminated and can only be accessed in protective clothing. The images in this series were made using an infrared camera, which hints at a menace that is equally invisible to the human eye: the radiation resulting from the nuclear explosions. Plants that have absorbed radiation acquire a strange reddish-purple colour, which is how their toxicity ? invisible to the naked eye ? is revealed. Copyright: ? Eddo Hartmann, Netherlands, Finalist, Professional competition, Landscape, Sony World Photography Awards 2024 — The remains of an observation tower at Opytnoe Pole
Eddo Hartmann, Netherlands, Finalist, Professional competition, Landscape, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

THESE photos, all shortlisted for the Sony World Photography Awards 2024, strike at the heart of human vulnerability and the fragility of nature.

Eddo Hartmann is a finalist in the Landscape category for his series The Sacrifice Zone, referring to a remote part of Kazakhstan that was the major testing ground for the Soviet Union’s nuclear experiments from 1949 to 1989.

The image above shows a dosimetrist measuring radiation levels at Kazakhstan’s Lake Shagan. This area remains highly contaminated from the 450 or so nuclear tests carried out there. The main picture (top) shows what remains of an observation tower at Opytnoe Pole in Russia, another area used for Soviet nuclear tests.

Hartmann used infrared to capture these landscapes, with the red hues evoking radiation contamination, which can’t be seen by the naked eye. “Local scientists utilise infrared technology to monitor the current conditions of contaminated sites,” he says. “The chlorophyll present in green vegetation reflects a substantial amount of infrared light. The various shades of reflection provide valuable insights into the overall health of the environment in the specified area.”

Photographer Name: Jonas Kak? Image Name: Untitled Year: 2024 Image Description: A girl climbs on an old oil tank near a defunct oil well in the village of Zharr?z. Series Name: Black Gold Series Description: Albania is one of the poorest European countries, with a per capita income of US$4,500. Yet it has a subsoil that is rich in crude oil, with more than 5.3 billion barrels lying beneath the surface. During the communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, the country was isolated, leaving it open only to Soviet and Chinese influences. These relationships led to the development of the technological capabilities necessary to begin tapping into Albania?s oil wells, but since the fall of the regime, free market capitalism has taken hold. Now, various corporations, including Bankers Petroleum, a Canadian company recently acquired by China?s Geo-Jade Petroleum, own 95 percent of crude oil extraction in the Patos-Marzina region. This seismic shift in the market has caused significant social and environmental issues, including contaminated lakes, oil leaks, abandoned structures, the poisoning of underground water wells and emissions that affect the surrounding villages. Copyright: ? Jonas Kak?, Germany, Shortlist, Professional competition, Environment, Sony World Photography Awards 2024 — Jonas Kakó, Shortlist, Professional competition, Environment, Sony wpa 2024

Elsewhere, a girl climbs onto an old oil tank in the Albanian village of Zharrëz (pictured above). This image, taken by Jonas Kakó, is shortlisted in the Environment category. Pictured below, Wildlife & Nature finalist Jasper Doest captured elephants charging through Livingstone, Zambia.