In my earlier post, Revisiting Hell, I introduced you to Elena, the Russian biker, who rode through Chernobyl on a motorcycle and took some quietly chilling pictures of a place where time stopped 18 years ago.
She has returned to Chernobyl again and has updated her photojournal with additional pictures and text. She tells a compelling story with occasional touches of dark humor in her eloquent broken English.
Do not miss this update. It contains a close-up shot of the reactor which turned the whole region into a dead zone which will might last for an estimated 900 years.
Many thanks to the Commissar for spotting her return. Visit his site for more comments and for URLs of mirror sites. Elena's photojournal has generated so much interest that the original site is occasionally slow to download.
Update:
Bloggers are an amazing community. Elena's return was originally spotted on 3/4/04 by Jessica's Well, the Community Web Log on Media, Government, and Politics in Midland, Texas. I missed that point when I first read the Commissars post. You owe it to yourselves to visit this two year old site and meet a perceptive and entertaining group of bloggers. Their mix of local and global viewpoints offers an interesting glimpse of the potential for bloggers to exert influence.
UPDATE: Now you can tour Chernobyl and write your own story.
14 chapters later (I'll finish later too)...........
I have a habit of when watching documentaries
on TV of invisioning being at the area being shown...I did this here and it was frightening!
Goosebumps! The whole '9 yards' of fear......Wow!
The most striking thing to me were the wolf
packs....The wolf is my "spirit animal" and I have always thought that when MAN destroys himself
on this earth, that the wolves will come back
and reclaim the earth that MAN has destroyed....
enough said.
Posted by: oldcatman | Apr 01, 2004 at 10:26 AM
Seeing the wild horses gave me the same feeling.
It is a sobering example of man's capacity to destroy his environment.
Posted by: David St Lawrence | Apr 01, 2004 at 11:31 AM
Her updates are amazing. That's one brave woman!
Posted by: Carrie | Apr 01, 2004 at 01:33 PM
The link and kind words are much appreciated!
Thanks.
Posted by: Natalie | Apr 04, 2004 at 11:08 PM
Does anyone have a contact....an e-mail address for Elena, the Russian Chernobyl motorclyclist?
I am trying to contact her because we may wish to have her article printed in our magazine and need to negotiate rights.
Thanks
Posted by: george | Apr 06, 2004 at 12:12 PM
Russian-Ukrainian chicks are crazy! Or maybe it's just bikers! Elena is one tough and smart babe. Seriously, a nice bit of journalism and a poignant reality check of the power of nukes...
Bruce Sikes
St. Louis, Missouri USA
Posted by: Bruce Sikes | Apr 09, 2004 at 12:26 AM
That Is one chilling Photo-Essay
and I to would like Elena's E-Mail address
we have put a link to her web-site but would also like to talk with her about her journey
and any more she may have done of is planning
Posted by: Dan Sinclair | Apr 10, 2004 at 08:16 AM
Her journal, both photographic and written, is very moving. She has been able to capture in picture and words the feelings that must have been experienced by those there during this awful tragedy.
I, too, would like her email to congratulate her on her prowess and journalistic ability.
Posted by: Lee Cooper | Apr 13, 2004 at 05:18 PM
I have not been able to find her email address.
This was Elena's message to visitors on her site:
Photos on this site are mostly mine or from my dad's archive. Few pictures were taken by other photographers. Unfortunately, I do not know the names of authors of those photos because I received them through the internet.
If authors of those pictures can be found and want me to remove or add their names or include more photos on this site, here is my contact address.
Ukraine 03187 Kiev-187 Zabolotnogo 20/A Post Box 25 Elena
Posted by: David St Lawrence | Apr 13, 2004 at 05:37 PM
Good on you to keep reminding us of the foolishness of some men.
Best wishes
Stuart
Posted by: Stuart Reid | Apr 25, 2004 at 03:29 AM
It must have been very exciting and moving. My deep respect!
P.S. i would like too to have her email adress.
Greets,
bastl
Posted by: Bastl | Apr 25, 2004 at 05:38 PM
It's fake.
Posted by: Shadi | Jun 18, 2004 at 10:01 PM
Shadi,
Read my post, Faking it, on how she altered the facts and discredited what was otherwise an incredible photo essay.
Posted by: David | Jun 18, 2004 at 10:45 PM
There's a lot of talk concerning Elena's trip through the dead zone. Personally, who cares if it is fake? Can you honestly ask yourselves that you knew 90%of the facts or realised the horror that has befallen the people, the region and the heritage or the Belorussians, Ukrainians and Russian peoples? Three mile island, looks like a walk in the park when compared to something like Chernobyl happened.
So, relax, take a coke and a smoke and reread Elena's trip and then look up on a search engine the city of Prypiat http://cricket.biol.sc.edu/chernobyl/prypiat/001.html and perhaps take the time to talk to a wonderful lady by the name of Lyubov Sirota (email: [email protected]).
If you don't learn one new thing a day then there is little point in staying around. Learn and be enriched..
Posted by: Speculation | Oct 24, 2004 at 02:10 PM
Although Elena posted her story a
year or so ago, I accidentially
found it a week before (summer 2005),
and I'm still deeply impressed!
After reading a lot of comments accusing
her of lying i concluded that there are
a lot of people interested in preventing
you and me from thinking about the risks
of atomic energy.
okay some of Elenas photos are obviousely
staged, and may be she really toured
once with her husband and a helmet the
guided tour to stage even more shots.
But have you ever noticed that her photos
were taken at different seasons, in
late winter, springtime, in autumn...?
Do you think the barrier around the ZONE
consists rather of some checkpoints
and disintegrating fences in beetween,
or do you believe it looks rather like the
Berlin Wall, including spring guns
and thousends of guards (which would
be required to keep a 24/7 jealous watch
over a border which
(30km Diameter * 2 * pi) is 188
Kilometres long?
Elena is living there.
She obviousely knows where to drive into and
out of the ZONE, permission or not,
and of course she will not tell us
(and the guards) where she prefers to
break through :-)
Thank you for keeping an eye on
Pripyat and the Chornobyl region.
Dennis
Berlin, Germany
Posted by: Dennis | Jun 17, 2005 at 07:24 AM