Chornobyl Photography | Photos from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

I've been to a lot of quiet, remote places, but nothing like the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. Buildings are still standing, but everything inside them has gone still — classrooms with the books still piled on the floor, apartment blocks with trees growing up through the stairwells, a Ferris wheel that never carried a single passenger.

These photos are from two trips into the Zone, in 2008 and 2009, documenting what's left of the place decades after the accident: the schools, the apartment blocks, the amusement park, the sarcophagus over reactor 4.

Chornobyl nuclear power plant reactor 4 with cooling towers, a large cooling tower, and a tall, narrow smokestack, surrounded by trees under a clear blue sky.
View from the bridge of death over Yanov railway with rusty tracks, green railing with peeling paint, trees on either side, industrial buildings in the distance, and a clear blue sky in Chornobyl Ukraine.
Large roadside sign with the word 'LIVIA' and the year '1970' in a rural area with trees and a clear sky.
An abandoned hospital room with peeling blue paint walls, rusty hospital infant cots with no mattresses, and debris on the floor.
Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant Raactor four, surrounded by a security fence, with a monument and some trees in the foreground and a clear blue sky. Taken in 2008.
DkEnergetik Building. An abandoned, deteriorating multi-story building with overgrown trees and bushes in front. The structure shows signs of neglect and decay in Pripyat Ukraine.
An abandoned and rusted white car missing its wheels in a junkyard with discarded tires and a dilapidated building in the background in Pripyat Ukraine.
An abandoned multi-story apartment building with peeling paint on Lenin Street in Pripyat Ukraine, surrounded by leafless trees and overgrown bushes, under a clear blue sky.
Pripyat town center from the top of Hotel Polissia. Abandoned and overgrown with trees and moss on the ground.
Looking up at a tall, gray, concrete Pripyat apartment building with multiple windows, some open, under a cloudy sky.
An abandoned, rusted Ferris wheel with yellow cabins in Pripyat Amusement Park, and a large, broken yellow Ferris wheel pod lying on the ground in front. The background shows trees with budding leaves and a clear blue sky.
Old, rusted bumper cars at an abandoned amusement park in Pripyat Ukraine, surrounded by overgrown plants and debris.
An abandoned Ferris wheel with yellow cabins stands in an empty lot with cracked pavement, surrounded by trees against a clear blue sky in Pripyat Amusement Park, Ukraine.
An abandoned bumper car ride in an overgrown amusement park with rusted cars, some missing parts, and overgrown weeds, trees, and debris around it in Pripyat Abandoned Amusement Park, Ukraine.
An abandoned indoor gymnasium or sports hall with peeling green paint on the walls and large windows letting in natural light in a school in Pripyat. The floor is dusty and scattered with debris, and there are discarded furniture and equipment.
Dust-covered gas mask with a flexible hose, lying on a dusty, rocky school hall floor.
Pile of old, dusty gas masks and respirators with hoses laid out on the ground in a school hall in Pripyat Ukraine.
AbandonedKindergarden room filled with rusted beds and torn linoleum flooring, with peeling green walls and a large window showing overgrown greenery outside in Pripyat Ukraine.
An old multi-story apartment building with a weathered exterior, with numerous windows, some of which are open or broken. The building is surrounded by leafless trees and is illuminated by bright sunlight, creating a starburst effect in the upper rig
Dilapidated Azure swimming pool in Pripyat, with broken tiles, debris, and an empty, neglected interior surrounded by large windows and a safety railing.
Abandoned military tank with camouflage paint in Pripyat Ukraine, missing parts, and overgrown with grass in a wooded area.
An old, rusted Ferris wheel with yellow passenger cabins surrounded by tall trees, in a park or amusement area, with a clear blue sky overhead.
Interior of an abandoned swimming pool in Pripyat with a partially built two-story structure and a staircase, with peeling paint and construction debris.
An abandoned Pripyat Ferris wheel with yellow gondolas, rusted and worn down, in a deserted amusement park with overgrown weeds and trees in the background.
Upside-down crushed truck in a grassy area surrounded by trees, with debris and broken branches around it in Pripyat Ukraine
Old, rusted, overturned truck with broken windows and overgrown weeds in an abandoned lot in Pripyat Ukraine
An old, abandoned construction vehicle with a large arm and bucket on top, parked on a grassy area next to a building, with some red light glare in the foreground in Pripyat Ukraine