Michael Kelly: Chernobyl's cost

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110421/NEWS01/704219889#michael-kelly-chernobyl-s-cost

Photo: http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=OW&Date=20110421&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=704219889&Ref=AR&maxw=490&maxh=275
This image was captured by photographer Jim Krantz during trips to the Chernobyl area in 2009 and 2010. Krantz, an Omaha native, also found a poem by an anonymous former resident of the area. Like these photos, the poem conveys a deep sense of abandonment and loss.

By Michael Kelly
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

At a late dark April night

A misfortune befell our Chernobyl

As if a whirl and a black terrible cloud

As if war broke out.

— From a poem found in an abandoned house in the woods near the Chernobyl nuclear plant

* * *

Omaha native Jim Krantz, named international photographer of the year, is known for his work in advertising. But now he has trained his lens on a much different subject — Chernobyl.

Tuesday marks the 25th anniversary of the deadly accident and meltdown at the nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Krantz traveled twice to the area, making images of the devastation within the nearly uninhabited “exclusion zone,” 19 miles around the plant.

To the acclaimed photographer, ironically, the most powerful image came not through his camera, but from an envelope he came upon in an abandoned home.

Like a message in a bottle, he said, it was just waiting to be found.

“It had such a huge impact on me,” Krantz said. “I thought, why did I find this? I'm not overly spiritual, but I felt as though I had assumed the responsibility to convey the voice of this person, who was writing about the most precious thing people have, their home.”

The result is a photo book, “Homage: Remembering Chernobyl,” with a portion of the proceeds benefitting the National Resources Defense Council, an environmental group founded in 1970.

FULL story and more photos at link.