The first zine that caught my eye was the titled “Chernobyl” and was photographed by someone called John Darwell (vol.2). The images produced within the Chernobyl exclusion zone, a 30 kilometre radius no- entry area that was evacuated after the nuclear meltdown at the Chernobyl power plant in 1986. The area had contained over 70 villages and loads of farms. The people living in these locations were given twenty four hours to gather their possessions and were then moved to locations around the Ukraine, in most cases never to return.

Below i have added a link to a documentary that explains in detail the disaster that killed and destroyed thounsandes of civilians lives:

Below is a mood Board of some of my favourite pictures from the Zine:

John Darwell is a English photographer working on long term projects that reflect his interest in social and industrial change, concern for the environment and issues around the deception of mental health. I feel like in this mini zine that he has produced he has chosen carefully the way that he wanted to format it and looked closely at his layout. One thing I liked about the zine was the fact that all of his images are full size taken up the whole of the A5 format and each image have some sort off story that can be interpreted differently by every person that looks at it.

Technically, the type of lighting used seems to actually be natural lighting as they do seem to have been taking during maybe about mid-day. I do think he has chosen this time of day to capture all the light and golden tones of the sky and elements of buildings the reckonings would not have stood out the way they have due to the time of day he choose to capture these images. For this image I feel like the main focus of the image is on the reckoning of the building but also hes captured the space around it and also captured the nature that also adds a lively color scheme to the image.

Visually, just by looking at the image we can tell there are lots of different textures which actually are highly focused making the image seemingly a lot more interesting. By having these colors and defined textures it adds a realistic aspect to the image which also gives off a sense that the image probably wouldn’t have had to have a lot of editing due to his positioning which he chose a forward stance which makes it look like were seeing it from our eyes with very natural choices of saturation. From an outsider view I think he would have chosen various different angles and styles before coming to the choice that this was his best image but by him doing this its added a 3D effect in terms of the shading behind the building and hes also managed to plan out how much negative space he would add to the image without it consisting of over powering the image.

Contextually, there is a lot of meaning behind this particular image. The Chernobyl accident happened in April 26, 1986 and what actually happened I have spoken about previously a couple paragraphs up. I think the image is powerful as it shows a lively looking colored sky but the remains of what once could have been a well known business and now all that left is the building. Chernobyl is now deserted pretty much apart from some very old villagers who to this day seem to refuse to leave even though their lives are significantly high in danger and i think the image captures well the idea of being alone but also the image has a sinsiter element to it. Due to the abandonment i feel like the photographer was trying to capture through his lens the idea that just because its abandoned does not mean its safe and going to this exact place, Chernobyl, it shows a clear indication of this.

I think he has achieved a thought in the person who is viewing the image he has taken. A feeling of sadness yet uncertainty stepping into a place that was once busy and now is just abandoned due to a disaster that actually destroyed lives. John being a British photographer just wanted to show us (viewers of his images) that there is a lot out there that we have no idea what it looks like and how its affected a busy, populated place with over 70 villages to having a population no where over 100 people.