THE JO-TEL … illegal blog downfield

I was reading Wired.com over the weekend and came across this article on imagery of nuclear weapon detonations. Being fascinated with the development of nuclear weaponry from the scientific, historic, and humanistic points of view - I’ve read Richard Rhodes’ seminal The Making of the Atomic Bomb twice, and I recommend it to anyone who’s into history - I found the gallery interesting. But this photo in particular struck me deeply:

That’s an image, taken by Hiromichi Matsuda, of the atomic bomb exploding over Nagasaki, shot almost instantaneously after the detonation. Looked at out of context, this is an interesting but hardly moving image - one of thousands of photos taken of nuclear detonations. But in context, we realize that this is the moment that ended an estimated 45-70,000 lives instantaneously, scorching people up to two miles away with temperatures as high as 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit and winds up to 624mph.

Most striking of all for me is the three men in the foreground; they haven’t even realized what’s happened. They have no idea of the death and destruction that’s about to ensue, but of which we’ve seen so many photos. I think that’s what I find so haunting about this image: it has captured that moment when you think you might still be able to stop the impending accident - that moment when you see the car run the red light, and and see the people unaware in the crosswalk and try to yell at them to look out - but we’re still left with the knowledge of what came next.

-Thrill