Anatoly Ivanovich Rasskazov (; 16 January 1941 – 17 February 2010) was a staff

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

at the Soviet Chernobyl power station. He was the first person to photograph the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Early life

Rasskazov was born on 16 January 1941 in Novoekonomichne, Krasnoarmeysk Raion,

Donetsk Oblast Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna (, ), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its capital city, administrative centre is Donetsk, though d ...

, Ukraine.

Documentation of Chernobyl disaster

On 26 April 1986, in the morning after the meltdown, he was sent by plant authorities, who gathered in a bunker and wanted to determine what had occurred, to photograph the scene from a helicopter. He was accompanied by two soldiers and two civilians from Atomenergo Moscow Advanced Training Institute. Back to the bunker, Rasskazov was ordered by Viktor Petrovich Bryukhanov, the plant director, to also take photos from the ground, shooting two rolls of

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

in total. The first roll of film was burnt out by the radiation. The second was only slightly damaged by the radiation. He also documented the building of the

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek language, Greek wikt:σάρξ, σάρξ ...

around the reactor. Most of his photos were never published. The ones that were chosen for reproduction were carefully chosen and/or edited to downplay the damage. Years later, they were published in a book without accreditation."Chernobyl voices: Anatoly Rasskazov"
BBC News. 2006-12-14. He suffered from burns and vomiting as early as after the first night and has had unhealed

radiation burn A radiation burn is a damage to the skin or other biological tissue and organs as an effect of radiation. The radiation types of greatest concern are thermal radiation, radio frequency energy, ultraviolet light and ionizing radiation. The most ...

s on his forehead. His continued work around the reactor during the clean-up contributed further to his

radiation poisoning Acute radiation syndrome (ARS), also known as radiation sickness or radiation poisoning, is a collection of health effects that are caused by being exposed to high amounts of ionizing radiation in a short period of time. Symptoms can start wit ...

, which he has blamed for his "ruined" health, which has included blood diseases and

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

Death

Rasskazov died on 17 February 2010, "after suffering for years from cancer and blood diseases that he blamed on the radiation".

References

External links

Picture: Anatoly Rasskazov in front of Chernobyl nuclear power station, some months before the disaster
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UNIAN The Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News () is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian news agency. It produces and provides political, business and financial information, and a photo reporting service. As of October 2022, it was the most v ...

'' (in Ukrainian). Ukrainian photographers 1941 births 2010 deaths Chernobyl liquidators Soviet photographers People from Donetsk Oblast Place of death missing {{USSR-artist-stub