I finally got around to editing some of my Chernobyl videos…… some of them. I probably have dozens left that I haven’t even looked at yet since our trip last year. I put this video together with drone video and photos I took during our time at DUGA which is an abandoned Russian early warning ballistic missile system.
During our time inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, we got to explore this DUGA site. DUGA was a Soviet over-the-horizon radar system used as an Soviet Union missile defense warning radar network. They used this to watch for and track potential NATO missiles. They had two of these in Ukraine (Chernobyl & Chernihiv) and one in eastern Siberia.
It earned the nickname of Russian Woodpecker because it would make sharp, repetitive tapping noises across shortwaves. So amateur radio operators would have to deal with the tapping noise.
This thing is huge. I couldn’t find a size via the Internet but trust me with I say it is very big…. It has two sections. I think the taller section was maybe 200 ft tall and the entire thing was maybe half a mile long….. give or take a little. If anyone knows the actual size, please let me know.
Anyway, as you can tell, we finished our day here and I captured it at sunset.
To view a larger version, click HERE
As I’ve said before, I often get up very early on vacation to photograph the location (resort, beach, ship, hotel, etc…) before the rest of the tourist wake up. That was the case with this spot as well. I wanted to capture this spot without anyone in the way.
This is from a resort north of Cancun Mexico from last February.
To view a larger version, click HERE
During our time in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, we had a cool opportunity to visit Duga. Of course, the entire experience was amazing, but this spot was super cool.
Duga is a Soviet built Over-The-Horizon radar system used as an early missile defense system from 1976 to 1989. When it was working, it was nicknamed the Russian Woodpecker by shortwave listeners due to its pattern of clicks and napping noises.
This thing is massive. I’m guessing here so don’t hold me to this (and I looked on the Intranet for specs but failed to final anything), but I’d say it is a couple hundred feet high and maybe a half mile long. It just when on, and on, and on…… This photo captures about a third of the entire structure.
As you can tell, it was fall at the time and I took this photo with my drone at sunset. It might not seem like such a good photo to you, but for me, it’s the memory that makes it special.
I captured a ton of video at this spot and around Chernobyl. Maybe someday I’ll edit some of that to share with you.
To view a larger version, click HERE
You’d think with tons of photos to choose from, I’d have an easy time selecting a photo to post. Honestly, sometimes I struggle with the selection. I think my struggle comes from doubt about whether any of them are worth sharing. I’m never very confident with their quality or appeal. Unfortunately, I let self-doubt creep into my thoughts. With that in mind, I hope you like tonight’s photo.
I took this photo from the West End Bridge looking back at downtown Pittsburgh very early in the morning. Have a great day.
To view a larger version, click HERE
Don’t forget to check out my photo galleries. I update and add to them often.
This photo maybe be a little to dark…. What do you think? This is from the Ocean Coral and Turquesa Resort in the Puerto Morelos area of Mexico. Blair and I got up super early to photograph the sunrise on the beach. While we were getting in position, I saw the very early morning reflections of the palm trees in the resort pool. So….I setup my camera and captured this beauty. But I’m still not sure if it is to dark….
To view a larger version, click here: https://500px.com/photo/200077025/early-sunrise-reflections-by-brook-ward?ctx_page=1&from=user&user_id=3695440
Sorry about the recent
absence…as you probably guessed, I’ve been traveling. I took a long weekend and met some friends for our annual
Great Lakes shipwreck scuba diving get together. In the past, we’ve gone to Whitefish Point on Lake Superior
and the Mackinaw Straits area diving in both Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. We’ve done this five years in a
row. This year we met in Alpena
Michigan to dive the Thunder Bay area of Lake Huron. We got in three full days of diving on everything from ocean
going modern steal freighters, barges, dredges, wooden steamers and ancient wooden
sailing vessels. A fun time was had
by all. In the past when the
weather is to bad to dive, I’ve gone and capture some photos. And you never know what the
weather will be like. This year,
we got lucky, got lots of dives in…..so I didn’t take many photos.
But I did capture this photo at about 7am on Sunday morning of a few strangers leaving the harbor heading out to go fishing. They didn’t know me, but stopped their boat to let me photograph them.
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