On Aug. 6, 1945, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The blast killed around 140,000 people and ravaged 90 percent of the city. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. An estimated 40,000 more perished.
That was 67 years ago today. More than half a century later the threat of nuclear weapons remains a challenge.
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In order "to keep the reality of our post-atomic era fresh and omnipresent," Los Angeles-based photographer Clay Lipsky created a series of photographs in which he imagines a world where people gather to watch atomic bomb explosions. Tourists flood the Internet with cell-phone images of close-up mushroom clouds, in turn, bringing "new levels of desensitization" to the threat of nuclear weapons.
"I am not trying to be 'shocking' in fact I feel my series is more sarcastic than anything else," Lipsky told us in an email. "We live in an interesting time and our perceptions are very much influenced by visual media. Hopefully people will see deeper into 'Atomic Overlook' and not just take it for face value."
The composite photos use shots taken over the last eight years as the artist traveled around the world.
No tourists were harmed in the making of this series, Lipsky jokes.
You can see Lipsky's full artist statement here and more of his work on his website.
[via io9]
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