The minute I read about this challenge I knew what I wanted my subject to be. I have had nightmares of WW3/Nuclear Bombs and Mushroom Clouds for as long as I can remember. Certainly for over 25 years. This truely is my worst nightmare and now as a father although the risk of fullscale nuclear war has diminshed the fear remains and that for my children.
Not sure why they started but probably due to growing up during the cold war. When I was a kid the question, What would you do if you heard the '3 minute warning' was a common playground discussion. Films like 'The Day After', Raymond Briggs' When the Wind Blows and the brilliant 'Threads' certainly made an impact. If you haven't seen Threads you can watch this 5 minute clip on YouTube here which is utterly terrifying and I'm sure at the root of my Nightmares, that continue to this day.
As for the picture I had the idea of the TV broadcast to set the scene and the blast light with the children shielding their eyes pretty mcuh straight away. It was very tough to get the children to act naturally and stay still. The more I shot, the harder it became to pick one. It also showed me where my Photoshop skills are lacking too.
Emotionally I have a lot invested in this picture although I accept it is far from perfect as a photograph I hope the voters feel it captures the esscence of all our deepest fears. Fingers Crossed.
Post Challenge - Thanks for the votes and all the comments. I'm pleased that many people agreed this is indeed a real nightmare for many of us. I'm glad it made a 6+, it was touch and go for a bit. Thanks again.
Statistics
Place: 22 out of 95 Avg (all users): 6.0839 Avg (commenters): 8.0000 Avg (participants): 6.1538 Avg (non-participants): 6.0603 Views since voting: 2140 Views during voting: 377 Votes: 155 Comments: 19 Favorites: 7 (view)
Wow. This is absolutely FANTASTIC. I was just talking with a friend about how a powerful photo tells a story, and this one does just that. Badly underrated. And now I must go find Threads. I remember The Day After from when I was a teenager. Another one was called Testament, and then there was the TV movie made to look real about a nuclear terrorist threat to Charleston, SC.
Completely underrated. This should have been in top 5, at least. Bugs eating other bugs has never been a nightmare for me, but, oh well. Thanks for sharing.
WOW I'm really pleased to have so many positive comments and 2 faves post challenge. Thanks so much and I'm delighted to have managed to deliver a message of 'my true nightmare' that has resonated with a number of the other members here. I guess thats what any photographer hopes to do with an image they create.
I can't be disapointed with a PB but I guess secretly I had hoped it would be maybe top 20 or even top 10. Such is life and thanks again, it means a great deal.
Interesting shot, its very scary to me at least, a feeling of doom is present in this image, the news footage on the widescreen is cool, but the lighting through the window is very haunting. Love the acting by the models as well, bumping to 8
Oh DAMN! This is one of the most creative shots i've seen for this challenge. This is really really cool. I'm blown away by this one. I actually had bad dreams about nuclear war. When "The Day After" came out on TV, I was a youngster, and it bothered me. I'm going to have to give you a 10 because this is just so damn creative. WOW. 10
A wonderful meme using fear of high tech world war - carefully constructed, lit and posed, this is a wonderfully terrifying image of potential human extermination. Well done.
Without the picture on the TV I would have thought that you were stretching to make a photo for this challenge. Great idea and good thought was put into this one.
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