#1.


_GEO1642-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#2. Local taxi.


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#3. Traffic police.


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#4. Local children


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#5. The underground train of Pyongyang


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#6. Inside the underground train.


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#7.


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#8.


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#9. Young school kids in the underground station.


_GEO1708-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#10. Near Pyongyang train station.


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#11.


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#12.


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#13.


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#14. Some local stores run by the government selling drinks.


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#15.


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#16. The school kids of Pyongyang


_GEO1823-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#1. Sunset at the Kim Il Sung square.


_GEO1039-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#2. Arirang Mass Game


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#3. Arirang Mass Game


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#4. Arirang Mass Game


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#5. Arirang Mass Game


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#6. Arirang Mass Game


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#7. Pyongyang Railway Station.


_GEO1411-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#8. Kim Il Sung Square by day


_GEO1428-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#9. A underground station


_GEO1460-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#10. Koreans dress up in traditional clothing.


_GEO1483-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#11. Many bicycles can be seen on the street of Pyongyang


_GEO1567-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#12. A game of street volleyball


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#13.


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#14.


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#15.


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#16.


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#17.


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With this set of photos I was officially still in China. There is no restrictions on what photographic equipment to bring in or use in China. You can also see my other sets of photos while I was in north Korea and again there aren't really many restrictions on photography as many believe. In fact photography rules are a lot more relax than in the UK. I get in a lot more unwanted hassles when I photographer well know buildings in London than in north Korea.

The only restrictions I remember regarding about photography are you are not allow to have GPS system on your camera and you are not suppose to take photo of any military facilities. Otherwise feel free to use your 500mm if you can afford one. LOL....

I took the train from the Chinese Boarder city of Dandong into Sinuiju and after about 2 hours of Custom check and searches finally I was on my way to the North Korean Capital city of Pyongyang.

#1. Some sort of construction work is going on in the Sinuiju station.


_GEO0786-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#2. North Korean guards can be seen everywhere around our train during the 2 hours stop in Sinuiju.


_GEO0798-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#3. Fields like this can be seen during the train journey to Pyongyang.


_GEO0877-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#4. School children near a railway station. I have no idea what they were doing but it is clear that they have some sort of labor work equipments on their hands.


_GEO0901-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#5


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#6. Go Ub railway station. Yet more children in some sort of school uniform can be seen.


_GEO0909-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#7.


_GEO0910-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#8. A Korean villege


_GEO0943-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#9.


_GEO1011-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#1. My very first picture of north korea from near the hotel where I was staying in Dandong, China. Nothing much can be seen with my 50-135mm lens.


_GEO0480-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#2. The custom house of Sinuiju in North korea, The north korean petrol boat can also be seen on the Yalu river.


_GEO0531-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#3. China is the largest trading partner for north korea. There are many trading ships can be found on the yalu river. The high rise building at the background is the town of Dandong on the Chinese side.


_GEO0587-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#4. The local residents of Sinuiju enjoying the afternoon of fishing along with the North Korean boarder guards.


_GEO0620-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#5. Children of Sinuiju were waving at us as our chinese tourist boat went past.


_GEO0625-1 by geovienso, on Flickr


#6. A very old North Korea boat.


_GEO0651-1 by geovienso, on Flickr


#7.


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#8.


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#9. A North Korean solider guarding the boarder.


_GEO0703-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

There are many places that we have to go to photograph before it is too late.

Our world is changing everyday, I feel sad that I have missed so many places before it changed and some becomes too dangerous to visit. Like syria I would not risk my life to visit there yet. But on the other hand when a place becomes safe then there isn;t much to photograph for.

I am glad that I visited cuba in 2010 before it opened its door for privte enterprise. Things are changing so quicky.

Hi Stuey, I always wanted to visit the chernobyl and the nearby town since 2005 after I seen a documentary about it. I have done many research about the zone before making my mind up to go there. I have to go sooner rather than later since the government starting to put restriction for us to enter the buildings due to the fact that they can be dangerous since they have not been repaired or any kind of maintenance for over 27 years. It is either now of never. My tour guide always carry a Geiger counter with him at all time during the time we spend in the zone. And yes he live in the zone (2 weeks in the zone and 2 weeks off outside the zone) for the past 9 years and he still seems healthy tome although a bit crazy (perhaps due to exposure LOL).

The average background radiation level in central London is 0.12-0.25 msv per hour. According to the Geiger counter the average radiation level was around 0.3-0.8msv per hour. which is about 3-5 times higher than in London where most people will consider as normal. In some spots in the zone the radiation level can go as high as 15 msv per hour which is 75 times higher than my central London example. Sounds bad to you? if it does might I ask you how many flights you take a year? the average reading on an commercial aircraft is about 9msv per hour due to the fact that we are a lot more closer to space and our o zone protect us from space radiation such as radiation from the sun.

So in theory the radiation I exposed to during my trip to the zone for 5 hours is about the same as taking a flight from London to New york. Nothing to worry about in my opinion.

As to why the zone is still uninhabitable is due to the fact that radiation levels are still many times higher than normal, if people live in there they will grow things there and they are likely to sell their food to the public. While it is perfectly safe to visit the zone it is not safe to drink the water nor eat anything from inside the zone. It is never good if radiative dust goes inside our body.

I am not a scientist and of course I wouldn't know the full effect from radiation. But to me a few hours in the zone is far safer than many activates we do everyday, driving, cycling, getting drunk and so on.

It is perfectly safe, however it can be expensive if you want to spend your time to take some good photos, I join the day tour and cost me USD 170, the group was far too big with 60 people. I guess it can be less people if you choose not to go on weekends. Officially you are not allowed to go into any building anymore to safety reasons. However if you join a smaller tour it is possible to ask the tour guide to keep an eye close while you spend some time go get inside the buildings to photograph what is left from the ex USSR era.

You will have to go into the zone with a tour guide. If you want the tour just for yourself it would cost you $450 for the day and $300 per person if there is 2 of you. I suggest to go with a few friends who love to photograph the area as well, since a group of 4 would only cost $220 per person and you would be able to control your own timing, eg. spend less time for lunch and instead more time in the abandoned town.

Don't worry too much about the cost since I am sure you can save alot of money with accommodation and food elsewhere in Ukraine during your trip. Everything is very cheap compare to European standard. A single journey ride on the underground/metro only cost around 20p. You can have a reasonably nice meal for £5. £40 for a night for a twin room in a 3/4* hotel.

Spend some money to invest on some fast lenses is a must. Inside the buildings are very dark. I often have to puch the iso to 1600 or higher on my 2.8 zoom.

Pripyat (Ukrainian: При́п'ять, Pryp’yat’; Russian: При́пять, Pripyat’) is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, near the border with Belarus.

Named for the nearby Pripyat River, Pripyat was founded on 4 February 1970, the ninth nuclear city in the Soviet Union, for the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.It was officially proclaimed a city in 1979, and had grown to a population of 49,360 before being vacated a few days after the 26 April 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

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Due to the riot in turkey I found a very good deal to go to turkey. £155 for return flight to Istanbul from London and 2 nights hotel. I wanted to photograph the protest but when I got there is was a bit too late but still here is a few shots from taksim sqaure and want to share with you guys here.


Most of the night time shots are taken at ISO 3200 so there are a bit of noise visble.

When I got to the square there were only around 50 people gathering around to remember the death of the protestors during the riot last week.

#1


_GEO9916 by geovienso, on Flickr

#2. Silently standing to protest the goverment's policy


_GEO9917 by geovienso, on Flickr

#3


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#4


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#7 More people join in afterward


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#10


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#11 I went back the next morning and there are still a few protestors around the square


_GEO0006-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#12 Plain cloth police guarding the square while a istanbul city cleaner try to clear up the mess from the riot the week before.


_GEO0008-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#13 Police can be found everywhere on the sqaure and they are sealed every single entrance to Gezi park. This was once the main entrance from taksim square to the park.


_GEO0016-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#14 Work had already began to demolish the park. The shops around the park had already gone.


_GEO0026-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#15 Workers are sealing one of the last entrance to the park.


_GEO0035-1 by geovienso, on Flickr

#16


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#17


_GEO0037-1 by geovienso, on Flickr