A Post-Apocalyptic World In Photos Taken Today

Tourism often involves visiting historical ruins from the past – so why not visit the ruins of the near past? That’s what David de Rueda did, visiting nine countries in six weeks. He focused on the relics of the Cold War era, going to Milan, Kiev, Pripyat (Chernobyl), Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Tallinn, Budapest, Sofia, Rejkjavik, Kyzylorda in Kazakhstan, and Larnaca on Cyprus. He saw such varied sides like the soviet shuttle Buran hangar in Kazachstan and abandoned radio stations in the mountains of Italy.

Lost in Space

“This image is the result of 180 kilometres of off-road driving in the Kazakhstan desert, followed by 45 kilometres of walking in a highly restricted area. We arrived and there they were; two relics of the Soviet space race in a huge abandoned warehouse. It may be the single most epic scene I’ve discovered since picking up a camera.”

The Lost Era

“This is the Buzludzha monument itself. I decided to explore the monument at night, defying the thick fog wrapping the mountain, to experience a close encounter of the third kind!”

Eternal Wait

“The waiting room in the remains of the Pripyat hospital. This room caught my eye with its colours and the decaying plant. You get the sense that time has really frozen here.”

Frozen Stars

“This is an abandoned radar station in the mountains of Italy. After almost three hours of walking through snow 50 cm deep, we reached these huge frozen antennas.”

The Mothership

“Linnahall is a former concert hall in Tallinn, Estonia. With a two minute exposure, I could reveal the architecture of the place, which otherwise sat in darkness. To me, it almost looks like a spaceship.”

High Frequency

“This picture was taken in a disused experimental power facility near Moscow, which was closely guarded by half a dozen dogs. After a little persuasive discussion, the caretaker let us in.”

Child’s Dream

“I wanted to capture the famous ferris wheel from a new and original point of view. Positioning myself on a rooftop next to the wheel, I finally captured the picture I was looking for.”

Nuclear Fall

“This is the inside of the cooling tower of a nuclear power plant in Chernobyl that was never completed.”

Pripyat Cafe

“This is a former cafe in Pripyat. I wanted to highlight the beautiful glass work and create something unique with a long exposure and light painting. We constructed one main source of light inside the building, added a second light behind the Pripyat sign to create a sense of depth, and a third one illuminating the cafe’s original sign.”

Suspicious Paths

“An old factory built during the 19th century in Saint Petersburg.”

Sun Dust

“On the second day in Pripyat, I had the chance to witness a sunrise from the top of Pripyat’s highest building, Fujiyama. Sun rays passed through in the middle of the dead city, bringing the whole place back to life for a few short seconds.”

Time Implosion

“An unknown room in a former Pripyat hospital and one of the first buildings I explored in Pripyat. The oven appears to have exploded in the center of the room and destroyed everything around it.”

The One

“This is also inside the abandoned power plant in Budapest. It’s an impressive place, with a huge sense of scale, abandoned machinery everywhere and a strong, haunting atmosphere. I felt like I was in a science fiction movie, and wanted to create my own world.”

The Creator

“Next to the Pripyat Cafe there is an old bus station. It has this fascinating glass room built on the roof. It is a self-portrait.”

Time Capsule

“In Budapest, I also explored this derelict train graveyard. Located in the middle of an active train depot, I felt like a child escaping reality to walk for a few hours in an imagined world of steel monsters.”

Beyond Time

“Scouting, crawling and climbing were part of the mission to access this abandoned power plant near Budapest, Hungary. We had to enter the plant through the coal shaft, a 100 metre-long rising corridor full of dust and sun rays: the ideal location to create this ‘apparition’.”

Don’t Fall

“This is a strange structure I found near Sofia, in Bulgaria. The building seemed to be pulling me in. With this image, I wanted to express something impossible, like the work of Escher.”

The Signal

“Under the congress room of Buzludzha in Bulgaria, I discovered a place that seemed to be from another planet. I used my torch to light it up and discovered everything was covered with ice.”

Lone Bird

“I spent some time exploring the rooftops of Pripyat because I could see the whole area from there. In this picture, I wanted to capture the utter feeling of loneliness that encapsulates the city.”

Night Souls

“Somewhere in a deserted area of Iceland’s south coast lies this long-forgotten wreck of a Douglas DC-3 aircraft. I arrived there at 4am and, as we waited, polar lights gradually appeared on the horizon. I admired this magic show until dawn and used a 90 second exposure, with some lighting added inside the plane, to capture this image.”