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Le Phenix



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Super Phenix is a French nuclear power plant that was shut down a few years ago.

Super Phenix is a French nuclear power plant that was shut down a few years ago.
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1 Comment | Report
Elleysian
 
Elleysian August 30, 2018
Congradulations! :)
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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken near the Superphénix nuclear power plant. The reactor was a prototype of fast breeder, designed to produce more fuel than it consumes, and to process back nuclear waste into fit combustible. It was built in 1976 on the banks of the Rhône, at Malville, near the city of Creys-Mépieux, and since the beginning, the reactor was a cause for worry among the population. It's experimental design, the use of sodium in the primary loop and several incidents gave the occasion to several tough movements of contestation against it. Superphénix was stopped in 1998 and is since then under deconstruction. The irony about Superphénix is that the nuclear power plant is said to have consumed more electricity than it has produced ...

Time

This photo is a composite of day and night shots. I was on location in the end of the afternoon, even before the lights were turned on. I could see them starting to glow faintly in the begining of the evening, and I stayed until the stars and the Milky Way made their apparition.

Lighting

I took the best of each moment : the building in itself irradiates the vivid colours of daylight, in the long last rays of the setting sun, but I allowed the artificial lights to compete with the sun. I waited for the night to fall to compose the top of the image : the Milky Way was just above the power plant - eh !, what is a nuclear power plant, if not a star emulator ? I am not a fan of these emphasized shots of the Milky Way, I like when it still looks a little bit real, a faint path of white dust across the sky, so I played mellow on the iso's of my sensor and the exp time.

Equipment

My Canon 5D mkII was set on its tripod, with a sigma 24-70 mounted. I used a remote to programm the shots.

Inspiration

This photo is part of a long term project called "Pollution nocturne". I am very much interrested in urban and industrial architecture, and I try my best to document their impact on the environment. One thing : do these factories really need to be litten up like Luna Parks ? Another thing : do people living in the cities remember a starry sky ? I wander at night around big industrial sites, illuminated by the orange flow of articicial light, trying to catch what's left of the sky - and of the earth as well, on the verge of a paradoxal and mechanical and unearthly beauty.

Editing

The resulting picture is a mix of several HDR pictures shot at different times of the day. I usually spend a long time in post-process, trying different versions before I find the one which satisfies me.

In my camera bag

My companions are a full frame digital camera with a couple of lenses, a remote sensor, some light, a torch and a frontal at least, a steady tripod, and a pair of legs !

Feedback

Be patient ! In order to blend different exposures, you have to stay on location a great deal of time, with your camera remaining on it's tripod, making every once in a while a new series of shots, as the ambient light shifts. But you have to find the good location before the first shot : if you get disappointed by your point of view during the process, everything is lost : you can not move your camera. I suggest that you explore thouroughly the area. Go hiking about. If you settle somewhere for a long session, this has to be the place !

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