¾«¶«´«Ã½

THESE photos, all shortlisted for the Sony World Photography Awards 2024, strike at the heart of human vulnerability and the fragility of nature.

Eddo Hartmann is a finalist in the Landscape category for his series , referring to a remote part of Kazakhstan that was the major testing ground for the Soviet Union’s nuclear experiments from 1949 to 1989.

The image above shows a dosimetrist measuring radiation levels at Kazakhstan’s Lake Shagan. This area remains highly contaminated from the 450 or so nuclear tests carried out there. The main picture (top) shows what remains of an observation tower at Opytnoe Pole in Russia, another area used for Soviet nuclear tests.

Hartmann used infrared to capture these landscapes, with the red hues evoking radiation contamination, which can’t be seen by the naked eye. “Local scientists utilise infrared technology to monitor the current conditions of contaminated sites,” he says. “The chlorophyll present in green vegetation reflects a substantial amount of infrared light. The various shades of reflection provide valuable insights into the overall health of the environment in the specified area.”

Elsewhere, a girl climbs onto an old oil tank in the Albanian village of Zharrëz (pictured above). This image, taken by Jonas Kakó, is shortlisted in the Environment category. Pictured below, Wildlife & Nature finalist Jasper Doest captured elephants charging through Livingstone, Zambia.

The winner of the competition will be revealed on 18 April, before an exhibition at Somerset House, London, from 19 April to 6 May.