Customer Reviews

How To Photograph an Atomic Bomb

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It's amazing the changes that have occurred in my lifetime, everything from jet planes to genetic manipulation, moon rockets to personal computers, dial telephones to the Internet. For me, the most amazing was the development of atomic bombs and their progeny.

Peter Kuran apparently feels the same amazement. Starting with his work as Animator on the original "Star Wars" in 1976 and thereafter on over 300 theatrical motion pictures, he has been fascinated with the Bomb and its photography. As he writes: "It wasn't until 1945 that the sciences of photography would cross paths with the sciences of the atom. For the next 17 years, still and motion picture photography would combine with atomic physics to create imagery the world may never witness again first hand."

In 1995 Kuran produced and directed "Trinity and Beyond (The Atomic Bomb Movie)," a documentary of the history of nuclear weapons development and testing. During his work on that documentary, he met many of the photographers, and in 1999 he directed another documentary "The Atomic Filmmakers: Behind the Scenes". He has now written this book containing documents and photographs relating to the history of US atomic weapons tests between 1945 and 1962. He also presents information about the photographers and their techniques and equipment.

The book contains amazing photographs from some of the 300 atmospheric tests conducted by the US during that period. Kuran writes that there were relatively few images and film clips of Trinity, the first test explosion, and the combat use of atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The government was intent on perfecting nuclear bombs, and "photography was the best way of being able to capture data".

For the 21-kiloton, Crossroads Baker detonation near Bikini Atoll on July 24, 1946, special 100-foot towers were erected on the island for photographers to get unobstructed views. One black-and-white image captured on an 8-by-10-inch negative shows a ship standing on end after the device, positioned 95 feet beneath seawater, erupted in a plume that raised 1 million tons of water in a column 300 yards wide. A cloud could be seen rising 6,000 feet up.

A year later, atomic bomb photography was assigned to the Air Force's 4881st Motion Picture Squadron. The squadron, which later was redesignated as the 1352nd Photographic Squadron, operated out of a secret production facility in Hollywood, California, known as Lookout Mountain Studios. The squadron photographed tests in the South Pacific, and at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Edgerton, Germeshausen and Grier devised ultra-high-speed strobe techniques for producing split-second images of nuclear fireballs erupting, which allowed scientists to tailor their design of bombs.

I cannot adequately describe these photographs. You really have to see them to understand their visual impact. But it is easy to describe the unsettling familiarity people displayed while watching and photographing these tests. Many of the photographs are visual proof; here George Yoshitake puts the casual approach into words:

"One afternoon I was at Lookout Mountain right here in Hollywood, and I got a call from a Woody Mark. He said `George, I need you out here tomorrow for a special test.' I got there that night and he said, `Tomorrow morning you're going to go out with five other guys and you're going to be standing at ground zero.' I said, `Ground zero?' He said. `Yeah, but the bomb's gonna go off 10,000 feet above you.' I said, `Well, what kind of protective gear am I going to have?' He said `None.'

"I remember I had a baseball hat, so I wore that just in case. He gave me a still camera, and two motion picture cameras. These were 35mm Eyemos. I set up the two Eyemos, and had little trip wires that I could trip with my foot starting about 5 seconds before the blast. And the still camera, I also had a trip wire so that I could trip it. I could get one exposure only. The five other guys were scientists and they volunteered to be there. I wasn't a volunteer. I didn't find out until I got there."

These are extraordinary images for the general reader. I understand why the tests, the photographers and the equipment so captured Peter Kuran's imagination.

This book was a great addition to my library on extreme technology. As an amateur photographer and avid reader on the history of nuclear weapons development, I highly recommend this book. Have ever wondered how they took many of the pictures of bombs exploding? This book delivers.

I would give it 5 stars, but the technical detail on the photographic techniques could have been more in depth. I am not sure if it is because the documentation still remains classified or if it was simply lost to the sands of time.

This book is the print version of the Peter Kuran video "Hollywood's Top Secret Film Studio". Not much more is revealed in the book, but the photos are the best quality I have seen reprinted from the national archives.

Heavy on photos, very sparse on text, context, and history. Unfortunately, no real insight into how the A-bomb was photographed (as the title suggests). Bad: Incorrect dates are quoted for both Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Good: colorful, expensive photos of the restored A-bomb footage. Suggestion: also purchase a scholarly volume which relates the interesting and important story of the creation and use of the Bomb (e.g., The Making of the Atom Bomb by Richard Rhodes), from the German physicists involved to the decision to drop the bomb in World War II. The Making of the Atomic Bomb

This is an amazing look at a topic that is fascinating. Nice paper, solid binding and crystal clear images. I bought this in a museum after seeing some of the imaged on display. It is worth the price.

The federal government is declassifying more and more, if not all, of its photos of more than 300 nuclear weapons tests conducted between 1946 and 1962.

For all the terror of their destructive power, the spectacle of a nuclear blast is awe inspiring.

Ostensibly this book is about the men who orchestrated the creation of the photographic record of the nuclear tests. If taken on the basis of Peter Kuran's text alone, the book wouldn't merit one-star. Declared as "[a] handbook for those interested in the techniques and procedures for photographing an atomic or nuclear explosion', Kuran's text is superficial and riddled with errors. How could anyone get the dates for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki wrong? Kuran manages the task.

There are tidbits of text - if accurate - that are interesting about the equipment and techniques used to photograph the weapons tests, but it is all very superficial and there are many instances where more detail would have been welcome.

It is clear that Kuran created his book as a tool to aid in the marketing of his DVDs about nuclear weapons testing.

The photographs are the stars of this show. They fall into two categories: photos of the equipment and men who recorded the events which are mildly interesting, considering they are presented with a minimum of supporting narrative, and photos of the weapons tests which are frequently breathtaking.

The lack of substantive detail haunts every page. For example, there is a photograph of Yucca Flat, Nevada showing a barren plain pocked with dozens of craters left by underground tests. The author provides not a hint as to the size of the craters, the size of the devices that created them or any other information. The photograph itself is compelling, but the lack of detail shows the nature of the author.

There's another beautiful photo of a B-57 Canberra bomber flying with a mushroom cloud growing in the background. No caption. No information.

Overall, this is an exploitation book: anyone with an interest in photos of nuclear weapons explosions - which do have an inherent beauty - will buy it for the pictures. Once the pictures become more widely disseminated from the archives and are readily available on the internet, I suspect sales of this title will reach the vanishing point.

Five-stars for the photos. No stars for the text.

Jerry

I found this book to be every bit the interesting theme I previously thought at the time I purchased it. It relates itself to various different technical considerations which used to be formerly classified as top secret.

Besides, the binding is fine, the overall looks are good and the pictures themselves are awesome.

For instance, back in 1945: How could these scientists manage to shoot frames, within the microsecond time-lapse ranges, of an extremely intense light flash with the aid of gadgets which were mainly mechanical-based, without the benefit of advanced electronics and, most important, without having a second chance in case something went awry? After all they only had ONE SINGLE BOMB to try at Alamogordo. This event was history, itself, which brought upon a very deep change for the human race. They were really hard-pressed to do it right the first time and they managed absolutely.

Another big plus is getting to learn how were these tests actually staged. It is a true historical testimony considering the existing absolute ban on subsequent atmospheric tests and that future generations will never get to witness what we have lived through and seen.

I would end up stating that this book is the second best thing after actually being there at the blast site.