81 years ago – Nagasaki

Few photographs capture the terrifying scale of the atomic age quite like this ground-level image of the Nagasaki mushroom cloud. This photo, the Getty-Hiroshima Plume, was taken shortly after the detonation of the “Fat Man” atomic bomb on this day, August 9th, in 1945, the photograph shows an ordinary industrial district dwarfed by an immense cloud stretching miles into the sky. Utility poles, power lines, a lone pre-war car and pedestrians in the foreground provide a chilling sense of perspective, reminding us that beneath this towering spectacle was a living city forever changed in an instant. While many of the best-known images of Nagasaki were taken from aircraft, this street-level view conveys the sheer magnitude of the explosion in a way that few others can.

The bomb exploded approximately 500 metres (1,650 feet) above Nagasaki, releasing an explosive force equivalent to around 21 kilotons of TNT. The fireball reached temperatures of several million degrees, creating the iconic mushroom cloud as superheated air rose rapidly into the atmosphere. The bombing claimed an estimated 40,000 lives on the first day, with the death toll rising to 70,000–80,000 by the end of 1945 due to burns, injuries and radiation sickness. Coming just three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, the attack on Nagasaki remains one of the most significant and controversial events in modern history. More than simply documenting a military event, photographs like this serve as enduring reminders of the devastating human cost of nuclear warfare and the profound impact these weapons had on the course of the Second World War.