Accidental Allure...

Investigators, whether documenting the scene of a crime or the scene of an accident, often rely on the use of photography to preserve images of the setting. Today, I sat through a Congressional Subcommittee hearing entitled, "Secrecy in the Response to Bayer's Fatal Chemical Plant Explosion." During the testimony, and the questioning that followed, several photographs taken by the investigators from the Chemical Safety Board were displayed on the monitors. Other photographs taken by the CSB investigators (of the Bayer CropScience Chemical Plant in Institute, West Virginia following the explosion on August 28, 2008) were posted on the Congressional Committee's website.

I found the images to be disquieting and demure...spectral and sublime. The tragedy that garnered the attention of the CSB investigator seemed at once disassociated and embedded in the images themselves. The anonymous investigator that took the pictures managed to seize an astounding array of color and compostion, a hint of symmetry and splendor that transcended the devastation and sadness of the moment.

The image that most impressed me....

Here are a few others....