Basketball court, October 2007 My first visit to Chernobyl and the city of Pripyat was in 1994, eight years after the accident. Even then, in this basketball court, trees had grown higher than the backboards. By 2007 the court was beginning to be hidden by vegetation. Today, the growth has dislodged the backboard and soon, its original function will be indeterminate.

Photograph: David McMillan