In a lengthy Facebook post yesterday, the local photographer alleged that Podniesinski posted a map on his blog with the red-zone in Namie town deliberately blanked out in an effort to suggest that Keow did not actually enter ground zero of the city that suffered a nuclear meltdown following an earthquake in 2011.
Keow said he did not expect a fellow photographer to level such allegations against him.
He also addressed criticism of being under-dressed for a radioactive zone (Keow was seen wearing a full gas mask and gloves, but wearing only a pair of shorts in his photos), saying it was because he had lost his cash and card upon arrival in Tokyo, leaving him unable to purchase a protection suit.
The lack of resources also prevented him from getting a valid permit, required to enter the exclusion zone, he added.
Podniesinski, in a recent blog posting, accused Keow of having fabricated his experience in Fukushima, saying the latter had merely photographed buildings in open green zones (or sometimes orange) that was now open to all.
The Pole also questioned Keow’s rationale of having “sneaked into the danger zone” to escape detection while alleging that the Malaysian only did the photo essay to gain publicity.
In his reply, Keow, 28, dismissed allegations that he deliberately messed-up the locations featured in his photographs in his bid to mimic a disaster zone and broke into buildings to get the best shot.
On criticism of his “dare-devil” attempt to gain publicity, Keow concurred it was part of the reason.
He said full-time photographers could not survive without publicity, and without people like him, “there will be no photo(s) on newspapers or online portals you are reading now.”
Keow also argued that he was “creating history” with the Fukushima photographs.
“Ten years from now, people will know what happened in Fukushima, and what it feels like to be in the exclusion zone.”
Keow further questioned how his photo essay could have “hurt” people as some had claimed, when he was merely capturing the “truth”, and had not manipulated the photos in any way.
Keow also addressed his move to block critics from his Facebook page, saying “it is my personal page, (and it is) not for you to spam and insult me without hearing my part of the story.”
Nevertheless, Keow apologised to residents of Fukushima and owners of shops there, in case he had offended them in any way with his photo series.
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