Bernard Hoffman (1913–1979) was an American photographer and documentary photographer. The bulk of his photographic journalism was done during the first 18 years of the revamped Life magazine, starting in 1936. During this time he produced many photo essays, including a shoot with Carl Sandburg in 1938. He is, perhaps, most known as the first American photographer on the ground at Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945, providing some harrowing glimpses into the destructive power of the bomb.
Urakami Cathedral (Roman Catholic), Nagasaki, September, 1945.Nagasaki, September, 1945. Nagasaki, Japan, September 1945. A photo album, pieces of pottery, a pair of scissors - shards of life strewn on the ground in Nagasaki, 1945. Hiroshima, 1945.he landscape around Urakami Cathedral, Nagasaki, September, 1945.. Neighborhood reduced to rubble by atomic bomb blast, Hiroshima, 1945.Bust in front of destroyed cathedral two miles from the atomic bomb detonation site, Nagasaki, Japan, 1945. Hiroshima, 1945, two months after the August 6 bombing.