Taken August 6, 1945, this pictures Colonel Paul W. Tibbets Jr. waving from the cockpit of the Enola Gay before it dropped the atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The Enola Gay was the B-29 Bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb used for warfare, by the United States Army Air Forces in the attack of Hiroshima during World War II. Courtesy of the National Archives.

This is a picture of an atomic bomb taken in August of 1945 in Tinian Island, before the Enola Gay dropped it on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Code named “Little Boy,” it was the first atomic bomb used as a weapon of war and was developed during World War II. Its explosive power originated from nuclear fissioning of enriched uranium. The name of this bomb has become synonymous with the bombings themselves. Courtesy of the National Archives.

The picture above depicts the mushroom cloud that covered the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, after the United States' dropped the nuclear bomb referred to as "Little Boy" during World War II. This was the first of two nuclear attacks perpetrated by the United States against Japan, which lead to Japan's surrender to the Allied Powers. These are the only two attacks with nuclear weapons used in warfare to date, and continue to represent a major controversy. Courtesy of The National Archives.

By the end of 1945 the bomb caused over 90,000-140,000 deaths. Those closest to where the bomb dropped died instantly, however those nearby suffered from radiation burns, such as those pictured above, and deep cuts from broken glass. People today continue to suffer from the side-effects of exposure to radiation. Courtesy of the National Archives.

In this photograph, a Japanese solider walks through the ruins on August 9, 1945 caused by the atomic bomb that hit Hiroshima three days earlier. This attack left the city devastated as it destroyed 69% of its buildings and 6.6% more of the buildings severely damaged. Courtesy of the National Archives.

Response:

This process was surprisingly difficult. I had many ideas and expectations for my picture essay that I simply was unable to fulfill. There were historical events that I wanted to depict that I was not able to find many images of. Moreover, there were images I hoped I would be able to find in regards to the bombing Hiroshima that I not only could not find from a government website, but even from personal websites. For example, I wanted to include a picture that portrayed the city of Hiroshima just prior to the attacks. I was hoping to find an image that would show a city full of life, or even just the buildings and such in the city. I thought that such an image would provide a good contrast to my concluding images of the devastated landscape. I was not able, however, to find any such picture. I found aerial images but nothing that truly depicted the city's life and landscape. I tried Google searching, and I also tried numerous government websites such as the National Archives and the Library of Congress, but I failed to find anything resembling such an image. I, therefore, decided to replace it with a picture of the actual bomb as I thought this was a powerful image for other reasons.
I found the National Archives to be the most helpful website that I used. In actuality, all five of my pictures came from this website; however I did visit both the Library of Congress webpage and the United States' Department of Energy webpage. Although the other websites had many pictures, I found those on the National Archive's webpage the most powerful. Once I had my five pictures it somewhat difficult to write the captions because I debated which information was the most important to place under each picture.
I think the most difficult aspect of this assignment was to find an event that would have powerful images to accompany the information given in the captions. It was surprisingly more difficult than I imagined to find such powerful images. Overall, I think this was a good learning experience as I now know where to look for quality historical images.