No Mutants, Just Decay: Artist Captures Soviet Ghosts

Karloff

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Oct 19, 2009
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No Mutants, Just Decay: Artist Captures Soviet Ghosts

As you might expect, it all starts with zombies.

Photographer Rebecca Bathory has created something truly eerie in her latest collection, Soviet Ghosts. Her itinerary reads like something you'd find in a post-apocalypse novel, including a trip to Chernobyl; all told, she went to 10 Eastern European countries, former satellites of the Soviet bloc, to capture what was left of the old regime. Take a look: the only thing missing is the mutants.

[gallery=3192]

As you might expect, it all starts with zombies. Bathory didn't really give abandoned buildings much thought until 2012 when, thanks to a friend, she ended up doing a Wonka Mansion [http://www.rocknrollbride.com/2012/06/a-zombie-apocalypse-engagement-shoot-nicola-simon/], chocolate ghosts and all.

As you might expect, dodging the authorities is part of the thrill, and so far Russia's the only place she's been detained. She and a friend were scouting a former radar base, when they noticed a lone guard. "We snuck round and went through the forest once we saw the radar," she recalls [http://www.diyphotography.net/diyp-interviews-urbex-fashion-photographer-rebecca-litchfield/], but unfortunately, "We were suddenly surrounded by military."

The pair were detained and interrogated for 12 hours, but were finally released when the soldiers realized they weren't spies. "Definitely a story to tell the grand kids!"

Soviet Ghosts is available for purchase in the UK and the USA [http://www.rebeccabathory.com/sovietghosts].

Image Source: Rebecca Bathory [http://www.rebeccabathory.com/home]


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Barbas

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Oct 28, 2013
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I love this kind of stuff. There are so many sad and abandoned building just waiting to be cataloged and immortalized in pictures by these intrepid urban explorers.
 

J Tyran

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Dec 15, 2011
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Urbex is awesome but people should really stay away from any "abandoned" military bases that have any kind of presence, even if the original use has changed and their are obviously derelict facilities you can never be sure. Best to stay away, especially in countries with harsh legal systems because Urbex often involves cameras and that takes a lot of explaining.

Those Bulgarian ruins are fascinating, saw those a while back after the book was published and the pictures spread through the global urbex community.
 

Jamash

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Jun 25, 2008
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I see that not even the mighty Soviet Union could pull off a successful Tumblr convention, although this image is slightly less bleak than the infamous ball pit at the US Tumblr convention.
 

beastro

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Jan 6, 2012
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Snow really gives a different take. Usually the pics are done during summer or when it's rainy to give it a Stalker feeling (the movie, not the game).

Jamash said:


I see that not even the mighty Soviet Union could pull off a successful Tumblr convention, although this image is slightly less bleak than the infamous ball pit at the US Tumblr convention.
I feel sad for those balls. After all those years and no one has taken them. :(