Recently got the opportunity to visit BP (Hungary) for 5 days and been a keen light painter / explorer I had already done some research before leaving. One of the sites that really caught my eye was Szoborpark (or Memento Park) a collection of old Communist statues outside the city, now I knew that access to such a place would be impossible without permission and probably not as exciting during daylight hours, I shrewdly got in touch before leaving and they kindly agreed to let me shoot there after dark! RESULT. So not technically an explore and not as others had said "live infiltration" but a very interesting site none the less!
Well my stay in BP was immense and I had to wait till my last night to visit the site, so was really excited by the time it came round. The park is described in the
Berlitz Pocket Guide to Budapest as thus...
A slightly surreal park where some of the monumental statues once imposed by the communist regime on the streets of Budapest are displayed. Rather than them being destroyed, the authorities decided to put them here, in a suburban setting. Giant socialist - realist figures of Lenin and anonymous worker heroes strut against the backdrop of newly built homes.
Here are the results...
Kun Béla Memorial
F5.6 / 189secs / ISO100 / 10mm
Purple gelled flash from left and blue gelled flash from right, both fired multiple times.
The Martyr
F5.6 / 127sec / ISO100 / 10mm
Green gelled flash fired several times from left and pink gelled flash fired multiple times from right .
F5.6 / 67secs / ISO100 / 20mm
Lit with yellow gelled flash, just to highlight natural tones.
Republic of Councils Memorial
F5.6 / 457secs / ISO100 / 10mm
Lit from front and right side with red gelled flash for a really RED communist look!
Workers Movement Memorial
F5.6 / 397secs / ISO100 / 10mm
Natural flash just to highlight statue during exposure.
F4 / 1066secs / ISO200 / 10mm
Sadly had to make this image black and white, due to horrible cast created by light pollution from sodium vapour street lighting behind the park.
And as a result of the park's representatives really liking the shots I did they are now using them on their official
website