Abandoned buildings, forgotten tunnels, bunkers or depopulated villages and towns in ruins… No, this is not a horror movie, but an unpopular in Bulgaria kind of tourism, named urbex, or urban exploration. Old castles, abandoned factories and underground tunnels – they all have their fans across Europe and worldwide. There have been some of these enthusiasts recently here in Bulgaria, looking for high adrenaline. Photographer Radoslav Parvanov devotes a large part of his time to the search and photographing of such areas:

“The interesting thing about such places is their story, the fact that someone used to live there. Somehow you know that the spot has no future. Trying to imagine how it looked like 20 or 30 years ago helps you to put more into those photos and the latter get more interesting. Buildings of that kind have their charm, despite being abandoned and ruined. My favorite spots are not few - the monument on the Buzludja Peak, followed by the villa of Pencho Semov in Gabrovo with its unique architecture and next come factories, bunkers etc.”

One of Radoslav’s photos was exactly the reason for the banning of the access to the socialist monument on Buzludja due to the danger of falling parts. However, he will remember this picture for good due to the doubled danger because of the bad weather – the risk for his life was even greater. A photo from 70 m high really takes the breath away. My mind prompts the next question: what does a young man, aged only 23, think of that communist period:

“I try not to get influenced by someone’s opinion, as everyone gives different interpretations to history. I think there were some positives back then, such as secured education and work, alongside art, architecture etc. However, I really don’t like that system of governing, the lack of freedom. For instance, some of my current photos couldn’t have been taken during the communist period. Whatever happened was restrictively selected.”

Radoslav has graduated a photography course in Germany and he still uses those classes. Here is what he says on the secret of the real photographer:

“The eye is the difference. Skills are not bought, but acquired in quite a difficult manner. I think a large doze of that skill is congenital. Then one has to build up his own style, in order to get distinguished among other photographers. Social networks are really accessible and anyone who feels like a photographer creates his own page. Thus the opinion is imposed on being a photographer only through the ownership of a DSLR camera, which is not exactly the truth.”

At the moment Radoslav is selecting photos for his forthcoming exhibition. It will include 30 images of his native Gabrovo. The unveiling will be on September 13 at Ruse’s Art Gallery. The goal is some attention to be attracted to the monuments in ruins and the abandoned spots photographed.

At the same time Radoslav develops another idea – to show the beauty of Bulgarian traditional clothing and the beauty of modern girls, dressed in it. The photographer tries to capture the moment, as sometimes a photo tells more than a thousand words.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev