Budapest vs. Vienna

Z! — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:07:55 +0000

It’s a mystery to me how foreign people can actually like Budapest… especially those that have also been to Vienna. The two cities are not even in the same league. Surely, Budapest has beautiful architecture but all the buildings are dirty and in very bad shape. Most of them didn’t even get a proper painting for 15 years. The walls of the buildings are full of graffiti, the streets and pavements are full of trash and junkies are all around the city, especially around subways. When I show a visitor around in Budapest I usually feel ashamed about my nationality mostly because of this. Budapest is a capital of a dying nation and that’s exactly how it looks like. Vienna has more or less the same architecture as Budapest but the buildings there are all in good shape (newly painted in bright colours) and you can walk around the city without bumping into beggars and homeless people at every corner or junkies urinating at public building walls. Vienna has many beautiful parks where you can spend hours by just relaxing and looking at the little wonders of nature. In Budapest you can do the same thing only by looking at empty bottles, cardboard boxes and used condoms right at the bench you sit down (in case you find one that isn’t broken). Truly I felt very sad after coming back home from my latest trip from Vienna because the two days I spent there were kind of magical thanks to all the beauty that city has to offer.

Hitting the ground

Z! — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:54:16 +0000

The idea for this photo album goes back to November 2008 when I was browsing through a photo portfolio of Per Olav, a Norwegian friend of mine. I bumped into an upside down picture of a man lying on a pavement that immediately triggered my mind. At that moment I already knew that I want a similar picture and I didn’t waste time presenting the idea to my good friend slash personal photographer, Nina who agreed to do it when there’s a possibility. The first chance of shooting a “pavement picture” – as we called them – came in Budapest on All Fools’ Day in front of a shopping mall. Unfortunately the pavement was dirty (as everything else in Budapest) so the picture didn’t turn out the way we expected. We didn’t give up as we had a weekend trip booked to Vienna where we were hoping to find a better pavement for our picture. Upon arrival, near the hotel we stayed at, we found a pavement with a really nice motif and we decided to make the picture there later in the evening when we’re back from sightseeing. Then we went out to see the city and found many nice pavements along our way, so instead of making one picture we thought of making multiple shots to put together an album if there’s enough material for that. The result was more than promising and we even had to leave out some pictures from the selection. It was nice walking around the city and hitting the ground every now and then to see the surprised faces of the locals and fellow tourists. The funniest moment of the day occurred when we visited Belvedere Castle’s garden where I lied on a steep pedestrian ramp in a very uncomfortable position upside down. While Nina was taking shots there were some people stopping by and staring at us and once I got up from the dust a guy took my place and asked his girlfriend to take a picture of him. That gave both of us a huge round smile and a memory that will probably never be forgotten. (All photos by Nina Voronova)

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Budapest vs. Vienna

Hitting the ground