Pridian.net

Soviet Patriotism

Sun, 20 May 2012 12:00 +1000

The window of the community center in an abandoned Soviet secret military town. Baltics.

Place For Making Problems Go Away

Sun, 13 May 2012 12:00 +1000

I could not get it out of my mind, around the next corner we would find a group of leather clad gangsters loading a lorry with Afghan Heroin. There that would be a moment of calm before the gravity of the situation crashed down around us. Revolvers would be drawn. There would be desperate shouts from both sides. Our assurances that we had seen nothing would go unheard and the Baltic adventure would end in a pool of our own blood. Our bodies would never be found.

Fed To The Pigs

Wed, 09 May 2012 12:00 +1000

We visited a few abandoned Soviet secret military towns on the Baltics trip and like I mentioned in my previous post most of them are pretty well scrapped. In stark contrast, this one has not been touched.

We have a few theories about why that might be, the most popular being that unwelcome visitors usually get fed to the pigs...

Latvian Countryside

Sun, 06 May 2012 12:00 +1000

Another abandoned soviet military town. Most of these old towns have been pretty well scrapped but there were still a few rough looking characters squeezing the last bit of wealth out of this shit heap. We were not all that keen on coming across a gas-axe weilding Latvian scrapper in a location perfect for making bodies disappear, so we made a pretty discrete rece of this place.

Arrivals

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:00 +1000

Abandoned soviet military airfield and hangar bunkers, Lithuania.

Soviet Mural Porn

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 12:00 +1000

I once named a photo “Tunnel Porn” and it is one of my most viewed photos because of freaks searching just that in google. Let's see how far the freaks will go.

This is a mural at the entrance to a former secret Soviet military town somewhere in the Baltics... as I've said before it was a long weekend.

Loco 523368

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:00 +1000

Same 1942 model German steam loco as posted last week. Just can't get enough.

This was shot on Reala Fuji film (on the Pentax LX) then converted to B&W in photochop because the nasty sodium lighting just don't look no good.

Third Class

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:00 +1000

Some old passenger carriages in the same layup yard as the previous photo.

It was here that my trusty old Ricoh started to die. That dark strip down the left of the photo is not from the latest trendy hipstamatic iPhone app, that is a sticking mirror, and unfortunately half the photos on this roll were unusable as a result.

Surprise

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 12:00 +1000

We never expected to find a bunch of old steam locos just chillin in an old layup as we made out way across Latvia. Loosing the struggle with train nerdery we stopped and spent an embarrassingly long time taking photos of the beautiful machines.

This steam loco was made in Germany in 1942 and was “souvenired” by the Soviets at the end of the war. For over thirty years it worked across the Soviet Union as far away as Azerbaijan. Somehow it ended its days on the national railways in Latvia.

Got Gun?

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 12:00 +1000

Latvian accent: “Where you guys sleep?”
English accent: “Anywhere we stop... probably in the forest tonight...”
Latvian accent: “You are crazy, you got gun?”
English accent: “No... why do we need a gun?”
Latvian accent: “Latvian people very crazy, everyone has gun.”
English accent: “Do you have a gun?”
Latvian accent: “Yes of course I have gun!”

Friendly (not crazy) Latvian security guard explaining the ins and outs of camping rough in Latvia. This guy was a legend, thankfully his better judgment prevailed when we suggested rappelling into the missile silos he was supposed to be guarding. It was probably not a wise idea after spending the proceeding hour downing cheap Latvian alcopop in his caravan. A night to remember.