A photo shoot at a classified radar installation led to Bathory's arrest by military officials who accused her of spying and threatened 15 years of prison for her transgression.
A photo shoot at a classified radar installation led to Bathory's arrest by military officials who accused her of spying and threatened 15 years of prison for her transgression. © Rebecca Bathory

The Soviet system failed in practice, and now 23 years after its collapse the physical remains of Communism are crumbling as well. In a series of 10 trips through Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and the Baltics, including a tour of Chernobyl and a climb atop a frigid Bulgarian mountain, English photographer Rebecca Bathory braved radiation and KGB-style interrogation techniques to capture the beauty of this bygone era in a series called Soviet Ghosts.

Bathory climbed a frozen, unstable metal ladder to get a killer shot of a decaying Communist monument.
Bathory climbed a frozen, unstable metal ladder to get a killer shot of a decaying Communist monument. © Rebecca Bathory