FMP - WIP development - when the nailing actual angles are not as easy as you think

My main motivation in selecting the initial crop of old photographs to work with was the way the image looked in the old photograph rather than the way I intended to shoot it now. I simply wanted to make the viewer wonder and marvel at the picture and "scratch their head" as the Bulgarian expression goes. 

Hence, I selected images that made my jaw drop not thinking at all about how I was going to recreate them, having to shoot in the contemporary urban environment. And I was wrong. It turned out that nailing the exact same angle is not as easy as I thought it was. 

The university rectorate building (above) has always been among my top choice of images. One of the reasons behind that is that now this place is one of the biggest buildings in Sofia, with two huge winds full of auditoriums and a central building with twisting corridors and doors leading nowhere. I spent 8 years there (doing two BAs and one MA) and I have a certain soft spot for that place (the history of it, in another post). The students who study there call it Hogwards (by the name of the school Harry Potter went to) because there always seems to be a new corridor or a room that you haven't seen. You can easily get lost inside, even if you have a map. That neo-classicist style building is one of the urban "monsters" in modern Sofia. However, in the 1930s when the rectorate central building was first open to the public, it was way smaller (see above). 

I really wanted to show this change. The urban environment, however, took the upper hand. The university once stood in the middle of its own park complex. Nowadays it is just next to one of the busiest crossroads in Sofia. To make matters worse, there is a huge park (with threes that almost completely hide the building) on one side, and an underground passage to the homonymous underground station (just below the busy crossroads) on the other. 

It was this angle I wanted to re-photograph. The reality showed that to do that, I would need to hang off a railing above that underground passage (estimated height, at least 4 meters to the floor) to get the exact angle. Hence, I needed to give up the idea since I needed an assistant (to make sure I don't fall off, as I am afraid of heights). 

The other image I really wanted to photograph was the royal palace (the former royal palace, that is, now it houses the National gallery - why, in another post). Hence I selected the image below which shows how much the place has changed since that time. 

This is a rare glimpse of the royal palace building without the cheering crowds or the international delegations in front of it. It was taken in the beginning of the 20th century and was used as a postcard at the time. It shows the palace (built by Viennese architects) at its most spectacular - with the now non-existent front garden and the gates. I really wanted to contrast this with the modern view of the place but that is when urban environment interfered again. 

I have no idea how the photographer back then took the image. One is certain - it is taken from a viewpoint that is above human eye level. Maybe the photographer climbed atop any of the buildings that used to be around the palace but I cannot tell which one since after WWII most of them were demolished.

There is one building that stands roughly at the same spot, but unlucky for me - it is the council of ministers building that houses half of the government. Entrance is restricted and one can be allowed in only after lengthy procedure and quite a lot of bureaucracy. Besides, there is virtually no way they were going to let me take pics out of their windows (if I was let in at all) and doing an MA in photography would totally not count. 

Hence, I needed to abandon this exact image, as it was totally impossible to re-photograph it.