The Floris Genérica or also well known as The Giant Metal Flower can be found in Plaza Naciones Unidas (United Nations Plaza) on the Figeroa Alcorta Avenue. It was designed by the architect Eduardo Catalano and was erected in the year 2002. Catalano wanted this flower to symbolize all flowers of the world. The giant flower opens and closes its petals depending the hour of the day, in the morning the petals opens and during the night it closes. The process of opening and closing the petals according to many people mimics the movement of a real flower, it takes about 20 minutes to fully open and close all 6 petals. However, during festive days such as September 21st (Spring Day), May 25th (The Argentine Revolution Day), December 24th (Christmas Eve) and December 31st (New Year´s Eve) the flower is open all day and fireworks lights up the sky with its beautiful colors and glitters above it during Christmas and New Year´s eve.
Travel Tips:
Bring at least a bottle of water during summer if you decide to walk to get there. The temperature can reach up to 40°C / 104°F and you really want to appreciate this flower in a pleasant mood. Most hostels usually have a bicycle rent but it can also easily be reached by public transportation.
Photography Tips:
As beautiful as it looks in real life, the giant metal flower is not as photogenic as it seems at least in my opinion. I have taken this flower many times, lucky for me I live in Buenos Aires so I can always come back to this spot and retake it anytime but for tourists staying for only a couple of days, the results can be disappointing if you do not think it through. Also, when visiting this flower alone, a tripod would come really handy if you want to come out in the photo with the flower. The plaza can be really full of tourists or you can be the only one there. Don´t be shy to ask someone to take you a picture if you see other tourists, it´s worth it.
I took this photo with my Nikon SLR (Single Lense Reflex) D70. It´s a great camera and user friendly. Read the specs and get it if you are thinking about getting an SLR camera. Although other SLR camera these days are also as good.
For this particular photo, I decided to make HDR (High Dynamic Range) out of it and processed it in a software called the Photomatix Pro designed to help you tone mapping the photos. A final touch of brightness and contrast with Photoshop CS3. If you happen to have Photoshop CS2 the HDR function is already introduced in it. Basically HDR is combining several differently exposed images to produce a single HDR image. I self taught myself taking HDR images from youtube but there are tons of tips and techniques in the internet, take advantage of it! Discover the powerful images an HDR can do.
Many hostels still offer the large communal room where backpackers and gap year youth can buy a bed for the night and not much else. However, many now also offer private rooms as well.
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