Peter Behrens's Blog, page 451

DDR Photographers: Helga Paris "Winstrasse"

                                                                                                                Helga Paris   "Winstrasse" From Craig Manning who spent most of last summer in Berlin:
 "...part of the story with DDR photography is that it wasnt considered an “Art” by the government so photographers had a more room to maneuver. So there is some really interesting stuff that works as visual double and triple entendre. And there is something compelling about scenes of East Berlin in the 50s, just knowing the way back and the way forward from that time.
"Early on during our Berlin stay I got set up at this high-end gallery to look at photos. I was initially interested in Weimar photographers, but said also show me DDR work. when they started showing it to me I was stunned and uninterested in anything else. But then I left and they sent me the prices, which were much higher than I expected or wanted to pay. I stewed about it for a while and was planning to bite the bullet and just buy one to at least establish a relationship - maybe in the future they would cut be a better deal. but a few weeks went by and I never pulled the trigger because I just felt there had to be another way. Then it dawned on me that the guy from whom we rented our Berlin apartment was a photographer. I said what the hell, maybe he knows someone who knows someone. It turns out he did. And on one of our last days in Berlin he and I met with Helga Paris, one of the major DDR photographers, in her apartment in Prenzlauerberg. Lots of talking about photos, about photographing in DDR, about her process. She even understood my German. And I came away with 2 photos, straight from her darkroom. both make my knees shake. The price was vastly lower than at the gallery, but much more importantly getting the photos straight from the source, even if not *vintage* or low edition number makes a huge difference to me.
"So, feeling pretty good with myself, I parted ways with the landlord. I decided I would devote the rest of the day to following up on photo leads. I headed off to an auction house which I noticed in my web crawling occasionally offers up some stuff by DDR photographers. I figured maybe I could get something cheap because it hadn’t sold. There was one photo that I had my eye on, but I was less taken with it in person, so I passed. But one off hand comment in the middle of discussions there was that, if I was really interested in DDR photographers, I should consider stopping by this small gallery in Mitte. The guy there evidently likes showing some of the less well known stuff. It was on my way home, I had some time, so I jumped off the S Bahn and found the place. He’s got some work by a Danish photographer up, not that special. The proprietor was much more interested in some other guy who was there so I just quietly looked around. As I’m passing by a back room with his office, I see that Arno Fischer photo  on the wall. It was one of the ones I liked best. We eventually get to talking about a different photographer, then I casually mention that I know the Fischer picture is widely known but I like it - how much is he selling it for? He said 2400 euros. It was 6000 (!) at the high end gallery. We talked more about other stuff then I said, what about cash, and what about now (I had it on me because of wanting to be prepared at Helga Paris’s place). Anyway, he says oh, how about 2000? Done.
'I got that photo, and the Helga Paris photos all in one day, and in the best of circumstances. couldn't be happier with the haul. Except that after leaving Berlin I had haul them all over Europe and they are not small. But anyhow I got them back to LA unscathed and they are now waiting to be framed. All this was a perfect cap to the Berlin stay."-CEM

1949 Chevrolet Deluxe for sale in Maine.

Not exactly a barn find. Maybe a shed find. It might clean up well. Beautiful shape to this car. For sale.You could talk to Neil. 207 865 6269

AL posted the cleaned-up 1949 Chevrolet back in June.

Kim Jon il's Funeral and the 1976 Lincoln

from Four Lean Hounds:
"Back in 2011, the Dear Leader went out in style, strapped to the roof of a stretched 1976 Lincoln Continental. Sort of like Aunt Edna in National Lampoon's Family Vacation, only classier." 

The West End. Portland, Maine.

 More West End here.

The Sleeper: 1966 Chevrolet Bel Air. Not Your High School Principal's Car.

The best sleepers look like something a schoolteacher could be driving, and when I was at Lower Canada College, in Montreal, our headmaster drove a blue '66 Bel Air. Not this one however, which has been rigged as a Maine State Police highway cruiser of the era. (Staties' cars are still painted blue, but a different shade than this metallic. Kind of an innocuous baby blue, actually.  Watch out when you're on the Turnpike.) This car's for sale in Freeport Maine. Asking was $28900, or about the price of a Subaru Legacy. Call Neil 207 865 6269. I like sleepers. The Bel Air has it down. Looks like a stripper drives like a rocket. Only thing missing is a four-speed. Another classic of the genre:  this 1964 Chevrolet Biscayne 409.

Lee Saloutos "Cafe"

                                                                                                                                ©2014 Lee Saloutos

1966 GMC 910, Banff

from Alex Emond, in Banff, Alberta:
Here is an almost 50-year-old GMC that's hiding behind a garage here in Banff. I don't think that there is anything seriously wrong with it. A simple matter of going over it and getting it safety-checked, registered, and gassed up. It's a 3-speed, column shift . Impressive hunk of truck  Is it for sale ? Haven't asked. " -AE  
There's another of these for Sale in Red Deer, Alberta. Asking $450. 
That's Canadian $, eh?

The Large Native American; South Freeport, Maine; Susan Minot & Steve McQueen

Also known as "The Big Indian" and a legacy of the days when Route One in Maine used to be lined with moccasin shops.
In his essay  Home-Coming, written sixty years ago, E.B. White noted, "You can certainly learn to spell "moccasin" while driving into Maine, and there is often little else to do except steer and avoid death."
US 1 from the NH border at least as far as Ellsworth used to have a lot of moc shops. Moccasins and bead belts are what I remember. Mostly tawdry goods. The same shops sold colorful beach towels, and felt pennants with the names of towns-- "Wiscasset, Me." "Damariscotta, Me." But most of those shops are long gone. Now Freeport, Maine is an outlet haven. People come into Maine expressly to shop in Freeport 'outlet' stores that sell badly-made 'outlet' knockoffs of own-label goods, almost everything manufactured in--well, you know where.
(LLBean, I have to say, still delivers the goods at their flagship store, especially the huntin' and fishin' department, where the people really know their stuff, and its still quality stuff. And the LLB bike shop gladly replaced a pair of bike shorts I'd worn out after six years.)
Apart from LLB, though, quality is the exception in Outletville, Maine.
I wish we'd all stop shopping. I really do. It would be good for America. Except for car parts, that is. Used parts. In junkyards.
We need a dose of 'spartan', don't we? Some stringent puritanical spareness. We should all stop communicating so much. Too much talk. Vows of silence are in order. Put down that iPhone.
Be quiet. And stop shopping!
Freeport ME is a mall, posturing as a village. Overweight people stagger about with enormous bags of stuff. I'm sounding like Holden Caulfield here, I realize. And he was, what, sixteen? I know, I know.
People at the dump always seem more cheerful than people at the mall. Why is that, I wonder?
The Volvo wagon is in the Unusually Tall First Nations Person photo to give you some idea of scale, but the car has earned a dose of AL attention. I've been driving it for 17 1/2 years. The V's been across the country several times. I've slept in the back more nights than I can count. The useful thing about sleeping in cars is that if you want to you can wake up in the middle of nowhere; which Steve McQueen thought was a pretty good thing. Old Reliable 850, best car Volvo ever made. Only car I've ever bought (almost) new. Got it when I was at the Macdowell Colony and had just sold a screenplay. Delirious moment, though some people would have difficulty imagining delirious and Volvo in the same sentence. I think mine is the only 850 wagon on this side of the Atlantic Ocean with a 5-speed manual transmission and vinyl seats instead of velour, or that filmy, sticky Chinese leather.
                  And speaking of E.B. White, Stuart Little is one of the best novels about a road trip. Everyone on the road has-or has lost--their Margalo.
Here's some more good writing about driving up into Maine: the novel Evening by Susan Minot.

1951 Buick Roadmaster Station Wagon

Swiss Ranch Wagon: The 1959 Ford Ranch Wagon

Generally 1950s cars don't do much for me, until the end of the decade. In 1959 pretty much everyone went wide, flat and wild. You've listened to me rave about the wide-track Pontiacs. I also loved those cat's-eye '59 Chevrolets, and the weird '59 Buick. That year's Oldsmobile got something strange and interesting happening. Everything got pulled back a bit for 1960 but still 1959-67, those are my favorite years for North American iron.
Lowtech (photo above) is a Swiss guy with an eye. Must cost an ingot a month to keep this thing gassed up in Zurich.