Down East Maine [Hardcover]

Van Frank Riper (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

The photographs are splendid—powerful and evocative, and the flavor of Maine is intense.

Review

[Comes across] both the images and the words, as the perfect guest, wonderfully observant and politely curious. -- Joseph Lelyveld, Executive Editor, The New York Times

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Down East Books (January 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089272448X
• ISBN-13: 978-0892724482
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 10 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,597,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Frank Van Riper is a nationally acclaimed Washington-based photographer, author, journalist and lecturer. His current book, done in collaboration with Judith Goodman, his wife and professional partner, is 'Serenissima: Venice in Winter.' A collection of atmospheric black and white photographs and essays, it was published in Fall, '08 to rave reviews both in the United States and in Italy.
A documentary photographer in the tradition of Cartier-Bresson and Gianni Berengo Gardin, Van Riper also is an award-winning writer, having served for 20 years in the Washington Bureau of the New York Daily News, as White House correspondent, national political correspondent, and Washington Bureau news editor. He currently is the photography columnist of the Washington Post, where his column, Talking Photography, is carried worldwide on washingtonpost.com.
'Serenissima' is Frank's fifth book--others include the biography of Sen. John Glenn and the Pulitzer-nominated 'Down East Maine / A World Apart.' During the course of six years working on location in Venice, Frank (who is half-Italian on his mother's side) finally convinced himself that he had to learn the language of his forebears. He finally did and was conversant enough to speak to audiences in Italian during a ten-day, four-city book tour in Italy in May, 2009

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Homesick?, January 23, 2000

By 

Andy (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down East Maine (Hardcover)

Born and raised in Lubec Maine, I grew to love the coast as if it were my own personal playground. As a young lad I would spend my days swimming in the chilly waters off my families private beach, and my nights roasting marshmellows over and open fire. When I was in my teens I went to work in the local sardine factory and spent many days dragging for scallops in the bay.

I moved away from Downeast Maine twenty years ago and I have missed it ever since. I miss the smell of the salt air and the nice cool breeze that always seems to be there. I miss the endless hay fields and the way the trees produce unheard of colors every fall. Most of all I miss the people. They are kind, honest, and carry an accent that could make anyone feel at home.

I bought the book Downeast Maine: A World Apart a month ago and I read it every day. The stories and black and white photos give the reader a true feeling for what it is like living in Downeast Maine. Reading it, I can almost smell the salt air and feel that unforgettable summer breeze. The book really brings me home again. It's wonderfull book!

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Van Riper Shows Us The REAL Maine, September 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Down East Maine (Hardcover)

A summer resident of Maine's easternmost corner, Frank Van Riper goes beyond clam shacks, country clubs and outlet malls to portray how people 'Down East' eke out a living and build a life.

Van Riper, a former White House correspondent for the New York Daily News ably handles both camera and notepad to record vivid, full-frame images of his neighbors. This is fundamentally a book about people, and he has clearly managed to transcend that putoffishness that Maine residents are known for to get their stories alongside their pictures. The text doesn't merely accompany, nor do the photos merely illustrate; they are inseparable components.

There is a timeless quality to these images of people, most seen at work. Only at times does a modern watch or a radar dome on a boat remind you that clams are still dug through back-breaking labor and lobster hauled up one or two at a time. The book was collected over a number of years, and italics note where the subject portrayed died between the portrait and publication -- and you feel the loss.

This is serious documentary, with more than a hint of Walker Evans and Sebastián Salgado, but with light touches as well. Van Riper devotes a page to the peculiar delight of Maine's own Grape Nuts ice cream, a confection that predates -- and in his view, outrates -- Ben and Jerry's chunky conglomerates.

A visually stunning series of what happens when a dead whale washes ashore in his small town of Kennebec closes out the book. The sharply mottled skin of the whale amid the wash-fade of a foggy illustrate the beauty of his corner of Maine, as Van Riper also tells us of hard choices a financially strapped, self-reliant community must face as it struggles to get rid of what is, after all, tons and tons of rotting flesh.

This sensitive portrayal proves that what it means to be from Maine has nothing to do with what bottled water you drink.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lasting images from a superb photojournalist/writer/artist, August 8, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Gilbert, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down East Maine (Hardcover)

Frank Van Riper captures, in his portraits of Maine, the people that he has come to know slowly (is there any other way in Maine?) through his photo excursions to the northeast.

His "moment" photographs are some of my favorites, including the photo of the boy at the pie-eating contest. It's an ageless photograph captured with precision timing and artful composition. These are traits of photographs throughout the book and share the essence of great documentary photojournalism--the ability to capture a simple (almost unseen) moment with artisitc and historic sensibilities. Van Riper captures this quiet beauty in medium format which lends itself to the superb reproductions.

Van Riper's fine images coupled with his words showcase his great ear for telling dialogue honed during his "other" career as a newspaper writer.