Back in October we were involved in an LL Bean photo shoot over on Mount Desert Island. They were basically reconstructing a catalogue cover from the early 1960s, which had a station wagon of the era, canoe strapped on the roof, etc. I'd been recruited to be one of the characters in the scene--I think I was supposed to be "Gramps" though no one actually said that. Anyway, I was given a pipe as one of my props. The most interesting thing from my POV was this nice little Fairlane wagon that they had scouted and had come up from Massachusetts. I have a weird passion for station wagons , especially of that era and especially Fords.
I'm not sure why, but if I could have any car in the world, I would probably want a 1960 Ford Country Squire. Black, with a red interior. Like this one:
But back to LL Bean. As is the way with photo shoots, nothing much happened for a very long time while we waited for the late afternoon magic hour light that all commercial photographers seems to prefer. BB spent some time in the base-camp RV, getting make-up to make her look like some stylized version of an early 1960s mom. I don't think the art direction on this shoot was very accurate; she ended up looking, not early- but mid- to late-1960s, in a very Jean Shrimpton-esque style. No one wore that shade of lipstick in 1962. But I like being married to a supermodel. I also admired the make-up tech's toolbox. There is something very moving and aesthetically exciting about the way professionals in any field arrange their tools.
Sweater. Cap. I looked like one of the old Irish sports I used to see at the Wonderland track in Boston, weekday afternoons, betting on the ponies.
Trucks, cars, highways, landscape, good writing. "You cannot travel on the path, before you have become the Path itself."
PHB
- autoliterate
- Brooklin, Maine, United States
- We own a 1975 GMC Sierra Grande 15 in Maine and a 1986 Chevrolet Custom Deluxe 10 in West Texas. Also a pair of 1997 Volvo 850 wagons. Average age in the fleet is 28 years--we're recycling. I've published 3 novels: THE LAW OF DREAMS (2006), THE O'BRIENS (2012), and CARRY ME (2016). Also 2 short story collections: NIGHT DRIVING(1987) and TRAVELLING LIGHT (2013). More of my literary life is at www.peterbehrens.org I was a Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study for 2012-13. I'm an adjunct professor at Colorado College and in the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte. In 2015-16 I was a Fellow at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The Autoliterate office is in Car Talk Plaza in Harvard Square, 2 floors above Dewey Cheatem & Howe. SUBSCRIBE TO THE AUTOLITERATE DAILY EMAIL by hitting the button to the right.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
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My spouse would like me to be an LLBean model,her friends say I have the look. The 'look' has worked in the past as I have been in a number of commercials and photo shoots on P.E.I.,even on set with Ellen Page(superb actor)My favorite was standing out in a very large field of barley with the sea in the distance for a cheerios commercial.Someone snapped a shot of this scene with an elaborate ARRI film camera with operator and gloved grip on track in the forground.This is now antique as almost no one uses a film camera any more. Most of my work was for P.E.I. tourism which was huge fun,but pretty well all digitally shot,yours,P
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