Eastern Europe

[Out to Lunch]

Shopping at UNIC, the only surviving former Soviet style department store in Chisinau, Moldova. The venue of choice for a pair
of porcelain dogs. April 2008.

 

[Erik van Straten]

Some time ago I saw another of your pictures, portrait format, a child on the bottom left of the frame, possibly sitting on a electricity pole (not the one you have posted already) - I can't remember that details as I cannot find it any more. I believe it must have been from the same series.

I've been looking, but I can't find anything like this either! I've been looking also on my flickr-account with scans of the negatives.

This is my flickr-account with prints, if you want to look yourself: https://www.flickr.com/photos/erik_van_straten/page1

Erik.

 

[p.giannakis]

I've been looking, but I can't find anything like this either! I've been looking also on my flickr-account with scans of the negatives.

This is my flickr-account with prints, if you want to look yourself: https://www.flickr.com/photos/erik_van_straten/page1

Erik.

I might be wrong - if i find that picture i will let you know.

 

[johannielscom]

Former Communist Conference Center Buzludha, Bulgaria, 2011​

 

[David Hughes]

I do like looking at these photos as nowadays everywhere you go you see the same bland, homogenised, perhaps plasticy, shops, offices and houses.

And the shops all sell the same boring chemically enhanced stuff...

Regards, David

 

[p.giannakis]

Lubon - June 2011
Kodak Tri-X in Rodinal (1:50)
Canon EOS 300V -EF 50 f/1.8

 

[Rangefinder 35]

Warsaw, Poland 2007.

[/url]2007_08_Warsaw POL_03 by P, on Flickr[/IMG]
Contax G2, 28/2.8 G Biogon, Velvia 50

 

[Out to Lunch]

The venerable Volga, Chisinau, Moldova.




A GAZ 53 from Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod). Apparently, Ford built the truck plant in 1932. This one was parked near a farmer's market in Chisinau, Moldova.

 

[Rangefinder 35]

Movie extras on a coffee break. Warsaw, Poland.

[/url]POL_Warsaw_042 by P, on Flickr[/IMG]
Contax G2, 21/2.8 G Biogon, Velvia 50

 

[p.giannakis]

The post office in the small village of Kuzniczka in Poland. I took this picture in 2007 with an old box camera. Notice the numbered post boxes on the bottom of the picture - every house in the village has a postbox. People had to travel to the post office to check their postboxes as there was no postman in the village to deliver the mail.

 

[Out to Lunch]

'The Gates'. A large scale Soviet era housing complex in the suburbs of Chisinau. August 2006. During Soviet times, all real estate was the property of the state. People were
allotted housing by the state and paid low rents. The government would take care of all the public areas. Immediately after the collapse of the USSR, housing was privatized and
the delimitation of private and public space became absolute: you take care of your property and no one takes care of what surrounds your property. And so within these apartment
blocks you'd find well appointed flats but to get there you'd have to cross neglected parks and gardens and smelly hallways.

 

[valdas]

'The Gates'. A large scale Soviet era housing complex in the suburbs of Chisinau. August 2006. During Soviet times, all real estate was the property of the state. People were
allotted housing by the state and paid low rents. The government would take care of all the public areas. Immediately after the collapse of the USSR, housing was privatized and
the delimitation of private and public space became absolute: you take care of your property and no one takes care of what surrounds your property. And so within these apartment
blocks you'd find well appointed flats but to get there you'd have to cross neglected parks and gardens and smelly hallways.

That is not entirely correct. Some property was so called “cooperative” - people were paying a type of mortgage for a number of years (my parents did). After the USSR collapse this type of property did not need to be privatized (which meant paying for it some amount), it was automatically private. What happened with public and private spaces after the collapse of USSR varies very much by country. Moldova is a very poor country. But it is not the outcome of USSR collapse (it’s bad management, corruption, lack of reforms etc)- look at Baltics where by GDP per capita those countries have now overtook some older EU Members in the south.

 

[Out to Lunch]

But it is not the outcome of FSU collapse

I never said that it was. Cheers, OtL

 

[valdas]

I never said that it was. Cheers, OtL

I was referring to the statement that all real estate was the state property. Of course, the collapse of USSR, not FSU, my bad.

 

[p.giannakis]

Poznan, Old Town - Poland

Kodak Tmax-400 in HC110
Olympus MJU-II

 

[Erik van Straten]

Poznan, Old Town - Poland

Kodak Tmax-400 in HC110
Olympus MJU-II

Yes, those Polish girls!

Erik.

 

[p.giannakis]

Yes, those Polish girls!
Erik.

Tell me about it - i live with three of them...

 

[gaheris]

Just want to say what wonderful photographs you have ladies and gentlemen. Very grateful for the wonderful work showcased here. Inspired.

 

[p.giannakis]

Two girls playing hide and seek in the lake Lipno in the city of Steszew. These wooden huts were popular holiday resorts in the 70's and 80's but fell into disuse in the 90's. Recenty the local council has started renovating the area giving it back a bit of it's former glory.

Steszew - August 2017
Kodak Tmax400 in HC110
Olympus MJU-II

 

[Out to Lunch]

Tunari, Romania. December 2013. Fuji X-Pro1 - XF 2.8/14 R.