Italy
A photographic investigator, constantly traveling through different dimensions and alternate realities must be a pragmatist and follow the feet of her subjects because you are where you land to and you -usually- land to your feet.
Read MorePhotographic investigations, just like their subjects -the people- are never lost. They are always where they are. But very often they found themselves outside of a photographic investigator’s present dimension - but a photographic investigator is an apt dimension crosser. So inevitably they will meet. Just like it happened with this investigation. It was November of 2019 in the planet of Venice, after the great “acqua alta”…
Read MorePhotographic Investigators love to watch old black and white films and thats what I was doing just before i re-investigated a photographic investigation that took place 5 years ago in Burano. My assignment then was the mysterious Jackie O’Can -you might remember her from previous blog posts- and after watching “The Crystal Ball”, a 1943 movie, I was inspired to look for more clues in this investigation. And I found them.
Read MoreLester Levenson said: “What we’re seeing out there is our own mind”. And this is the ultimate realisation of a photographic investigator…
Read More“It’s a carma burner, a quantum mechanics vibration cleaner!” He could see the people who exited it completely or almost “clean”.
Read MoreKrishnamurti said: “Freedom is space and space is order”. In my photographic investigations I have realised that space is owned and cannot possibly be rented. But my assignment was to photographically investigate some art installations in the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, to find out first hand if there was any truth to that statement. As I was following my oblivious subject, what I thought that it was a mind-block proved to be totally liberating. In the complete silence of the installation I realised something else that Krishnamurti has said in The Book of Life: “Having already done everything possible to find the answer, the mind becomes spontaneously quiet. There is an awareness without choice, without any demand, an awareness in which there is no anxiety; and in that state of mind there is perception. It is this perception alone that will resolve all our problems”.
Read MoreSpace 1999 has always been my favourite science fiction TV show. I was 7 years old when it was aired but I remember vividly all the episodes that I watched. Not long ago, I managed to find both series of this amazing TV show and I frequently watch a random episode for inspiration, as every self respecting photographic investigator would do. The one called “Collision course” is about a planet that appearances (and science logic) say that it will crush upon Moon base Alpha (that is stranded in space along with Earth’s moon) unless destroyed with nuclear bombs. But Commander Koening is reached by a being of this planet (in a form of a vision) that explains to him his part in the plot of events: that he is to let the planet touch the Moon base without fear so that it’s inhabitants can reach a higher, purely spiritual level of existence. Koening is struck and convinced by the power and sincerity of this being but finds resistance by the people of the Moon base Alpha who think that he is delusional, possibly from radiation sickness. In the end the cosmic bodies touch and the other planer disappears. The episode finish with Commander Koening saying: “Who could know that a planet in collision course would not collide but simply… touch?”
Read MoreElectra was one of my subjects. She moved to another country in seek of a better life. I photographically investigated her again in Athens, 2 years after her departure and she was more miserable than before, even though her economic conditions were very much improved. I remembered then a documentary I saw an idle summer night in my beach house, about the chilean community in Greece and the greek community in Chile. There was a woman -that at that moment lived in Greece- who was describing her family’s life journey and she was always saying: “Then the crisis came and we moved to another country”. But that happened 3 or 4 times… This came to my mind when I was confronted with my friend’s misery and I said to her: “Problems go with the people, not with the places”. It was revealed as an indisputable truth to me. I didn’t know that Socrates had said the same thing though… I read it this morning. So I quote: “Why do you wonder that globe-trotting does not help you, seeing that you always take yourself with you? The reason which set you wandering is ever at your heels.’ What pleasure is there in seeing new lands? Or in surveying cities and spots of interest? All your bustle is useless. Do you ask why such flight does not help you? It is because you flee along with yourself. You must lay aside the burdens of the mind; until you do this, no place will satisfy you.”
Read MoreShe came from the future just to observe. Her mission had the code name “Incognito”, but how could she be incognito? My mission was to photographically investigate her and I never fail. Perhaps a more suitable name for her mission would be… “Beware of the Photographic Investigator”. But how could it be? Nobody in the future knew I existed. I know, I have checked it out myself.
Read MoreVenice is full of spirits. A photographic investigator who is experienced in psychic photography knows where to look for them and more importantly, how to look… This will not be revealed in this blog post. The only thing I can disclose is that they like to wander in rainy evenings in Rialto, especially when “acqua alta” is expected…
Read MoreA photographic investigator always seeks inner guidance, especially when they are experiencing dissatisfaction from an imposed situation (or what seems to be an outwardly imposed situation -which it never is…). Hexagram 55 came up: Feng=Abundance. “Feng is the zenith of abundance, where something is so full that it overflows. In the image of your overflowing inner reserves, you are not made empty even while you give; this is the way of a kingdom of abundance. The master said: “When the sun stands at midday, it begins to set: be not sad. The fullness and emptiness of life wax and wane in the course of time.” “That which attains the place in which it belongs is sure to become great. Therefore follows the idea of abundance.”
Read MoreIt was a beautiful day in Venice, I was investigating a beautiful woman and her transformations. A trained photographic investigator ends up -sooner or later- realising that beauty is an energy and not a concrete, tangible thing. But her presence cannot be denied once it is perceived. That is why, very often, the most successful investigations are the unexpected ones.
Read MoreIt was the beginning of fall and I somehow got obsessed with the series "Stranger things". Maybe my 80's childhood was to blame, who knows... And then, in between my ET and Poltergeist memories there was this unpublished photographic investigation that I did in Giudecca, in May... What I was actually investigating is not of importance now, only the fact that I suddenly discovered an otherwordly ambiance to it -combined with the fact that the sea weeds made me think of the "upside down world"...
Read MoreThe theme of the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale is "Freespace". Free space is vital -if a photographic investigator (and any other investigator for that matter, but you must be an investigator) wants to achieve a free mind. Greenland's pavilion was one of my favourites. Not only for it's ample space and minimal concept, but for it's purity. There is a kind of mystical serenity that emerges through your core and enwraps you completely when you are walking in pure snow. The purity of snow triggers it. And this beautiful Greenland free space world, gave you the impression of walking on snow... And as a tropical island lover that I am, I can appreciate a good snow walk, believe me.
Read MoreIt was a photographic accident. In the sense that the concept wasn't visualised by the infamous Mister and I didn't steal it -from a different angle though- as I usually did. I never liked concepts, but I wasn't opposed in other people having one -or more. In this case the model took the initiative to fall and in that moment, the venetian monastery where the "accident" took place seemed like paradise.
Read More"You saw me crying in the chapel, the tears I shed were tears of joy..." sung Elvis and one could easily cry of joy in the Vatican Chapels because they were so beautiful. Of course my subject weren't the chapels themselves but the one who found refuge in them. I had a photographic investigation to do but I also had a soft spot for beautiful people blending with beautiful architecture. My subject was pursued not by me, but from a group of mysterious, very handsome men with impeccable white shirts who invaded one day the vaporetto to San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. There was something mesmerising in their elegance and style but also something vaguely dark. All I had to do to find my subject was to follow them and I knew right there and then that this would be yet another one of my investigations that it's course had already changed in my mind...
Read MoreI was hired to photographically investigate another strange Venice creature, another dangerous subject. Her name was Medusa, she also belonged to the infamous secret circle of Il Mister (although not so secret anymore after my numerous investigations and revelations) and, what a surprise, I wasn't told (again) why she was dangerous or why she went by that name. Well, Medusa had the ability to turn men into stone with her gaze -if that as the clue that i was supposed to figure out- but I wasn't a man. And even if I were, well, it would be an interesting turn of events, to end up as a stone statue in one of the most beautiful courts of Venice. She looked at me. I don't think I turned into stone. But then again...
Read MoreIt was a school for little photographic investigators and the main lesson was geography. The reason is that photographic investigators travel very often in space and time and given that the manipulation of time has very often unpredictable results, the knowledge and control of space -in the geographic sense of it- becomes of high importance.
Read More"Juno, the latin version of the greek goddess Hera, rules the month of June, and being the goddess of domesticity, makes June the most auspicious month for weddings". I read that in an old datebook that was sitting on my desk. I like browsing in old datebooks (both for inspiration and perspective) and that's what I was doing. It was a Llewellyn's Witches' Datebook of 2010. I always resented writing a journal, all my thoughts and feelings seemed always funny and ridiculous when I read them later on. So, no. What I liked to do was noting "headlines" about the day (some days, anyway). Like, "Today extraterrestrial weather, dust from the desert makes Athens look like Mars" or "I love him" or "Announcement: I am the new editor in chief"... Things like that. I "accidentally" opened it in a July page and since there was no headline in that page and it was the middle of June, I went back a little and saw the Juno entry. A very dear friend and beloved model of mine got married a few days ago and I knew she was protected and blessed. I love June. It's the month you can have a glimpse of the goddess Juno strolling around in a garden, or sitting on a bench, relaxing. Earthy and divine, at the same time. No doubt about it: "I love June" - this could be a new headline, by the way.
Read MoreThey were coming from another dimension. It's not only I who crosses the curtain in between worlds, it's them to. A photographic investigator can cross the curtain so many times, my energy, as I have mentioned before, was diminishing. For this reason, sometimes it's better to wait for them to come to me. First I saw only one -and then the rest of them followed. It was very much like The "Close Encounters" scene, in the end on the movie. This was not a movie though. And I would not recommend it...
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