Born investigators do not look for subjects. Born visionaries don’t ask for visions. William Blake could see into the spiritual world, but how would a photographic investigator possibly grasp what he saw? Waking up this smallest day, this longest night, it was William Blake’s “assistance” that I seeked. But alas! It was a bleak poem that I found, “To the winter” it’s called. I guess it’s appropriate for today, the longest night of the world…
From time to time I have come to encounter subjects that had the knowledge of how to shape the things to come. It's simple, really, for a photographic investigator to know how it is done, since their job is to observe, but usually difficult for subjects -who are accustomed to be observed or trying to avoid being photographically investigated. Tomorrow is not a fact, but today is. What you are thinking and feeling now, will inevitably shape your tomorrow. Having a subject consciously shaping her future, was a real delight for me.
Everybody knows about the meaning of Christmas or the Christmas spirit... And while a photographic investigator relies heavily on these great values -obviously for attracting minimum hostility during her festive photographic investigations- what gives her the greatest joy and sense of accomplishment, is, what in the photographic investigation dialect is called the spinning of Christmas or the Christmas spinning. Which is a kind of spinning energy around people or situations that are apparently without interest and which can only be detected by the lens. The sense of satisfaction comes from the fact that while the photographic investigator was submitted to a sometimes slow torture trying to pretend that she relates or that she is interested in her subjects -who most of the time feel equally weird about her too- the Christmas spinning comes to give a different Christmas meaning to what would otherwise be a waste of time.
Sometimes a photographic investigation goes sideways… There is no reason to feel bad. You can always catch some breathtaking, unanticipated shots of a fading, rising or setting sun.
It was the day before the solstice and the day was happy because she wasn't the smallest. Her super small sister was expected tomorrow, the 21st of December and that was celebrated because it's a cool thing to know that you can't possibly get less light. And if you can't get less, you'll get more… I like to think that that's what subconsciously made the people around me so happy in that "bleak midwinter" Sunday. Or could it be the waiting for the longest night?
It is amazing how some of my subjects naturally glow with that light. I love them, not only because they make me happy, but also because this warm, natural christmas light is perfect for photos. No flash needed, ever!
