coffee
Photographing people drinking coffee or smoking is a routine for a photographic investigator… Photographing them eating cookies on the other hand is more challenging and a great deal more revealing. One way or the other, most photographic subjects have mastered the art of gesturing while enjoying a coffee or a smoke. Cookies are more unconventional. But I think much more enjoyable both for my subjects and me.
Read MoreAnother photographic investigation, another mystery with a code name… This time my subject was a renown spacecraft designer and the possessor of a classic greek beauty.
Read MoreIt was the afternoon of a busy day and my photographic investigation was taking place without me being fully aware of it, surrounded by the beautiful sounds of blackbirds and the sounds of the birds that I could hear in Takashi Kokubo’s album “Jamaica” that was the soundtrack of this assignment. Zenobia was tired and lacked oxygen. I didn’t go to the Jamaica soundscape to investigate, but I did it anyway.
Read MoreA few days before the lockdown, I was reading James Allen’s “As a Man thinketh”, a book that proved to be very helpful during the photographic investigation that took place then and the results of which you see here. The following quote reflects accurately the spirit of the investigation… “Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow, he then becomes the rightful master of himself. The outer world of circumstance shapes itself to the inner world of thought, and both pleasant and unpleasant external conditions are factors which make for the ultimate good of the individual. Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself.“
Read MoreThat is the main question that’s popping in a photographic investigator’s mind in days where photographic investigations are an underground activity and mysterious viruses infect mysteriously a mysteriously large percentage of mysteriously selected parts of the planet. Being a big Doctor Who fan, I am one of those photographic investigators that wonders… But, the thing with The Doctor is that he is probably here working on the situation, but we have missed him just because we were looking for him. So I am reviewing some of my latest photographic investigations just in case my camera took a glimpse of him without me noticing. It happens very often…
Read More“But everything exposed by the light becomes visible--and everything that is illuminated becomes a light”. Ephesians, 5:13. (Sometimes a photographic investigator has nothing to say).
Read MoreA photographic investigator knows that the most extraordinary things happen in what most people call “ordinary moments”. But then, there are no ordinary moments - you have figured that out by now, haven’t you? So extraordinary is ordinary. And vise versa. And although my most prestigious and mysterious assignments take place in exotic or hidden or even mysterious places, in reality my best photographic investigations happen in between assignments…
Read MoreShe was beautiful and dangerous. And she knew about coffee. She was a coffee spy, and although she wasn’t my first spy-subject, Ia must admit she was very elusive. Her name was Xena, she was worthy of the name of the the Warrior-Princess and not only I photographically investigated her successfully, but I got her to make me a coffee as well!
Read MoreI always have mixed nuts with my coffee during a photographic investigation… Another one of my secrets revealed…
Read MoreThings had changed. A trip to Graceland wasn't a romantic fool's dream anymore... You see, Graceland had passed in the hands of a mysterious organisation that made it invisible to this dimension -unless you had a very special map. And this map wasn't so easy to find. I was photographically investigating a courageous group of Graceland explorers who thought that knew where to find that map - I was after the map myself.
Read MoreThat was the name of her destination, a place one could travel to without moving, since it was in another dimension. I have done so many trips of that sort in my photographic investigations career that I was reluctant to follow. Interdimensional travel is very dangerous for the life of the photographic investigator because it depletes -in a very rapid rate- the vital energy supplies. I didn't have much of them anymore. But a photographic investigator can't just sit and preserve whatever energy she has left. It's like being dead already. "You never know which one could be your last investigation" I thought to myself. It might as well be this one.
Read More"Shy coffee" is a code name for a very common situation in the photographic investigation business. It informs the photographic investigator that it's subject knows that is being investigated, and that she also thinks she knows why that happens. So the subject acts with a certain kind of controlled shyness and openness at the same time, making the photographic investigator's work easy. Of course all this is just a decoy. She is being investigated for a completely different reason, one that she can't even grasp. But deception is all there is anyway, so to not be using it would be out of this world. This photographic investigator is not at all against that notion -except she has 2 faithful helpers to feed: the infamous Juanita & Lupe dynamic duo... The things we do for love...
Read MoreOne of the basic duties of a photographic investigators helper is to prepare her boss a good cup of coffee. And Juanita makes it perfect. So perfect in fact that she had offers to work for fellow photographic investigators, one of which, doubled her salary! I had to promise her that we will move to Hawaii in less than 6 months (and to let her explore all day outside) to make her stay with me. Fortunately a cat's sense of time is slightly different than a human's...
Read MoreFrom 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.
Read MoreAngelbirds have the ability to take human form and enjoy a morning or afternoon coffee in a coffee shop, their personality being best described as "lonely in a crowd". Having an angelbird as a totem usually means that spiritual advancement for the person in question is achieved by keeping distances from people, not in complete solitude, though. Relationships can provide valuable catalysts, in a sense that they accentuate the importance -and inevitability- of distance. Angelbirds are beautiful and graceful, they are described as the "ballerinas" of the bird kingdom and I was so happy that I had to investigate one. In it's human form, obviously. Which is not so easy... While I was investigating, the mystical sound of "Raven medicine" by Byron Metcalf was playing on my iPod... Mystical.
Read MoreWhen the subject of the investigation is the coffee itself, an experienced photographic investigator knows how to read the signs. The expressions, the way of sipping it, the looks and the direction of the eyes, a hidden smile... They all reveal so much about how the rest of day is going to unfold.
Read MoreLight can disrupt the darkest shot, whereas dark can't do the opposite. Another great truth an experienced photographic investigator inevitably finds out...
Read MoreOne of my subjects once told me that the secret to longevity is "good thoughts, good company, sunshine and a glass of red wine -or maybe a good coffee"... I don't know if it's the secret to longevity, but it certainly makes my photographic investigations a lot more fun...
Read MoreA relatively new field of philosophy that comprises Zen, positive thinking and stoicism, that photographic investigators, such as I, just can't get enough of... The secret to engage one's subjects of the investigation in coffeelosophic chatter is to present them with a problem of the human existence or situation. And then shoot, trying to be a part of the chatter. It's not easy, subjects tend to get frustrated when the realise it's just a trick. An experienced photographic investigator always participates convincingly!
Read MoreLiving in a tropical, exotic haven has serious implications for a photographic investigator who needs to be constantly on the move in order to be sharp and alert... makes her want to find refuge at all times to the nearest beach, while the truth is that there is no real refuge in any place of the earth -just occasional comfort... Some thoughts that crossed my mind while I was reflecting on the possibility to accept a long term engagement for a series of photographic investigations in Europe which, let's face it, is not an exotic place... My horoscope encouraged me to embrace change, so, I'm thinking about it...
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