It was really a pretext so I could get close to her. As usual, I was hired to investigate her. I didn't know why, only that she was a writer and a musician. I had to read her short stories and listen to her music and make her talk to me. What she didn't know was that it was really her pictures that were doing the talking. But I couldn't tell her that. I am often wondering about my employers motives when they send me to photographically investigate someone… I have managed to realise one thing: they know more about my subjects then what these subjects know about themselves. And of course that on the other hand there is always me... That all I really know about anything, is nothing.
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.
That was the name of the 2 girl rock band I was investigating a few months ago. They were very reluctant to have their faces photographed. Not their feet, though… And what would be more appropriate, considering the name of their band? In fact, one of them had indeed new shoes, while the other one was just "hangin' out" shoeless. Coincidence? Nobody will ever know.
“Sitting here in limbo, but I know it won’t be long”, sung Jimmy Cliff and that phrase was the clue for my next photographic investigation. My subject was Zenobia, the daughter of a wealthy family from Chicago who was taking a vacation on a tropical island of the Pacific with a suitcase full of golden coins for her expenses. It was a tradition in her family to pay only with gold, but in this island the authorities in the airport had never encountered a similar case -most of them had never seen golden coins before- so they confiscated her gold until a higher authority decided it was OK to give it back. Until then, Zenobia was living in limbo, spending her days in a coffee shop near the airport, waiting for a new development. I know that my powerful, mysterious employers had the power to arrange for her to have her gold back, but they wanted me to photographically investigate her. So I did it fast, because I don’t like for my subjects to be miserable…
Photographic 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”…
A photographic investigator arrives at certain realisations sooner or later because they hate waisting their time -they are like this by nature. Yet they very often do. And they get frustrated. I mean, what is important is what you think of you. There is a law in life, the law of assumption. You are what you assume to be. Why not assume you are the person you would like to be -for a change? Just to see what happens… If you can’t help yourself how could anyone help you? And why should they… You operate your mind and your mind creates all that exists in your world. Isn’t it time to realise it and stop waisting your life day by day? I don’t know who said it but it made an impression to me: “Most people see life as bad weather: they wait for it to pass”. Maybe stop doing this now? Maybe shut the TV? Maybe stop paying attention to your mind chatter? Maybe stop recreating yesterday’s undesirable conditions? Just a photographic investigator’s suggestions.
An older, unpublished photographic investigation that became contemporary -in a way that only I know- under the light of Lester Levenson’s words: “We should have no wants. Then we are never in trouble.”
Sometimes a photographic investigation takes place in the past but becomes what it is in the present. Which, of course, is all there is. In this case, the present was dominated by frustration and an urgent and desperate need for escape, which of course was a helpless situation - every form of restriction is an illusion and how can you escape an illusion that you have created? Especially when it contains horrific memories of the past and the fear that it is repeating itself… It’s a vicious circle really. In that context, trying to figure out what this photographic investigation was all about, I started browsing “The wisdom of insecurity” by Alan Watts. And the following passage made me stop. And all the desperation and need to escape just collapsed into their native nothingness: “…as a matter of fact, you cannot compare this present experience with a past experience. You can only compare it with a memory of the past, which is a part of the present experience. When you see clearly that memory is a form of present experience, it will be obvious that trying to separate yourself from this experience is as impossible as trying to make your teeth bite themselves. […]To understand this is to realize that life is entirely momentary, that there is neither permanence nor security, and that there is no “I” which can be protected”.
There is an infinite power, a universal consciousness that manifests herself as planets, worlds, people and cities and Venice comes right out of her radiant heart.
“Divine ideas never conflict” wrote Florence Scovel Shinn and I have found that to be very true. So my assignment was to photographically investigate this place called “The Realm of Perfect Ideas” but, as always, first I had to find it. My only clue was: “Mona Lisa wears sunglasses” .I also knew that there would not be the slightest sign of a conflict. So I followed Mona Lisa. It was a coffee shop where people were exploring alternative endings to The game of Thrones saga with great enthusiasm -preoccupation as well. You see, 8 years of a mortal’s life are too much to be lost to a bad, another man’s story… So people begun to write theirs. I always knew that soap operas lead to enlightenment. Now I knew that the same can happen with TV shows with a much greater budget. Ah well…
When Tandoori met Biryani it was a not very cold Sunday, a few days before the new year and the streets of Athens were not as busy as expected. Everything was new and for that reason it was a fine day. Indian food is only eaten in fine days (by photographic investigators, anyway…).
Things 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.
"Pollyanna's door to happiness" is still one of my favourite reads in times of stress, turmoil and disappointment. Yes, it's a child's book. Keeping the Pollyanna principle (seeing always the positive side of everything) alive and active at all times requires great vigilance and alertness concerning one's thoughts and emotions -if they are not predisposed that way. Training myself in achieving the "Pollyanna" attitude has proven straining at times, which is kinda funny, given that this is an attitude that has been proven to increase significantly a photographic investigator's energy levels. We are what we are after all and that's fine. That doesn't stop me from being amazed though by my models' natural inclination to that way of seeing life. A very encouraging thing, surely for "hopeful optimists". Although a hopeful optimist is never an optimist...
A photographic investigator realises, sooner or later, that when one goes expecting a double trouble, they usually find a triple one. There is always a subject willing to be a part of the investigation, which is never a problem for me. Besides, either a subject has been investigated many times or none at all, it's the same. Every photographic investigation is the first investigation. The music of the investigation was hawaiian... Keola Beamer was playing - 'Imi Au Ia 'Oe... "I am searching for you".
Chasing subjects is an every day reality for a photographic investigator. And sometimes the temptation to just let them walk away without being investigated is too strong. Most of the times this photographic investigator resists, though...
Many times a photographic investigator thinks of her investigations and her subjects as dancers in a musical or participants in a mystical party... And the question arises: In case the DJ puts the Age of Love on, would it be the Jam & Spoon or the Stella remix? One more great puzzle awaits for an answer.
In between investigations, listening to the Xanadu soundtrack and drinking black coffee, dreaming of Christmas magic, miracles, abundance of all good things and seeing guardian angels shining their sparkle all around me... But most of all, being grateful... Someone should seriously think about introducing Thanksgiving instead of Black Friday in our little place of the world. My photographic investigations are certainly more fruitful around subjects that are thankful as opposed to subjects that are fighting in order to buy very cheap things...
Astrology for coffee is like sympathy for tea... a perfect match that doesn't exclude the presence of an occasional cigarette which promotes a deeper understanding of the planetary movements. Besides, investigating an astrology reader is always more fun over coffee. My assignment was to investigate the moment of realisation that the prediction were correct, and I think it went pretty well...
