My name is Bon... Signore Bon.

June 10, 2016 in black&white, film noir, Italy, monochrome, people, portrait, street, street portraits, summer, Venice

My investigation ended because of a misunderstanding that happened in Thailand. They were expecting James Bond and Signore Bon was desperately seeking refuge. You see, he also was a spy, but a coffee spy. He was ruthlessly hunted down by a demented coffee lord in Guatemala because he had stolen the secret of the most expensive coffee in the world. For years he managed to successfully hide his identity posing as a gondolier and a photographer in Venice. That's where I investigated him. I was working for a woman that was willing to pay me his weight in gold in order to get her hands on that coffee secret. And she wanted to keep him alive, which was very important to me - "live and keep them alive" was my moto... It all went well - or so I though. And just when I was sure he had fallen into my trap, il Signore Bon disappeared. I looked for him in vain. I even solicited the help of powerful underground characters of Venice like El Guapo, Il Mister and La Regina that had been my subjects in the past. Nothing. And then, one morning, I received a post card from Thailand. All it said was: "My name is Bon. Signore Bon". Intuitively, I opened the TV. In Thailand they were celebrating Mister Bond's arrival... I knew it was him. I packed my suitcase and went to the vaporetto station. And then I realised I was being watched. I knew it was too risky to ask for El Guapo and il Mister's help... It was obvious I could not follow Signore Bon to Thailand. A photographic investigator has to be faithful to her principles... "Live and keep them alive"... remember? Fortunately my client had payed me a generous amount in advance and I had already explained to her the risks of my profession. I headed to the airport anyway. In my iPod Christina Train was singing "I wanna live in LA"... Why not? I thought... LA it was then... and after a few months maybe Hilo, Hawaii... I always loved that place...

The dark corner

June 09, 2016 in black&white, film noir, monochrome, people, portrait, street, street portraits, summer, Venice

She was my biggest rival's secretary. That meant that she knew all his secrets. The truth is he wasn't really a rival... more of a rival wannabe... I don't have rivals. But I had a difficult assignment and my subject was missing in action... He knew all about her, so I thought it would be easier to investigate his secretary. The secretary is a most important character in a situation where a photographic investigator is involved... like in a film noir. Needless to say, I don't have one. My faithful helpers, Juanita and Lupe do the job. But again, they can't be investigated by my "rivals"... they are cats. I watched one of my favourite film noir movies, The Dark Corner, for inspiration. Lusille Ball was playing the investigator's secretary.

These arms of mine

May 27, 2016 in black&white, monochrome, people, street, street portraits, summer

I have been photographically investigating many things... who would have imagined that arms would be one of my most eloquent subjects?

Caribbean flowers

May 18, 2016 in black&white, monochrome, people, street portraits, summer, travel

This time my photographic investigation was taking place in Martinique and I wasn't complaining… This paradise was once known as "Madinina", that means "island of flowers". And I found plenty. It was one of those "treasure hunt" style photographic assignments… in this case the investigator must find out where the investigation is happening and what she is supposed to investigate. The provided clue was "Caribbean flowers" and for me it was very easy. Having a life long affection towards exotic paradises, I knew all about their history and traditions. And a beer with one's subjects after the end of a long investigation was one of them…

The lost weekend

May 16, 2016 in black&white, film noir, monochrome, people, photographic chronicles, portrait, street portraits, street, summer

It wasn't really lost… it was where it was, I just didn't know where it went.

Weather in London

May 10, 2016 in black&white, film noir, light, monochrome, people, portrait

The job totally depended on it… He pretended to be a performer and the only way to investigate him was to pretend I was a celebrity photographer. It always works. But to do so, I needed sunlight coming through a window before sunset that particular evening. So it all depended on the weather in London that day, because that's where my photographic investigation was taking place. When I saw the clouds parting I knew no force in the 'verse could stop this investigation. The weather in London was agreeing with my intentions... and for that to happen, they just couldn't have been my intentions… I just thought they were. That reassured me even more.

Copacabana

May 08, 2016 in art, film noir, holidays, monochrome, people, photographic chronicles, portrait, street, street portraits, summer, sunset, travel, Brazil

Her name wasn't Lola and she wasn't a show girl... But an assignment that sends you to Brazil is always welcome. Isabel was an anthropologist who worked as a lifeguard in Copacabana... While I was investigating, the group Ordinarius was performing live their wonderful version of "Agua de Beber" and a salty breeze from the ocean was advising me not to start investigating before drinking my caipirinha.... When a sea breeze advises, I always listen...

Santa Fe

May 04, 2016 in black&white, film noir, monochrome, people, portrait, street, street portraits, summer

I was hired to investigate a strange love exhaling group in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It's members were practising love exhaling exercises, under the pretext of the widely encouraged act of smoking. Smoking was cool and "safe" whereas acts of love weren't. The method consisted in inhaling all the pain and misery and the dark shades of the world -or of the surrounding environment- visualising them transforming into light and exhaling then as pure love (although in the eyes of many it looked just like exhaling smoke). One of my favourite assignments, since I love learning new skills while photographically investigating… Which reminds me… I have to go practise my exercises now…

Ramona

April 30, 2016 in black&white, monochrome, people, photographic chronicles, portrait, street, street portraits, summer

Life is a good mexican telenovela. I know, because I love them. So I can't help but noticing that it is based on the same fundamental rules: 1. truth always reveals itself 2. nobody is absolutely without a heart 3. desires come true but are never what you expected them to be 4. obsessions drain your energy so that you will almost certainly need a plastic surgery before the telenovela ends (if it's a long one) 5. beauty opens all the doors 6. in the end, balance is restored 7. it's not real, it's just actors, costumes, a play and a director. Having shared this revelation with you, I'll go back watching Ramona, a great mexican telenovela from the late 90's starring Eduardo Palomo (R.I.P. our beloved Eduardo…). Even the most impartial and dedicated to observation photographic investigator has her soft spots… (Another telenovela characteristic: even though you are just a watcher, you feel affection for the characters. Ramona makes me cry.)

The gondolier's house

April 25, 2016 in black&white, monochrome, street, Venice

It was the day when 6 of my most mysterious and dangerous subjects, Il Mister, The Fox, The Muse, El Guapo, Eleonora Krane and Jackie'O Can had a secret meeting in Venice. A new, seventh member would be introduced to their circle. All I had to investigate was when and where the meeting would take place. My intuition didn't fail me… As I was walking around, I found myself looking at a house. A gondolier's mother obviously had just finished her laundry, I thought, because 7 gondolier's shirts were hanging by the rope… I knew I was in the right place the right time.

Reconstruction

April 21, 2016 in black&white, film noir, monochrome, people, portrait, street portraits

She had a twin sister. She didn't know I knew about it. Which one I was supposed to investigate? I wasn't sure…

Sakura

April 19, 2016 in black&white, film noir, monochrome, people, photographic chronicles, portrait, street, street portraits

The cherry trees were in full bloom and beautiful sakura -cherry blossoms- was all that the eye could see. The sakura omnipresence was so real that it became surreal. My assignment had brought me to Kyoto and my subject was Maria, a fellow investigator who lived there incognito for the last 10 years. In any other place I would have recognised her by her zen energy and poise, but in Kyoto I had to look for the Woman Who Drinks Cappuccino. She was the only one - I am immencely grateful to my loyal helpers Juanita and Lupe, who never fail to provide me with smart clues in order to find my subjects quickly and painfully. By then, I was at the end of a long cycle of investigations and I was really tired… I was thinking that maybe my work was over and my greatest desire was to leave. I met her while the beautiful sound of the traditional Sakura was filling my ears and it was the only music I wished to hear. A strange thought passed through my mind: all I could see and hear was sakura… if only I could speak it too… I opened my mouth and spoke incessantly for 7 hours. Was I saying my last goodbye to my subjects through the painful dance of my vocal chords? (A mexican brujo fellow photographic investigator had once said to me that a warrior investigator always performs a magnificent dance at the end.) I don't really know, I wasn't thinking, just speaking. I knew she was there to investigate me and i was confident she would not be able to… Not with her camera anyway. An experienced photographic investigator knows how to keep her secrets. The only way she could outsmart me was if she carried a tape recorder… Did she? If she did, I would come back only to find out if indeed there was sakura in my speech...

I travel alone

April 16, 2016 in film noir, monochrome, people, portrait, street, street portraits

A just love Noel Coward's song... Sometimes it's hard to say if an investigation is adjusting itself to the music or the music to the investigation. Just another of those things that a photographic investigator must find out by herself. That's why she travels alone.

Hands

April 14, 2016 in black&white, monochrome, people, street, street portraits

Investigating cold coffee drinking people on a cloudy spring day listening to the amazing Dave Holland's album with Pepe Habichuela, "Hands". And realising that there's a lot to be said about hands…

Secret messages

April 13, 2016 in monochrome, people, photographic chronicles, portrait, street, street portraits, summer, black&white

All along this particular photographic investigation, the words from ELO's "Secret messages" were playing again and again in my head: "Those secret messages that spill
Into the air from far away, So far away, A flowing river of illusion, Running with confusion, Never gone - it goes on and on. The secret messages are calling to me endlessly, They call to me across the air, The messages across the atmosphere
They whisper in your ear, they're calling everywhere".

The Panama papers

April 07, 2016 in black&white, film noir, monochrome, people, photographic chronicles, street portraits, street, summer

My only clue was that she used exclusively panama rolling papers for her cigarettes. Things like that may seem insignificant to an untrained observer, but they make an experienced photographic investigator's life much easier… All I had to do was follow the imprint that the smell of the panama papers left everywhere they were used -sometimes for weeks- and wait. As it must be obvious to you by now, a successful photographic investigator must sharpen all of her senses with diligence, discipline and determination with every change she gets so that she is always ready to follow a sensory lead instantly. Of course the objective of my investigation about this particular subject was totally unrelated to the panama papers, but thank god she used them.

Murder by poets

March 31, 2016 in art, black&white, film noir, monochrome, people, photographic chronicles, street portraits, street

Photographically investigating crimes was what I did best. Murder was my favourite crime though…

Spring allergies

March 23, 2016 in black&white, monochrome, people, photographic chronicles, portrait, street, street portraits

A crazy wind was blowing from the South East and everybody knew this meant trouble. In addition to the bad omens of this morning, the wind brought with it too much african dust and the atmosphere was otherworldly… It was also the beginning of spring and the person I was supposed to investigate was suffering from spring allergies. As a photographic investigator, I hate it when my subjects suffer, but I must admit that intense situations make my investigation more effective. A sneeze says more that you can imagine about a person, believe me…

Out of the past

March 10, 2016 in black&white, coffee, monochrome, people, photographic chronicles, portrait, street, street portraits, film noir

"I never saw her in the daytime. We seemed to live by night. What was left of the day went away like a pack of cigarettes you smoked. I didn't know where she lived. I never followed her. All I ever had to go on was a place and time to see her again. I don't know what we were waiting for. Maybe we thought the world would end. Maybe we thought it was a dream and we'd wake up with a hangover in Niagara Falls. I wired Whit but I didn't tell him. 'I'm in Acapulco,' I said. 'I wish you were here.' And every night I went to meet her. How did I know she'd ever show up? I didn't. What stopped her from taking a boat to Chile or Guatemala? Nothing. How big a chump can you get to be? I was finding out. And then she'd come along like school was out, and everything else was just a stone which sailed at the sea". Scenes from one of the best film noir ever made, Jaques Tourneur's 1947 "Out of the Past" were flashing inside my head while I was investigating this "embarrassingly beautiful woman" -to quote one of "Il Mister"'s (my most famous subject) favourite expressions... This time I could not risk the slightest hint about the place or the reasons concerning this photographic investigation, it was too dangerous. But the narration of Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) about his femme fatale Kathie (Jane Greer) seemed most appropriate...

The flight of the eagle

March 02, 2016 in black&white, monochrome, performance, Venice

Or the dance of observing… This performance made me think Krishnamurti's words from The "Flight of the Eagle" (1969): "One cannot learn about oneself unless one is free, free so that one can observe, not according to any pattern, formula or concept, but actually observe oneself as one is. That observation, that perception, that seeing, brings about its own discipline and learning; in that there is no conforming, imitation, suppression or control whatsoever - and in that there is great beauty. Our minds are conditioned - that is an obvious fact - conditioned by a particular culture or society, influenced by various impressions, by the strains and stresses of relationships, by economic, climatic, educational factors, by religious conformity and so on. Our minds are trained to accept fear and to escape, if we can, from that fear, never being able to resolve, totally and completely, the whole nature and structure of fear. So our first question is: can the mind, so heavily burdened, resolve completely, not only its conditioning, but also its fears? Because it is fear that makes us accept conditioning".

Angie Stergio's Photographic Investigations

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