monochrome
I was obsessed with that new TV series, A Discovery of Witches and suddenly, wherever I looked in Venice, I saw vampires, witches and demons… I also realised that there were bewitched places that could be seen only with the corner of the eye. Was it “Somebody else’s problem” (as Douglas Adams would say) or was it mine?
Read MoreOctober is the Celtic month of Ivy and it brings the promise of the inner self and the spiral of life. I read that Ivy’s growth reflects the spiraling patterns of DNA, the gifts our ancestors gave us. For a photographic investigator family is very often a cause for frustration, but this time I decided to see things from the celtic perspective and contemplate on my positive inherited attributes, family traits that have served me well. Made me feel like entering a new, wondrous world…
Read MorePeace and Love were best friends. I was hired to photographically investigate an unexpected interaction between the two of them, in Venice (where else??). For some unknown reason Peace was trying to tear Love’s dress off but Love wasn’t gonna give up without a fight. So she stroke back with a force that lead to uncontrollable laughing on both sides (one side was their’s and the other was mine). And so it came to pass that Peace fought with Love for the first time in known history - and I was there to investigate the fight… Not bad at all…
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 And then, in between my ET and Poltergeist memories there was this unpublished photographic investigation that I did in Giudecca, in May...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 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 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 MoreOne of those typical photographic investigations in Venice, where you intend to investigate one thing and you end up investigating another, a most unexpected one I might add...
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 MoreThere is only one garden in San Giorgio Maggiore, in Venice. And there is no secret under the sun... But that day the sun was shining too brightly and the garden was hidden to those who cannot stand the bright light. So, in a way, it became secret...
Read MoreShe wanted to play Anne Bancroft's role in Jacques Tourneur's film noir, "Nightfall". She knew she could pull it off and so did her producer husband. I had investigated her many times in the past, but this time the investigation had taken an almost metaphysical "colour". "Things that really happen are difficult to explain" her character says at one point in the film and this is how it works. Of course, what is real and what is not, is another investigation altogether...
Read MoreIt was a bad 1984 french film with Valérie Kaprisky. But then, everything that reminds us of our youth is seen through a "summer of innocence" filter, as I call it, that feels like the seventies summer films yellow hue looks like... The past is reinvented every time we recall it, and this was one of these times. It was summer in Venice and I was investigating this delicate and sweet young artist, an ethereal presence that decided to take off her shoes and move playfully... And then I saw them. The medusas. It was the first time they were seen in Venice and everyone thought it was a good omen. The incident had a french Riviera feel to it, just like this old movie. I thought it was a good omen as well.
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 MoreIt was the day of the summer solstice and it was obvious that she was hiding. But not from me. My assignment was to investigate this beautiful woman who denied her divine nature for an obscure reason. She thought she was just a beautiful model but the way the garden embraced and protected her was more than eloquent to the contrary. it wasn't my job to reveal secret stories and I didn't try to.
Read MoreWhen a magical woman mysteriously changes outfits, there must be a hat somewhere, I though. And there it was. Changing things in unpredicted ways... Thank God that my job was only to photographically investigate...
Read MoreThere are many magical women in Venice and they excel in magic potions or spells that could make you instantly rich or famous or internationally admired. And although many people believe in them and visit them every year to renew the effectiveness of the magic they bought, I systematically avoid them because there is nothing about them to be photographically investigated. But there was one venetian witch that had captured my interest -and that of my employers, obviously- because she made magic dresses and corsets that could bind or liberate, depending on the wishes of the client. And she was beautiful. Of course I was the witness of pure magic in her presence, as I saw her magically changing outfits while being investigated. This was the first one...
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 MoreIt was one day before the opening of the Venice Biennale. Only journalists were allowed, so I used one of my fake identities. Not so fake really, since a photographic investigator's job is not so different from that of a journalist's. Anyway, she also pretended to be one. You come to know those things after 2-3 decades of pretending. But she made my work very easy and I was thankful to her not only for this, but for her beautiful smile as well. She knew she was being investigated, but she allowed it. I made a mental note to look her up. A very interesting partnership could be in the horizon.
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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