I am not always hired to photographically investigate mysterious personalities. Sometimes my assignments have to do with some secret technological invention or material, informations hidden in peoples clothes or accessories and so on... This time I found myself again in Venice, investigating... a dress. It was made by a revolutionary material, called "Incognito" that didn't need washing or ironing and could stay fresh for a maximum of 10 days, making it the ideal item for medium time getaways or business travel (even vacation). It was conceived to accommodate the ideal of "no luggage traveling", an ideal that I am proud to say that I am a great advocate of, since I love travelling to exotic places only with the clothes I am wearing, my photography kit and my book. I had figured that everything else I could need (mostly pareos, hats, sunscreen and swimming suits) I would be able to buy there. The dress in question was ideal for spring and summer travel and the traveler should be able to carry all that she would need in the large bag that came with it as an indispensable accessory, mostly because women feel secure by caring a bag -being a huge bag carrier myself, this is a mystery I haven't solved yet.
That 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.
That was the objective of yet another assignment, another photographic investigation. Once I found her and I completed my job, though, I realised I wasn't the only one looking for her. Of course once one realises that she is always hiding in plain sight, suddenly there is no need for looking. Anyway, she was here only temporarily, so I had to take advantage of that. I found out that she was heading to a place called Graceland and I decided to follow her there. This place is found in another reality and I didn't know if there was any energy left in me for all this. Time travel and reality crossing is exhausting, it depletes a photographic investigator's vital energy. One of these days I was about to complete my last mission, I knew that, maybe this one would be in Graceland, after all. More about that in the following blog post (if there is going to be one...).
"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...
"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...
Miles Davies gave it another life, but this is a Snow White song and as such it should be sung with snow white faith and snow white impatience. Two things that a photographic investigator always finds in abundance in her young subjects...
The clues I usually get are as vague as this one, so I wasn't really surprised. It was easy to find him and to follow him in an empty hotel. He started going down and down and down some endless stairs. "What could happen?" I thought... Well, I should have asked myself another question -and there are so many... Because as soon as I blinked, in the place of the thin man there was a thin woman. Going down and down and down these stairs...
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".
It was scheduled for Christmas day of 1944 in a New York hotel and, as it happened so often lately, I had to travel in time -again. I was a little concerned because a photographic investigator can safely make no more than 6 time travels in a period of 2 years and this would be my 5th one. I didn't want to waste them in case a grand photographic investigation opportunity presented itself... It would be a crime not to be able to go, but, the truth is that you can never know if an investigation is important until after the investigation. So, I couldn't say no, although I was reluctant in my heart. But I also had faith. Besides, even if it would end up to be a complete debacle, there would be something there for me, anyway. The year was 1944 and I had met the infamous film noir director Otto Preminger in another time travel photographic investigation. We had some good laughs and he promised me that the next time we met, he would let me investigate Gene Tierney right at the premiere of the greatest film noir of all times, "Laura", that was due for that same day. They say it's bad luck to wish for a photographic investigation to fail, but I did anyhow...
There are many ways to communicate and a photographic investigator knows that, although she has chosen to do it through visual stimulation, images and mood, these are the most deceptive forms of communication. But the important thing is to keep the channels open, despite of the importance, truth or value of the message conveyed. The only way to do that is to keep communicating. What will actually be communicated at the end of the day, has very little to do with the photographic investigator's intention or the recipients conscious perception.
A photographic investigator knows that her subjects, hypnotised by the shadows they create, they don't see the All Watching Eye in the projection wall. Doe's she try to alert them?
Mirrors are not always welcome but they are always there, in front of us. Photographically investigating what mirrors can do... Is it the same thing as meditating on the human experience?
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.
Star worlds are created especially for photographic investigators. For practice in between assignments. Their inhabitants are models, simulations, that exist only to serve as temporary subjects. Because a photographic investigator must investigate every day, Otherwise he starts to fade away. Literally.
Angelbirds 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.
It was not too high (the fever), just enough to give me a splitting headache and to make my bones hurt. It was a tricky cold virus that one and I couldn't get rid of it. I had to cancel my current photographic investigations and stay home, re-investigating old cases. Like this one.
There is a space in between shifts that it's size and length in the time/space construct not only is unfixed, but, as anything that includes the concept of time, is very subjective, psychological, even. The job of a photographic investigator is not to unveil it's mysteries, but to fully take advantage of it.
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...
When a photographic investigator wants to get some specific effects on her photographic investigation, all she has to do is feed her subjects psychedelic cookies. They do the job every time.
When 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.
