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Don't look now

Don't look now

Venice and a red coat. Nicolas Roeg 1973 movie comes to mind… I'm still a great deal scared of Venice because of it. My subject had a red coat and was always looking at something: a camera, a cell phone, an art installation or something strange (that explain's why she was looking at me). It just made me wanna shout: "Don't look now!" but instead I took some shots. 

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One becomes Two

One becomes Two

Before Two becomes One (look at previous post), there are times, when you walk along a street, that you can catch with the corner of your eye a One that becomes Two. The important thing to remember is that you can see it only with the corner of your eye, because this action is the beginning of much trouble - and in life we can catch these decisive moments only when we are not looking straight at them.

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Expressions

Expressions

There is much and at the same time nothing at all to be said about the power of the facial expressions. For the photographic investigator, it's a full time job. For the lover of the human experience and human nature, a challenge. And for some, a powerful tool. The latter ones are usually the subjects of my investigations… 

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On the subject of beauty

On the subject of beauty

There is nothing to be said, really. Beauty is like true art: it makes you stop, dissolves your thoughts, makes you look at things like a child looks at things, with eyes wide open, receptive, with no preconceptions, like for the first time. Some of my subjects have that meditative effect on me… they make me see connections between everything that exists… Put the blame on me...

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The fantastic smile method

The fantastic smile method

During my photographic investigations I came to the conclusion that the easiest way to get a fantastic smile is to get very close. Because a fantastic smile is one that cannot be helped and therefore cannot be faked. I would advise, though, my fellow photographic investigators to use their intuition before getting too close. Because what in one person could trigger a smile, in another one could trigger a reflex movement of an arm or leg due to the fear of being forced to give a fantastic smile. And this could have catastrophic consequences on a PI's camera. 

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The Italian connection

The Italian connection

When an iconic photograph of a famous, but relatively newly discovered photographer disappeared from Momma, New York's top art curators knew for the first time what real panic felt like. I was sensing their fear. I could feel it in my bones. I admit it felt kinda nice… I knew it was a matter of time before the phone rang. And it did, later that night. The Italian connection was on. Of course, I have suspected that too… The only woman -the only person to be more accurate- in the western world that could retrieve a lost art treasure in less than 48 hours, was coming to Athens. It was believed that the photograph was there. I was hired -as I usually am- to follow her and document her work, without her knowing who I really was… What else was knew? Was I working for Momma? Was I working for the smugglers? You will never know.

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Waiting in Venice

Waiting in Venice

Waiting is never easy… especially if you don't like it. I usually shoot my subjects in B&W but this time my subject was missing. I was doomed to wait and wander. Things could be worst, I thought… I could be in any other city of the world… But I was in Venice. I decided to have some fun. Intense colours seemed appropriate. I took the chance, hoping my clients wouldn't hold it against me. How would they know, anyway? 

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The man in between

The man in between

He was there, no doubt about that, but it was obvious to me that he was a projection from a parallel dimension. In my photographic investigations I have come very often across incidents like that-some call them "accidents", but not me. I knew how to recognise the "trespassers". The trick was to look at them with the corner of your eye. Then you could see them standing in both places. Everywhere and nowhere. I shot him. That was my job. 

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"New shoes & hanging out"

"New shoes & hanging out"

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.

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Windows and walls

Windows and walls

I was killing time between cases, so I decided to take a walk around Acropolis, in Athens. The title is just  a Dan Fogelberg song that I was listening inside my head when I was taking these shots… It could very well have been something like "in the shadow of Acropolis", but what can you do? A P.I.'s mind is weird, to say the least… 

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I met Sunday, she's a girl

I met Sunday, she's a girl

... She didn't know she was the kind of girl you meet in a film noir's hot summer day passing through a gas station or a general store, the kind of girl you ask for directions, or if she has seen the guy you're looking for… She didn't know she was the sunny kind of girl that fate had put in that particular spot as a last  effort to make you abandon the search and go back… Because if you are a film noir hero, when you find what you're looking for, you wish you didn't… Her name was Sunday and that proved that there are no coincidences...

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