I arrived there by bus in the evening, just before sunset. The scenic route side by side with the setting sun was magical and that made the prospect of next day’s visit to the Maya ruins of Campeche even more wondrous… It wasn’t clear to me whether I would meet my subject in the mayan pyramids or in the hotel itself. The view was beautiful though and the smell of the sea compelled me to stay in the terrace. I found my subject when I went to the ground floor bar to ask for some coffee…
Venice is full of spirits. A photographic investigator who is experienced in psychic photography knows where to look for them and more importantly, how to look… This will not be revealed in this blog post. The only thing I can disclose is that they like to wander in rainy evenings in Rialto, especially when “acqua alta” is expected…
Newblood was the name of a nano-device that was injected in the blood and roamed around the body through the circulation. It’s objective was hidden from the public - we -the photographic investigators- though, knew that it was designed to intercept our access to the true essence of our subjects and thus make our assignments useless. They didn’t know off course that we had already devised an “antidote” -the nature of which I am not allowed to reveal (for obvious reasons). So, no harm done…
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.
It 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.
One 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...
"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...
There 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...
It 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.
So many times I have talked about the dangers of moving too often between dimensions and time lines when photographically investigating people, stories, possible events or concepts, like I do. And God knows I had passed the limit. If anyone would have asked at any time, I would've completely rejected the possibility of doing it again, unless for going back to pre colombian Peru or pre captain Cook Hawai'i. Well, I did anyway it for Athens, my home city, a place I usually hate, a place I am bound -don't ask me by what- to return to. Of course the reason wasn't real, it was just a department store's spring window decorations. But what is real anyway?
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.
"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...
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".
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.
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.
The good thing about the states of mind (there are many bad ones as well, but I am not focusing on them) is that you can be in them whenever you want -which in the venetian state of mind case is constantly. A photographic investigator also knows that being constantly in a state of mind transports you physically to the place that this state of mind is connected with. Travel or relocation is a lot easier and faster this way.
