street portraits

Watching

Watching

I saw once a documentary about New York. I remember something a Queen's resident said, sitting in the stairs in front of his house, smoking: "You can go around the world meeting all kinds of people or you can stay in your porch day by day, watching people go by... It's exactly the same thing...". I know now this is so true! This photographic investigation took place in la Pizzeria delle Zattere, in Dorsoduro, Venice. 

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Comicdom Con Athens 2017 (It's not easy being a comic book hero -part II)

Comicdom Con Athens 2017 (It's not easy being a comic book hero -part II)

No, it's definitely not easy being a comic book hero... You have to live up to your loyal fan's expectations... On the contrary, it's wonderfully easy to be a comic book hero's photographic investigator. Because when comic book heros find themselves outside of a comic book they are subject to a certain number of restrictions: for example, they cannot use the 90% of their super powers for obvious reasons (one of them being that most of the people around them, actually believe that they see some weird guys dressed up like comic book heroes - which is very convenient). The only super power that is allowed in full force is the power to disappear -for the ones who possess it of course. Not being able to use their powers makes comic book heroes easy subjects to photographic investigators such as I, although this time I must admit defeat, since I lost 2-3 of them by disappearance. Ah well... maybe next year!

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Celebrities

Celebrities

A photographic investigator creates consciously her reality. So, it was a sunny spring Sunday, these guys were there, I wished we were all in LA, J Lo's "My love don't cost a thing" was playing on the radio... You get my point... 

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Coffeelosophie

Coffeelosophie

A relatively new field of philosophy that comprises Zen, positive thinking and stoicism, that photographic investigators, such as I, just can't get enough of... The secret to engage one's subjects of the investigation in coffeelosophic chatter is to present them with a problem of the human existence or situation. And then shoot, trying to be a part of the chatter. It's not easy, subjects tend to get frustrated when the realise it's just a trick.  An experienced photographic investigator always participates convincingly! 

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Light always leads to more Light

Light always leads to more Light

Something that stayed with me since I first read George Mc Donald's beautiful story, "The Day Boy and the Night Girl"(The Romance of Photogen and Nycteris). I quote: "She followed the firefly, which, like herself, was seeking the way out. If it did not know the way, it was yet light; and, because all light is one, any light may serve to guide to more light. If she was mistaken in thinking it the spirit of her lamp, it was of the same spirit as her lamp and had wings". An excellent weekend reading that I strongly recommend especially now that light works it's way to gaining more ground every day... 

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Τhe MM project

Τhe MM project

MM had secret powers. Powers one would call magical or supernatural. When extremely pressured, she could see -simultaneously- visions of 8 different versions (or "parallel realities") of the life of the person that was sitting in front of her. My job was to investigate her thoroughly -therefore to put great pressure on her, psychological or otherwise. I didn't have much time to prepare, so I had to improvise with what I had handy that day. I locked myself in an empty room with her and started to sing all my favourite bluegrass songs  -with vigor! (These first shots were taken at the beginning of my performance, which is why she looks so courageous and cool...) Of course she cracked after 25 minutes, while I was in the middle of one my Alison Krauss and the Union Station's favourites: "Oh My Lord"... It's true I was merciless but at the same time merciful and kinda compassionate... I released her after she revealed to me that in one of my parallel lives I was working as a photographic investigator -and a surf teacher- in the beautiful Caribbean island of Guadeloupe... I needed no more. I released her, knowing that I had to concentrate immediately to my next project: "Switching realities". More about that on a future blog post... 

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Magazines & other routines

Magazines & other routines

Magazines rime with routines mostly because you read a magazine whilst you get on with your usual routine... Having coffee, smoking, laying on the beach or in bed, commuting on a bus or train... Simple things that a keen photographic investigator notices... 

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The Year of the Fire Rooster

The Year of the Fire Rooster

A good year to achieve photographic investigation goals and to investigate interesting, mysterious people... But this is also a year that a photographic investigator like me, who is born under the sign of the Rooster, is supposed to wear always something red -with the option of red underwear that someone gave her as a present- to avoid bad luck. What can I say... I don't like to wear red, so it must be the underwear option. Life was unbelievably much easier when I thought that this would be my lucky year. Now I must ask someone to give me my birthday present in advance. Red underwear... 

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The Golden Girl

The Golden Girl

She was working on a top secret "James Bond" style kind of tracking device that could be attached to a cigarette... Her code name was "The Golden Girl" because she loved James Bond movies and in her leisure time she liked to experiment with golden paint -that explained the fact that all the furniture in her house were painted gold and her shoes always left a golden trace wherever she went. I would like to tell her that she should probably adopt a lower profile -maybe a silver one- while she was working as a spy, but my job was to track and photographically investigate her. Golden vibrations are very powerful, I thought, so she wasn't without protection... 

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The Age of Love

The Age of Love

Many times a photographic investigator thinks of her investigations and her subjects as dancers in a musical or participants in a mystical party... And the question arises: In case the DJ puts the Age of Love on, would it be the Jam & Spoon or the Stella remix? One more great puzzle awaits for an answer. 

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It's magic

It's magic

In between investigations, listening to the Xanadu soundtrack and drinking black coffee, dreaming of Christmas magic, miracles, abundance of all good things and seeing guardian angels shining their sparkle all around me... But most of all, being grateful... Someone should seriously think about introducing Thanksgiving instead of Black Friday in our little place of the world. My photographic investigations are certainly more fruitful around subjects that are thankful as opposed to subjects that are fighting in order to buy very cheap things... 

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