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...
Read MoreOne of the most essential reasons mystery people -the people I investigate- prefer Venice for their activity is that Venetians never use gondolas. They are reserved for the dreadful tourists. So the people in question use them widely. Who wants to look at a tourist in Venice? Hiding in plain site has always been their game.
Read MoreThe 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...
Read MoreOne of the basic duties of a photographic investigators helper is to prepare her boss a good cup of coffee. And Juanita makes it perfect. So perfect in fact that she had offers to work for fellow photographic investigators, one of which, doubled her salary! I had to promise her that we will move to Hawaii in less than 6 months (and to let her explore all day outside) to make her stay with me. Fortunately a cat's sense of time is slightly different than a human's...
Read MoreIt was a beautiful, cold morning in Venice, full of promise. Another thing that stuck to mind was an overpriced coffee in Rialto, but sometimes, crisp, promising mornings in Venice make you want to use the bathroom desperately...
Read MoreA 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".
Read MoreIt 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...
Read MoreThere 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.
Read MoreThis was his code name and I was supposed to photographically investigate him while passing by the infamous Bridge of Sighs in Venice. Ironically, the real Casanova had actually crossed that bridge. But then, Casanova was one of the very few that had managed to escape from the prisons of Venice... That should have made me a bit more careful and alert, but it didn't. So I ended up mesmerised by what was supposed to be the last sight the future prisoners had of the sky and the outside world -and what a world that was!- and my inner ear fell wide open to their sighs and their thoughts. "Ponte dei Sospiri" was the name given to it by Lord Byron, who, like me, was using Venice to escape from uncomfortable realities... There are no coincidences, I knew that, that's why, deep inside, I knew that my Casanova -like the real one- had already escaped, not because he fantasised or dreamed about it, but because it was the only thing to to.
Read MoreA 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?
Read MoreMirrors 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?
Read MoreFrom 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.
Read MoreStar 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.
Read MoreAnother Renaissance code name for another enigmatic and ethereal subject.
Read MoreAngelbirds 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.
Read MoreIt 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.
Read MoreThere 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.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreChasing 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...
Read MoreThe life of a photographic investigator can be "found" in or "described" by Electric Light Orchestra's songs. It's magic. So, today, I guess it's "Heaven only knows" from the album "Balance of Power": Now the sun will shine
And I'm gonna work it out this time
And before the light
All I gotta take is one more night
Heaven only knows, I'm really on the level
Heaven only knows, I'm trying to find a way
Heaven only knows, I'm walking down a straight and lonely road today
