As you probably remember from a previous case story, Dorian K. needed no clues from my mysterious employers in order to be photographically investigated. His photographic investigation always happens spontaneously. In this case my subject was his upcoming book -that he was writing for the last few years- on human coexistence. I believe this is his subject. As I was investigating him I told him to hurry up because I would like to read it - at least I was ambitious to try. A photographic investigator warms herself up before any demanding task, because she needs to always be prepared -as humanly possible, that is. So my mysterious employers -with whom I have a telepathic connection- left for me Julio Cortazar’s “Rayuela” (Hopscotch) in a place where I would easily find it during my morning walk. And I did. And knowing that it’s a masterpiece and that it demands a special way of reading it -following the writer’s instructions about the order of the chapters- I delayed starting it. A photographic investigator’s knows better that anyone that there are no coincidences. Maybe delays -in reading, in writing, in publishing, in everything- are not really delays, but a part of the plan. (My mysterious employers plan, to be clear).
When a photographic investigator wanders in the forest without a subject or assignment, poetry “sneaks in” and overwhelms her. In my case it was the poem “Lost”, by David Wagoner, which became my favourite.
Stand still. The trees ahead and the bushes beside you Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here, And you must treat it as a powerful stranger, Must ask permission to know it and be known. The forest breathes. Listen. It answers, I have made this place around you. If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here. No two trees are the same to Raven. No two branches are the same to Wren. If what a tree or bush does is lost on you, You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows Where you are. You must let it find you.
Editing the last photographic investigation of my beloved subject with the code name "Seven" it came to my mind a comment of the Irish poet David Whyte about "La via negativa": which a notion/practise in the catholic contemplative tradition that, at it's heart, consists in the ability and the discipline to say “no” in everything in your life that is not an enormous "yes". What Keats calls "negative capability", in David Whyte's words, "The ability to open an absence inside you, into which the world rushes".
The clue that my mysterious employers gave me about my new subject was: “Moonlighting”. And for a moment I thought that I had to travel -again- through time and space to find myself in LA during the shooting of one of my most beloved tv shows of the 80’s… Could my subject be David Addison, Miss Dipesto, or even Maddie Hayes? Well, my subject’s name was Maddie, she was just as beautiful as Maddie Hayes and I did not had to travel through time to photographically investigate her. Just like Maddie Hayes was reluctant to start the Blue Moon Detective Agency with David Addison, my Maddie was reluctant to use her popular name, given that her christian name was Adamandia, which means diamond like. I could sympathise and even agree with her, but my love for Moonlighting prevailed.
My new subject was a fire-fighter’s daughter that could make herself invisible by touching a Chinese dragon pendant of mysterious origin, gifted to her by her mother. Her mother was a beautiful inter-dimensional model and the pendant’s power was coming from her. Needless to say that while recuperating from some inter-dimensional displacement (which I have explained in previous blogs that is energy consuming) the dragon’s power weakened. And it’s exactly in such an occasion that my window of opportunity opened. A photographic investigator knows there is no luck, but that don’t prevent her from taking advantage of it!
As you know, a photographic investigator’s special power is the one that permits her to travel through time and dimensions. And although this gives her a great advantage and helps her accomplish her assignments more effectively, sometimes there are complications. One of them is that repeated time or dimension displacements deplete her energy. Another one is that the use of spirits usually messes up with her destination, resulting in her finding herself in a place, time or dimension different than the one planned. It all started with the usual cryptic message from my mysterious employers: This time it was “Margarita”. At the time, I was in an art exhibition in Cuba, having a tequila shot, a spirit that I hate. And with good reason. My assignment was urgent and so I did not hesitate to depart immediately to the given coordinates. Unfortunately, I found myself in Mexico 20 years before the intended timeline and in a dimension where a margarita was a kind of cold coffee, the favourite drink of my new subject. Her name was also Margarita and she was waiting for me out of time, out of dimension and space. Of course, as always, it was all planned to the minutest detail by my mysterious and powerful employers…
A photographic investigator never discards anything… Not old cameras, old cars, old furniture nor old SD cards. Because she knows that at a certain moment a hidden treasure will be revealed in or through them. That’s exactly what happened. Hidden in a SD card were photos -mostly backstage- of an amazing photo shooting of Nicoletta Lucerna’s famous corsets in Giudecca, with my favourite model, the beautiful Luana Ghezzo. It was the May of 2018 - and it seems like yesterday to me. I guess a photographic investigator always misses Venice.
Once again I found myself in Melissi, an inter-dimensional village where photographic investigators rest after long travels between dimensions and timelines and where I personally audition cat-helpers -an essential part of a photographic investigator’s assignments. The new candidates where playful and highly evasive. A good match, I thought…
Seven was my new subject. How did I know? The same way I always do… As you probably know by now, my mysterious employers dedicate their lives in finding imaginative and creative ways for sending me clues about my next assignment. This time it was a telepathically transmitted message in the brain of one of my faithful cat-helpers, Juanita. She knocked seven times with her paw on the head of my other faithful helper, Lupe, during a friendly round of greek-roman wrestling. So I knew that the famous Seven -a mysterious name equally enigmatic as her presence- was my new subject. Because a photographic investigator always uses her intuitive leads. Seven was a poet of Japanese, noble descend, who was brought up by Austrian shepherds in the Alps for her own protection from her parents -poets of the imperial court- enemies. And although she was trained as a cook, her inherited talent in poetry was revealed by her compulsive poetry writing. Her poems were published, shared, read and cherished among fellow poets and writers of noble descend who were living an incognito existence. And by watchers and investigators like me. I will not reveal what secret powers I had to use to be able to penetrate their circle - but I can assure you that I used them wisely. My assignment had to be completed by the summer solstice and the Fates were good to me. I attended a noble poetry reading the night before. I knew though that this assignment would not be the only one concerning Seven.
The oracle was consulted because the situation was unclear. In cases like this an experienced photographic investigator asks help from her Higher Self through her favourite divinatory method. This time for me it was the I-Ching. The hexagram 31 it was then: "The Influence of the Strong Over the Weak". "All success in human relationships depends upon the proper attraction between persons. The leader is attracted to his followers and the followers are attracted to the leader. The strong are attracted to the weak and the weak are attracted to the strong". And the maxim: "When seeking advice, a person must remain open-minded and receptive". Suddenly it was all very clear.
As I was browsing through old carnival photos with people that are no longer in my life and in places that no longer exist, this amazing song by Toquinho was playing in my internal sound system… Escravo da alegria - slave to joy. And as I went to you tube to listen to it externaly as well, in one of the comments I read how Toquinho composed this song: He saw a phrase on a truck bumper that caught his attention and served as inspiration for this great hit. The message said: “If love is fantasy, I find myself lately in the middle of carnival”. The same way that my photographic investigations resolve themselves.
“When you run after thoughts, you are like a dog chasing a stick. Every time the stick is thrown you run after it. Instead, be like a lion, who rather than chasing after the stick, turns to face the thrower. One only throws a stick to a lion once!”
This was the password phrase. I was investigating "The woman without a face", a notorious and mysterious ufologist and ancient civilisations specialist who had recently made a groundbreaking discovery… She was hiding in Plain Sight, a coffee shop that everybody could see but only the password would get you in. It was a 4 shots investigation and I can say one thing with certainty: she had beautiful hands.
This photographic investigation took place in silence while listening to excerpts from a Ilie Cioara’s book - and affirmed itself through itself as power and beauty. He also wrote: “Life is perpetual freshness, in permanent movement, As such, we need to be the same way; A childlike innocence is requested by Existence, Every time, in every circumstance – a priceless purity.”
My new subject, Tatiana, was working in Sorrento and I was there for it’s healing waters, as I have mentioned in a previous blog post (“The healing waters of Sorrento”). As usual, I had no idea about this new assignment, neither did I know that the woman who served me my sour cherry drink every day, was the one I had to photographically investigate. My clue came one night through intuition and via a dj who was strategically placed in the right time at the right bar by my mysterious employers. Intuition made me send a waiter to ask the name of a song I liked and the clue came in a piece of paper. The dj wrote: “Caritas abundant in Omnia” (“Love Aboundeth in All Things”). It was certainly not the song I’ve heard, but the name of a hymn written by Hildegard of Bingen -a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and as a medical writer and practitioner during the High Middle Ages. I knew right away that I had to look around me for an angelic creature. This is the first part of this photographic investigation…
I was sent there for the healing waters. My mysterious employers offered me this assignment as a gift because they knew that my energy levels were depleting after so many inter-dimensional travels. I was grateful but I wasn’t seeing any results on myself, to be honest. But there was this man that me and a fellow investigator had noticed sitting always in the same position in a beach bar that was called Sorrento. We had figured that his indian name was “The one who sits” as we were “The ones who came”. One morning I took a long was after sunrise and I found myself in Sorrento. “The one who is sitting” was coming out of the water and a few seconds later in his place I saw a young woman fishing. And then I knew that I was transformed, because what we see is us, really…
A photographic investigator approaches her assignment with a beginner’s mind. Without plan, without preconceptions, without expectations, without knowledge, without having the slightest idea of what will happen. Than is the only way that a photographic investigation can be true. And that is not a rule, it is an observation.
Photographing people drinking coffee or smoking is a routine for a photographic investigator… Photographing them eating cookies on the other hand is more challenging and a great deal more revealing. One way or the other, most photographic subjects have mastered the art of gesturing while enjoying a coffee or a smoke. Cookies are more unconventional. But I think much more enjoyable both for my subjects and me.
“Too often man handles life as he does the bad weather; he whiles away the time as he waits for it to stop”. – Alfred Polgar . Too often a photographic investigator does acts the same way…
Suddenly this fall everything was changing. A photographic investigator can -under extreme circumstances- manipulate planetary and galactic movements to maintain a situation that requires further investigating. And that was exactly what I was attempting this fall. Seven planets became retrograde in order to stop my subjects from moving into different realities. With no success so far. But a photographic investigator also can recognise when a full circle is complete and she surrenders her wants and needs to the wisdom of the universe.
