street portraits

Neither artifice nor evasion

Neither artifice nor evasion

The clue about my new subject came with the wind. It was expected through the mail, but after an unprecedented explosion in the post office -a product of overwhelming anticipation for the upcoming Chinese New Year, the year of the Dragon- the wind took over the deliveries that the fire failed to eliminate. Only a small piece of half burned paper had survived, with the words: “Eyes with neither artifice nor evasion”. It was one of the more clear clues that I had received for a long time. I knew exactly where to find this amazing subject. The Year of the Dragon was approaching promising not to disappoint…

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Cookies and cream

Cookies and cream

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. 

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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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Suddenly this fall...

Suddenly this fall...

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.

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Call off the search

Call off the search

When a photographic investigator who discovers her subjects following clues that arrive at her doorstep by mysterious ways receives a note that says “Call off the search”, what is she supposed to do? Maybe stop looking and realise that her subject is closer to her than she could have ever imagined.

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Take the L train

Take the L train

My new assignment arrived while Dave Brubeck was playing “Take the A train”. My faithful companion brought me a piece of paper that said: “Initial”. In the life of a photographic investigator everything is interconnected and the course of the investigation -as well as it’s subject- are revealed by themselves without the necessity of thinking or wondering. The reason behind it always remains unsaid, though. But I am OK with it. Anyway, I knew that I had to replace the “A” with another letter and that that letter would be the initial of my subject’s first name. My intuition told me that was an

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Woman on the run

Woman on the run

My subject was witness to a miraculous manifestation. And although the words “manifestation” and “law of attraction” are very widely used and invoked today, very few people actually believe that they work -this is probably why they prefer giving endless lectures about it. But some people can do it, and those people prefer keeping it a secret. So when I was hired to investigate an actual witness to a magical appearance of a mansion -the way Aladin’s lantern would do it- I knew that my subject was on the run and that the time I had was limited…

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Sitting here in limbo...

Sitting here in limbo...

“Sitting here in limbo, but I know it won’t be long”, sung Jimmy Cliff and that phrase was the clue for my next photographic investigation. My subject was Zenobia, the daughter of a wealthy family from Chicago who was taking a vacation on a tropical island of the Pacific with a suitcase full of golden coins for her expenses. It was a tradition in her family to pay only with gold, but in this island the authorities in the airport had never encountered a similar case -most of them had never seen golden coins before- so they confiscated her gold until a higher authority decided it was OK to give it back. Until then, Zenobia was living in limbo, spending her days in a coffee shop near the airport, waiting for a new development. I know that my powerful, mysterious employers had the power to arrange for her to have her gold back, but they wanted me to photographically investigate her. So I did it fast, because I don’t like for my subjects to be miserable…

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The daughter of the King

The daughter of the King

My new subject was powerful. She had the ability to transform herself into anything she wished to -organic or inorganic- and she could also transform others. Her power had it’s source in the unshakable conviction that as a daughter of a powerful king she could have all of her wishes fulfilled. And she had a preference in the art of transformation… A photographic investigator must be careful in situations like this one, where a wrong look or word could transform them into a cucumber or an umbrella… So I walked carefully into my new assignment, being alert and ready at any time to push the button of my inter-dimensional wrist watch.

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Cats

Cats

My two faithful helpers, Juanita and Lupe are cats. When my assignments demand that I travel to another place or another dimension, they obviously cannot be with me - there are so many things that they have to take care at our own base. But they always give me a specific assignment that includes photographic investigations of the cat populations of every new place or dimension in order to find more cat individuals that would possibly alleviate some of their work load. Lately Juanita and Lupe complain that they work too hard and they claim that they deserve their own helpers. A photographic investigator is nothing without her faithful helpers. So their wish is my command.

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The influencer

The influencer

Some subjects never cease to be subjects of a photographic investigation. It is not in their nature. He was elusive to me for four long years. In the past he was known as “Julian” or “The Mexican” and he was the protagonist of some very interesting assignments of mine. My sources informed me that presently he was going by the name “The influencer”. A photographic investigator never says goodbye to her subjects no matter how many alter egos they have -and she investigates them until she is called to another photographically investigating dimension.

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Louitina

Louitina

A photographic investigator realises sooner or later on her constant journey that she is a traveller. A traveller who is eager to reach her destination quickly, does not look back to see by what road she has come not does she ponder about what she has seen on the way or what she has gained by it, says Sri Anandamayi Ma. Exactly like that, she advises, thoughts of the past must be cast aside in the aspirant’s life.

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Leaving Disneyland

Leaving Disneyland

A photographic investigator suspects from the beginning that she operates in a make believe world and tries to capture it’s aspects. But there comes a time when suspicions become an undeniable reality and the confinements of Disneyland seem to close in on all its characters. A photographic investigator knows then that it is time to make use of her freedom pass and leave Disneyland.

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The van

The van

The clue for this photographic investigation was “The van”. Fortunately, an experienced photographic investigator is used to think out of the box and rarely takes her clues literally. It was very easy to locate the miniature van and photographically investigate the subject behind it. Not that I am complaining, but sometimes I think that my mysterious -but very generous- employers need to challenge me a little more…

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The movie and the screen

The movie and the screen

A photographic investigator sooner or later realises that there is a distinction between the screen upon which a movie is projected and the movie itself. Many things happen in that movie and many feelings are evoked to the poor viewer, but the screen remain unchangeable. In times of pressure or general fear and anxiety, a photographic investigator always reminds herself: “Nothing real can be threatened, nothing unreal exists…”

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Matron

Matron

In dark times shamans had to protect themselves under an energetic cloak. Likewise, good witches had to disguise themselves in darkness, in order to awaken in us, undetected, the sparks of love and light that connect us to the divine. To be photographically investigating one of these exceptional creatures was a rare privilege and I enthusiastically took the assignment, disregarding the ensuing depletion of my energy - inter dimensional photographic investigations tend to have that effect on me…

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