winter

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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Code name: "Amore"

Code name: "Amore"

Her job was to inspire strong and photographically very dangerous men. She was the Muse. In many ways, investigating only her would be like investigating at least five of my most challenging cases. I did it for myself. Sometimes a photographic investigator must go one step beyond to make her life easier. So I befriended her and did my usual thing… She was very cool and relaxed and although everything was going well, there was something alarming in her behaviour. She was too friendly. She was talking constantly on the phone saying the word "Ammmooore" and pronouncing it in this particular way. I thought she was inspiring someone. One of my subjects. But still, I could not shake off the feeling that something was wrong. I went to my hotel room and called one of my collections to check it out. I found out that Amore was a code name for a major investigative operation with the objective to locate all the wandering photographic investigators -like me- and put a constant watch over them. The headquarters were in Monaco. And it seemed that the Muse was the Boss. I found this information very intriguing. We were getting along very well. Perhaps I could offer her my services. But I had the feeling that the Muse was herself one step beyond me. Well… All I knew was that "Ammmmoore" sounded very cool. 

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Me and them

Me and them

Photographically investigating fellow investigators is not easy. But it's something every photographic investigator must do, sooner or later… I have discovered, after many trials and fails, that the method that works best for me is to make them think they are investigating… me. And in the meantime, it's a great opportunity to investigate a more about myself. A little more self investigation can never come too late and can never be too much.

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Cortina

Cortina

She drove a bright red 1969 Ford Cortina GT with white leather seats. She wore a bindi between her eyes and she ordered cold coffee. I knew she was a time machine malfunction visitor when I saw her taking out of her purse a bright yellow plastic toy film camera and started taking photos of everyone around. I stole that camera from her, the moment she handed the DJ a vinyl record with the soundtrack of Henry Mancini's Pink Panther asking him to play "Cortina" -if he wouldn't mind. She dissapeared in a flash, the moment Super Mario, the DJ, touched the record. And this was probably the reason why the record hadn't disappear as well. But when I reached for the vintage film camera in my bag, it wasn't there. "Maybe I am not here either", I thought. 

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Shine a light

Shine a light

It's funny how the lyrics of a song that you randomly hear on the radio or at the end of an episode of your favourite TV series sum up your understanding of a situation, of a day, even of your life. Or gives you a pretty good idea of how you would like things to be from now-on. "May the good Lord shine a light on you. Make every song (you sing) your favourite tune. May the good Lord shine a light on you. Warm like the evening sun", sung the Rolling Stones. And that was it for me... It's true there was already a connection between us, of course. You know, since "Angie"...  

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The spinning of Christmas

The spinning of Christmas

Everybody knows about the meaning of Christmas or the Christmas spirit... And while a photographic investigator relies heavily on these great values -obviously for attracting minimum hostility during her festive photographic investigations- what gives her the greatest joy and sense of accomplishment, is, what in the photographic investigation dialect is called the spinning of Christmas or the Christmas spinning. Which is a kind of spinning energy around people or situations that are apparently without interest and which can only be detected by the lens. The sense of satisfaction comes from the fact that while the photographic investigator was submitted to a sometimes slow torture trying to pretend that she relates or that she is interested in her subjects -who most of the time feel equally weird about her too- the Christmas spinning comes to give a different Christmas meaning to what would otherwise be a waste of time.  

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The day before winter solstice

The day before winter solstice

 

It was the day before the solstice and the day was happy because she wasn't the smallest. Her super small sister was expected tomorrow, the 21st of December and that was celebrated because it's a cool thing to know that you can't possibly get less light. And if you can't get less, you'll get more… I like to think that that's what subconsciously made the people around me so happy in that "bleak midwinter" Sunday. Or could it be the waiting for the longest night? 

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December

December

It's a mystic word. A promise. The first December morning coffee is proven to have magic powers and a trancsedental quality. A photographic investigator finds it very difficult to shoot a subject who drinks her first December morning coffee in black&white. Everything turns into colour. Sometimes you have to resign. Love, warmth, togetherness, friendship, protection are now not impossible notions. Even a photographic investigator must have faith in something...

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