Picture of the Week #218 "High Five - Hip Buddhists" Paro, Bhutan 2000 Signed and Stamped

I am working on a series of images that make you smile and I came across this one that I took when we were taken to Bhutan to celebrate my 60th birthday. It was a trip that I will never forget as one would have visiting paradise on earth. The Kings declaration was happiness for all and these sniffling kids certainly forwarded the emotion.

Picture of the Week #217 "Masquerade Madness"  Venice, Italy 2011 Signed and Stamped

Look closely. I took this photo of a costumed Carnival goer at the Venice Carnivale. They were part of the 306 people that I had the absolute joy of photographing full figure in their elaborate and sometime homemade costumes. I have no idea who made this extravagant outfit but I know it was eye catching. I floated their image over a piece of their costume which I used as a backdrop in photoshop. I printed a 44 inch wide by 54 inch high image for my home. That tells you how much I love this. I'm hoping to publish a book of them titled "Carnivale Candy".

Picture of the Week #216 "BarbaPapa Visits the Sistine" Rome, Italy 2009 - 2012 Signed and Stamped

When I was invited to the Sistine Chapel to hear Pope Benedicte's "Address to Artists"in 2009, I was fortunate enough to be able to take pictures anywhere I wanted. After all the Vatican invited me. Two years later we were visiting Rome when I took a picture of the BarbaPapa cartoon balloon floating in a restaurant. I don't know why but I visualized the the two images together. Thanks to Photoshop I was able to realize my vision.

Picture of the Week #215 "Gassed in the Doorway" Pasadena, California 2006 Signed and Stamped

The first Picture of the Week in December 2008 that I posted was of this gas masked statue in a gallery in Pasadena that I took 2 years earlier. That image was of it lying on the floor with a cable running to the electric outlet. For some reason it was later placed in the doorway peering out to the side street. I happened  to go by it twice and recorded it twice. I'm now doing a series of POP photographs and bringing this out of my archives just seemed to be the right time.