Picture of the Week #308 "A Day At The Beach" Santa Monica, California 2014 Signed & Stamped

This is the first Lightroom image that I have published to this blog. It was shot with my new birthday present a Sony 7 with a 28 to 70mm zoom lens. I did manipulate the image for the first time in Lightroom that my friend Ken suggested I sign up for. There is a huge learning curve to get this right and I am sure that this image will only get better the more I learn. I love the crispness and the depth and the saturation and especially the vignetting. I'm off to China tomorrow and I know that the new images that I'll be taking will be a marked difference from those that I took back in 1980. Or even what I have been shooting along. I've joined the modern age. I'll post more as I move along.

Picture of the Week #307 "A Roman Circumcision" Rome, Italy 2009 Signed & Stamped

I promise this was not posed for me. I saw them posing for their picture and then the swords crossed and I had to grab this shot. I find it very funny and thought it belongs in my "Pictures That Make You Smile" category. I hope it brought a smile to your face.

Picture of the Week #306 "Resting by the Faux Van Gogh" Venice, California 2014 Signed & Stamped

When I was taking these pictures along the Venice walkway, I saw this homeless and toothless man relaxing peacefully under the faux Van Gogh. I snapped a couple of images and went on my way. About ten minutes later a young, maybe in his mid 20's man, grabbed my camera by the lens. Instantly I grabbed his neck and squeezed his Adam's Apple to one side. He was shocked. And frankly so was I. I pushed him back and he let go of the lens. Then said something to me about being an "old man". I quickly responded by saying, "I'm old because I outlived young fools like you". He walked away. I calmly made my way to my car and then thought about what would have happened if he took a swing at me or if he had friends? I got to my car and looked back to see that he did not follow me. My heart did not race nor was I scared, if anything I was proud of myself. I was for a brief instate back in Brooklyn reliving my youth. When I told my therapist a few days later what I had done, she declared that she was proud of me.