Picture of the Week # 456 "Red Red Red" St. Paul de Vence, France 2017 Signed & Stamped

Having lunch at La Colombe D'or in the South of France, which I might add is one of my most favorite places to eat on the planet, I couldn't help but notice the woman sitting at the next table. Her blue eye liner matched her dress while her hair, a cup and the pitcher shouted out this vibrant color red. I snapped a few images of her and I think she finally realized that I was doing so, so I stopped. But this image reminded me of Cezanne's Card Players. Having taken this and other photos and having another fabulous meal washed down with a nice Chateau Minuty Rose', I left a very happy camper.

Picture of the Week #455 "Sun Worship" Nice, France 2017 Signed & Stamped

On one of our last days in the South of France this summer I was walking with Ann and our friend Teresa when I looked down and saw these sun worshippers. I snapped away and kept walking. I am so used to seeing sand on the beach I thought it was unusual to see all these rocks and people lying on it with just a towel beneath them. I sadly can no longer lay in the sun as I had a slight case of heat stroke when we were in Paestum near Naples. Plus I'm bald and the sun does not agree with me any more. 

Picture of the Week #454 "Hats, Hats, & More Hats" Naples, Italy 2017 Signed & Stamped 

Although I didn't care for Naples, and that's putting it mildly, I did find a few colorful images to record. This was one of them. I found Naples to be filthy, garbage everywhere, the people were hostile and not very welcoming to strangers. We were having lunch at an outdoor restaurant. I was loaded down with my cameras and politely asked the man who was sitting alone at a table for two if I could put my cameras on the empty chair. With great coldness he said "NO!" He sat there eating his lunch and no one ever came to sit with him. That summed up my feelings of Naples as being filled up with assholes. I have no intention to ever return.

Picture of the Week #453 "Rainbow Curtain"  Venice, Italy 2017 Signed & Stamped

I found this installation at this year's Venice Biennale. I thought it was more interesting as a photograph with my shadow hovering over and snapping away. I lost the name of the artist but was impressed by the presentation. It was one of the last installations we saw but it remained one of the more memorable. I was profoundly let down by Mark Bradford's in the American Pavillion. None of us got it and asked ourselves: "Is this the best America has to offer?". We moved on to see some terrific shows especially the photography exhibit in the Polish Pavillion. But the absolute best of the show was Damien Hirst's "Treasures From The Wreck of the Unbelievable". It boggles our collective minds that the show was panned with a review like this: "Damien Hirst’s doubleheader in Venice is undoubtedly one of the worst exhibitions of contemporary art staged in the past decade." I completely disagree and had to remember when Woody Allen said and I'm probably paraphrasing:" 'There are those who do and there are those who can't do, teach. And those who can't teach, teach gym .' Time will tell how the world reacts to this monumental undertaking.