I attended architecture school at Carnegie Mellon University, but graduated from the Industrial Design Department. I never dropped my interest in architecture however most of my work has been in graphic design and photography. My wife is from Venezuela and I worked for an international company for 16 years. In Venezuela they have those long tailed parrots. One year we visited the worlds tallest water fall, Angel Falls (982 meters). At the jungle camp where we stayed they had an open-air "churuata" (thatched roof structure)serving as a restaurant. As we walked past, I looked up and saw a flight of those parrots flying overhead. One pealed off and dove for the building, its wings and talons tucked in for speed. It was at terminal velocity when it shot through the open wall of the "churuata" and flared its wings,reached out with its talons and snaged a roast chicken from the plate of a middle aged matron sitting by herself for dinner. The bird then shot out the other side of the building and headed into the forest to enjoy its stolen dinner.

The lady? I think she is still sitting there with mouth open and hand on her heart. It is one of the great photographs that I have missed.

Anyhow the image of those parrots is frozen in my memory and my reaction is to associate them with Venezuela.