The Venice Carnevale - easily the world's most beautiful festival, with extravagant and outrageous costumes of the Venetian masks being the highlight of the event. Often, the most beautiful costumes are found in the most isolated and unexpected places. The Phoenix costume is huge, with the wingspan alone being quite a few meters...to spot her in the medieval backdrop of a Venetian palace is an unreal experience. This is truly a fairy tale scene except that every bit of it is real. As with all my travel portraits, no flash, reflectors or tripods are used, just natural lighting alone.