Congratulations to Masako Fujinami of Dallas, the winner of the Flickr Photo of the Week contest! This is Masako’s second win; she previously won way back in November 2009 for this towering photo of the Wyly Theatre.  She follows last week’s winner, Bryan Varner.

If you would like to participate in the Flickr Photo of the Week contest, all you need to do is upload your photo to our Flickr group page. It’s fine to submit a photo you took earlier than the current week, but we are hoping that the contest will inspire you to go out and shoot something fantastic this week to share with Art&Seek users. If the picture you take involves a facet of the arts, even better. The contest week will run from Monday to Sunday, and the Art&Seek staff will pick a winner on Monday afternoon. We’ll notify the winner through FlickrMail (so be sure to check those inboxes) and ask you to fill out a short survey to tell us a little more about yourself and the photo you took. We’ll post the winners’ photo on Wednesday.

Now, more from Masako:

Title of photo: I Am So Orange

Equipment used: iPhone G4

Tell us more about your photo: When I saw this balloon installation, I was at the lower gallery of the Nasher Sculpture Center for the Oral History of Texas Architecture Project Symposium on March 26. It was so much fun, not just swimming through 9,000 golden balloons that fill a gallery more than 8 feet high, but also taking photos and video of people having a blast.

Putting myself in the balloon field was an entirely different experience. The smell of balloons, the sound of balloons rubbing against me, or gentle balloon hugs all over my body. I picked up a popped balloon from the floor. I did not know what it was at first, but realized it was a balloon who lost its air.

I felt sad, like I lost something. All my senses soared, as if running in high gear.

I had a very stimulating experience with this installation, “Half the air in a given space,” by Martin Creed. The art inspires me to take self-portraits – I feel like becoming a part of the art.