"Sirius Studies, Roma's hand-bound limited edition book of twenty-one original photographs of dogs in Brooklyn yards and on the borough sidewalks, which he compiled in 1982, is dedicated to a dog: "To Coco, and all the dogs who run off and leave us confused." According to the photographer, his family's first and beloved dog, Coco, had been part of their life for five years, when one day she just plain disappeared, leaving the family, especially Roma, flummoxed. The book features the constellation that includes the star Sirius in silver on the book's black cover (done by Roma with a stencil and silver paint). As the brightest star in the sky, twice as big as the sun, Sirius can be seen from almost every inhabited place on earth and known familiarly as the Dog Star because it is part of the constellation Canis Major. The title is more than a pun; it refers to the important place dogs occupy in Roma's life, and in many people's, as man's best friend."
——Susan Kismaric, excerpted from the introduction for Pictures for Books