our l'il cuppy-uppy-up cake

I have to say that having a little munchkin in the family changes everything. Especially a really cute one like my niece. *grin*

We'll start with her *cheese* pose.. everytime we tell her to say cheese, this is what she'll do..

her new best friend, the penguin..

making faces at me.. and being all shy at the same time..

my all time favourite.. is she cute or is she cute?

manja-ing my bro... yup, she definitely has him wrapped around her l'il pudgy finger..

and of course, she loves being behind a camera as well.. i guess an interest of photography runs in the family.. hehe.. at least the later generations.. she had to resort to taking her granpa's photo with her daddy's phone because I banned her from touching my camera with her oily, saliva covered fingers..

All this took place last night when we had an early reunion dinner because everyone is going away for Chinese New Year. As usual I had to photograph everything we eat.. ^^

Just a simple dinner of this thing-a-to-eat.. I dunno the name since it was all written in chinese..

this one i know.. shark's fin!.. not very yummy though.. felt more like eating very thick glue..

I can't believe even a dead fish can give me the evil eyes...

the one dish I really do not look forward to eating during every single CNY.. the dreaded pork knuckle..

this one I don't mind eating.. and quite yummy too

Abalone, mushrooms and vege.. to be honest I don't really remember the taste because I was too busy photographing my niece..

this one i remember.. probably due to my still half empty stomach as I was more focused on my camera and capturing the moment rather than food.. an unusual occurance I have to admit..

One thing I realised after last night, (besides the unbelievable fact that I can actually forgo food to focus on my camera).. is that photographing children is a full time job and the most difficult thanks to their boundless energy. The perfect moment can come and go in the blink of an eye.

But one thing does stand out though, and that is, having the cute little munchkin around brings out the kid that I believe still resides in all of us "adults". Also, it's very heart warming to see the appearance of true smiles that comes from the heart and shines through the eyes.. which we somehow lose through the years as we grow older and the walls we build becomes thicker and taller?

Is it always so important to keep our composure and to show the 'perfect' face everytime a camera is aimed our way? It's almost like an automatic reflects. When one sees a camera aiming one's way, the smile will be automatically toned down, the head will tilt at a certain angle, etc..

I guess viewing the world behind a camera does make everything clearer and I would like to remind myself and all who reads this post that a smile that comes from the heart is a priceless thing.. so smile..with not just your lips but with your heart too.. :)

bonne journée!