It's not my first visit to Vollendam, but this time was special. It was a family reunion for my dear uncle and aunt with their children and grandchildren, which is a very rare occasion for them, since they're scattered around the globe. And of course, it's also a rare chance for me to meet all of them at once.

Vollendam also has a colorful flair in summer, and no wonder it's full packed with tourists. It's great for street photography, however, I was too busy with my nephew and nieces. Somehow, it's more fun to capture their photos than to photograph a mere stranger.

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Happy Lunar New Year!

But as you can see, there's no sign of any Chinese New Year in Germany. Because it's carnival time! So, instead of greeting people "Gong Xi Fat Cai", we yelled "Alaaf!" and sang "Viva Colonia" all day. It's been years since we had fun in any carnival, and actually it's our first time visiting the Kölner Karneval, the biggest Carnival in Germany.

The Carnival is a public parade and somehow also a huge costume party. The word Carnival means "farewell to meat", actually the Carnival itself is a festive season before the Lent. The Cologne Carnival starts on Fat Thursday (Weiberfastnacht), ends on Ash Wednesday (Aschermittwoch), and the highlight of the carnival is on Rose Monday (Rosenmontag). Since there's no public holiday in our State on Rose Monday, we decided to visit the carnival on Sunday, which called Kölner Schull- un Veedelszöch.

Although the parade is not as huge as on Rose Monday, We still had a very good time. The parade was arranged by schools, that's why there're so many dressed up children attending the parade. It's fun, it's cute, it's colorful, it's definitely a must to see celebration of the year.

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Another set of children photography. Never get tired of them. Capturing their childhood moments was an honor for me. So, please, please, please... don't grow up too fast.....

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Shawn is our first nephew and he's three now. Our last meeting was 2 years ago. At that time, he was still learning to walk, and now he can really running around (phew... time really flies!). It's really amazing to see how fast children grow.

I know, it's actually a little bit too late. His birthday was on September, and now it's almost December *shame*. And by the way, I was still using our old Canon 20d as I captured the pictures.

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Being parent is sure not an easy thing. No more selfishness, no more free time, no more partying. Being a parent means to be more mature, dependable, wise, patient, and responsible. Multitasking is also a must because there're millions things to do; feed the children, keep the house clean, earn extra money to pay countless fees, and so on. Being a parent might be waaaaay harder than being a superhero.

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I met him in his room a few weeks ago. He's so adorable! But I must admit it was quite a challenge for me to capture a good photo of him. First, he moved so fast. Plus he found my camera as an interesting object and moved toward it a lot... and again, he moved really really really fast, so I must react super fast too.

Also, the light situation wasn't so good and I'm not good with flash (another thing to add on my must-to-learn list). So I must manage to get a decent photo without it. We had the light in the room on, then later I realized it made quite a strong shadow on his face, especially below his eyes and nose. Thank God, not all photos have these disturbing shadows.

Anyway, it was fun. I learned my lessons and had so much fun with him. He's just too cute!

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When I was in Jakarta, I observed the children on the Jakarta's street. When I mentioned "street" here, it doesn't mean homeless children, but children who happened to play on the street, though sadly most of them are poor. For me, children are children, they're all the same. They can always find a way to be playful and happy, even without expensive toys, video games, or ipad.

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Meet my best friend, Lisa. I met her for the first time at junior high, and we've been BFF for 15 years. Now she's a proud mother of 2 gorgeous children; a prince and a princess. Aren't they lovely?

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I have 2 good news. First, after a long wait, I bought myself a new camera; a Canon 5d Mark iii. Second, I had an opportunity to meet a new kid in town; Baby Nicky. Let's say that Baby Nicky was the first model for my brand new camera. I must say, there're still a lot of things to learn; to know more about my new toy, and to capture a nice picture of a 2-months-old-baby-who-never-gets-tired-to-move-around. And here are the results.

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Hello World, my name is Rafael Ananta. I'm 1 week old. Actually, my arrival was 3 weeks earlier than expected (yes, I did some surprises back then). Yesterday, my aunties and uncles visited me for the first time. But I was too sleepy to play with them, that's why I had my eyes closed all the time. It's not that I'm not photogenic, trust me, I was so exhausted because I played with mom and dad all night. Next time I'll do a better pose in front of camera. I promise! But now, please enjoy a couple of (cute, of course!) pics of me.

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To tell the truth, I'm really not good with children. But I love photographing them. They're not only cute and adorable, but also full of surprises.

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