I prefer not to shoot babies, there I said it.  In fact, I have only done five baby shoots and that includes my own two children.  The other three have all been of friend's kids.  This would include Roman, and I would have to say his session turned out the best so far.

My last entry in my weekly series will be Aunt Anne.  I was able to snag an image of Aunt Anne who is extremely camera shy during the after dinner conversation she was having with her niece.

While at my mom's house for the holidays I was lucky enough to see my younger brother Zach.  I was able to grab a portrait of him while we were chatting.

One of the best features about the X100T and the other X100 cameras is the ability to take images without making any noise.  I took many photos and finally my little sister caught on.  She said, "I thought you were just focusing or something."  Well it was something, it was taking very candid memories since everyone pays not attention to me and my "toy" camera.

I did a similar post when Jonah turned eight...I think.  Anyway, when I took this shot it was Harper's 5th birthday.  Time does absolutely fly when kids are keeping you busy, and while I recently posted a photo of Harper I thought it necessary for a couple reasons.  First, it is obviously her birthday and warrants a post.  Secondly, I did just receive my X100T and need to test her out, specifically the Classic Chrome film simulation that you see below.  I think this particular film simulation will be my go to for now and probably a while.

Sue often reminds me to schedule a haircut for Jonah and I often forget.  I snapped this photo on the deck and instantly realized an appointment needed scheduled.  The mop on his head has been trimmed to an acceptable level.

I had the opportunity to shoot the Green's recently at their home.  They also happen to be great friends and it was a joy to watch them interact.

It was also I did an entire shoot without my Canon gear, and I am extremely please with the results.  I did the entire session with the Fujifilm X-E2 and the 56mm f/1.2.  With the exception of sports photography the Canon 5D Mk II sits on the shelf these days.

The images below are a few of my favorites from the session and the top image is my weekly submission.

I have had my eye on the 56mm f/1.2 since it came out some time ago. When the new version was announced last month, I decided to take advantage of deals that were to be had on the internet. The lens is amazing and I now understand why so many people rave about its capabilities.

I have been pushing for a family dog for over a year now, and the stumbling block is our daughter Harper. She is extremely afraid of animals of all shapes and sizes, mainly because she is not exposed to them on a regular basis. Now your saying to yourself, but you have a cat. We do have a cat and that cat is afraid of kids, so she never sees the cat.

Well, this weekend we were at a friends house and they just added a puppy to the family. This is significant because their daughter Alice was also afraid of dogs. I stress the word "was" since Alice and her new puppy are the best of friends now. It took about a week of exposure to get over the fear and it has been smooth sailing since.

I think we are getting a dog, I just don't know when.

The other day we traveled to Wheeling to visit, and on the return trip I was able to capture Jonah playing a game.  It is amazing how much light a tablet produces in a dark car.

While Jonah and I were at Winter Weekend, Sue knitted this hat for Harper (aka Bean or Bean Bean).  When I was headed outside to shovel snow, Bean Bean wanted to go to and show me how well her hat worked.

During our trip to camp in September we went down to the beach with all the kids.  Louisa happened to be at the beach too, and was also kind enough to let me take a few photos of her.

After a day at the beach everyone got cleaned up and decided to hang out on the deck before dinner.  I was able to snap a few images of my niece Nora and sister-in-law Karen.  This one is my favorite for a few reasons.  I will let you decide why you like it.

During our family vacation a couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to photograph the Sticca family.  We started a little earlier than we should have, but even with the challenge of a very bright sun, I think everything turned out really nice.  Below I have included a few of my favorites.

I have been to Canada plenty of times.  Usually it was to Toronto for work and there are all sorts of Canadian and ex-pats from other countries there.  So I have had plenty of exposure to my fair share of Canadians and they are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

Well, when you travel a few hundred kilometers north of Toronto you get to experience the "Real Canadians" that are no nonsense and downright hilarious.  There are a few cottages relatively close to the cottage we were staying in and one of the families was there this weekend.  They stopped over with their three kids to hang out before dinner on Saturday night.

I was able to take a couple shots of two of their kids, the youngest was a little shy.  A shot of the group as a whole hanging out listening to probably the funniest man (Jamie) I have ever met.  I could listen to his stories for hours on end.  Oh, did I mention that they swear like sailors, not the kids, the parents, and they do not care who is listening.  The last photo is of Jamie describing how he and his wife crashed a corporate holiday party in Florida and told the CEO he was quitting the company.

The kids aren't usually dressed up very often so I try and take every opportunity to get a photo of them together in their Sunday best.  This year was even more of a challenge, since Harper refuses to wear dresses.  She has a little streak of tomboy in her.  Anyway, I grabbed a few shots before church and they insisted on showing off some of their Easter Bunny presents.  Happy Easter!

The other night Sue and I were talking and for some reason the origin of our daughter's name came up. Her name is Harper, which in the past couple of years seems to be very popular with celebrities like David Beckham and Neil Patrick Harris.  We picked the name for two reasons.  First, we like it because it is very unique.  Secondly, the name Harper is actually a family name and this is where I was surprised.  I knew that Harper was a family name and could trace that to my grandmother and her mother my great-grandmother.

I was curious after our conversation so I went and grabbed "The Book."  The book I am referring to is a pale green book that was researched and published by a distant relative that maps a portion of my genealogy.  It provides the details, including biographies of each member of the family.  I knew all of this existed but never really thought much of it since the book has been around.  I guess I just took it for granted.  The book is called The Harpers of Virginia, West Virginia, and Mississippi and includes a nice fold out of the family tree.  It was published in 1982 and unfortunately none of this information is in electronic form.  Oh well, at least the information is all in one place.

So the surprises, what are the surprises...

There are a couple surprises.  As I started reading through the book it clearly outlines that I come from the "landed gentry and nobility of the British Isles."  There are some knights and whatnot in there too.  Pretty cool stuff right.  The book then continues on and describes that I am a direct descendent of Captain John Harper.  The name really meant nothing to me on the surface but with some quick googling, I discovered he is pretty well known and contributed quite a bit to the Alexandria, Virginia landscape during the 1700s.  I think when the kids are a little older we will go check out the homes on Prince Street.  All of this stems from my paternal grandmother.

Harper's middle name is also a family name so I contacted my mom to see what I could dig up.  Well, it turns out my uncle Barry has all of this all documented from his dad's side of the tree.  It turns out that I am related (distant) to royalty.  This was the second surprise.  It turns out that this side hails from Yorkshire, England.  The distant relative is King Edward VI, which is my 5th cousin 12 times removed.  King Edward VI is the son of King Henry VIII and his wife Jane Seymore.  Looks like I need to contact the queen to see when I can go visit.

All of this was really cool to discover and I now love Harper's names more than ever.

When I picked up Harper from school, she demonstrated how to put on and tie her scarf just like her mommy.  I must say she is spot on and I am quite impressed considering she is just three.  We arrived at the house and went through the normal routine and she refused to remove the scarf.  As she ran around the house I was able to get her to pose for me with her scarf.  She insisted on showing me how can wink.  This was too fun to pass up.

I read over the weekend that more couples get engaged in January than any other month.  That is actually quite surprising to me.  I thought for sure it would have been February or December.  Then I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that stated there will be 2 million weddings in the United States this year, with an average cost of $26,000 each.  I thought about all the money my wife and I spent on our wedding and the one thing I am grateful we splurged on was the photographer.

The reason...  It is the only good or service from that day, outside of our wedding bands, that we can still enjoy and recall all the fun we had.  The photographs and the memories they conjure up will last forever.

That made me think about Engagement Sessions and here are a few photographs from my favorite Engagement Session with Matt and Monica.  I enjoy working with all my clients but this is my favorite because Matt is my cousin, pretty much my brother.  The three of us had a blast walking around Oakmont finding locations and taking these photos that they will be able to enjoy forever.