So, some notes about the pictures in the posts this week.

Shanshan and I spent Saturday night at a the Sheraton Beijing Dongcheng Hotel. A crowded house is great, but we like to have some private time once every few months.

The first post, Wife, was taken at a Japanese restaurant in the same business complex as the hotel. Shanshan is very aware of the camera, and likes to smile and pose, so it was nice to be able to capture her in a more relaxed moment.

The second post, Child, was taken on Sunday. We’d caught a taxi to the hotel (which is located not far from our apartment), leaving the car with the grandparents. When Shanshan saw the tub in the hotel, she thought that Chong Chong would have fun playing in it.So, the grandparents brought him over.

In this shot, he’s holding onto safety glass as he looks out our 19th floor room window. At almost 11 months, Chong Chong is still learning how to walk, and used the glass to hold himself up as he moved from left to right across the window.

Anyway, after letting him climb and crawl around for awhile, we got him undressed and into the tub. Shanshan, who had brought along a swimming suit, changed into it, and joined him. (The grandparents were with us in the bathroom, his grandfather also taking pictures.)

That’s when the above shot was taken.

When it was time to get out, I suggested that they give the shower a try… it had a waterfall shower head on it, which I though he might like.

The third post, Wife and Child, was taken soon after they got into the shower… Shanshan still dressed in the fairly modest one-piece swimsuit shown in the above photograph. I loved photographing him — safe in his mother’s arms — reaching-out to experience the water for the first time. I also liked his lines, and capturing the droplets of water (again taken with that abhorrent flash).

I also really liked that she appeared to be naked, and in a pose… although perfectly natural and quite motherly… some people might construe as being pornographic.