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Ryan Rockwell: 2006
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Born 8:16:30 PM, 15 December 2006, La Jolla, California. 8 pounds, 12.2 ounces (3,975g). 20" (51 cm). Many thanks to my darling wife who has stayed up each and every night with little Ryan so I can sleep and keep working. Many thanks to her, too, for having such a healthy, cute, well-mannered and strong little boy. 31 December 2006, Sunday Baby Ryan Rockwell helping daddy write his Nikon D80 User's Guide. (Self-portrait, D40, 18-55mm II and bounced SB-400. I got the excellent M&K B-1600 speakers for almost nothing from M&Ks refurbished section. Good luck navigating their website. To my surprise, M&K speakers are used all over Hollywood for mixing and QC.)
30 December 2006, 10:45AM: Most of Ryan's umbilical cord falls off. (photo too gross for publication.)
29 December 2006, Friday: At the doctor's at two weeks old.
The weigh-in: 8 pounds, 8 ounces. This is normal, down from 8 pounds 12.2 ounces at birth and 8 pounds, 2 ounces last week.
Looking good! I think he might turn out red-haired. Ha ha! (D40 and 18-55mm II in available light, Auto ISO.)
27 December 2006: first visit to the California Highway Patrol
If you're lucky enough to live in California, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) offers free classes and inspections of child seats. Everyone should do this. We had a one-on-one consultation, free! We thought we had read the directions, and CHP Child Passenger Seat Safety Technician Tom Kerns helped us install our seat correctly. It turns out installation directions leave a lot to be desired. For instance, Tom Kerns showed us that the LATCH connectors on our 2006 Saab, like most cars, are only for the left and right rear seats, not the center as we had been lead to believe from all the manuals. Car makers are still cheaping out. We also learned a lot about keeping anything and everything out of our passenger compartment, since many things, especially those on seats and in the various storage areas, will fly all over and become deadly projectiles in case of a crash. (D40, 18-55mm II and direct SB-400. As always, I love how my Nikons nail perfect flash fill every time.)
Christmas Day, 2006
Still sleeping Christmas morning.
Getting Changed.
All Clean and ready for Christmas! (previous three shot with my D40, 18-55mm II and bounced SB-400. The 18-55mm kit lens is excellent for close baby shots!) What Daddy got from Santa: Fujinon 14x40 Stabilized Binoculars. I prefer these to all of the Canon IS binoculars. I was lucky enough to try these at an industry trade show; I've never seen them at retail. Of course a review is coming, and I'm very curious as to why some other folks prefer the Canons. I'll probably walk these into a store with the Canons to compare again. (D200, 18-200mm, SB-600 bounced, with white paper for kick. The SB-400 does the same, but for bouncing takes longer to recycle off our 20' ceiling.)
24 December 2006: Ryan Rockwell holding Dad's Finger.
Great-Grandma Mimi, whose 91st birthday is the same as Ryan's: December 15th. Grandma (nicknamed Noni) cooking. Bug on Shoulder. Self-Portrait Ryan Rockwell's cousins playing "Silly" with Noni and Pops; really just beating up their grandparents. (all shot with my D40, 18-55mm II and a bounced SB-400. I deliberately burned the corners on the donnybrook photo above with the vignette function of Photoshop CS2's lens distortion filter.) 23 December 2006, Saturday
Merry Christmas from baby Ryan, Ken and Mrs. Rockwell. Hah! I had no green shirts. Baby Ryan also wishes you a Happy Hanukkah since he was born just after sundown on the first night of Hanukkah; weird, since we're Protestant. (D80 with 80-200 AF-S at 15 feet (4.5m) triggered by ML-L3 in my other hand, studio strobes triggered by SB-600. I have photos of the lighting and triggering and camera setup coming later.) 22 December 2006, Friday Lab tests. Ryan enjoys giving blood!
The lab tech confirmed what everyone else told us: Ryan has big feet! He was already a hit with the little girl newborns. (Both shots with D40 and 18-55mm II, auto ISO, available yucky fluorescent light. I darkened the corners of the foot shot deliberately to emphasize the foot in the center, since the foot is vertical and your screen is horizontal.)
21 December 2006 (D200, 105mm, SB-600 bounced, with white paper for kick. The SB-400 does the same, but for bouncing takes longer to recycle.) Self Portraits. (D40 and 18-55mm II, SB-600 bounced, with white paper for kick. I love the cheap new 18-55 since if focuses so close for these shots.) Ryan finally went to sleep on my lap working on the website after I changed his pooper, ha!, a first. Wife thought I couldn't figure it out when she left me to keep an eye on him for a little while.
19 December 2006, Tuesday First Doctor's Visit. I missed the peak, but little Ryan pulled the same stunt I did as a newborn which had all the nurses checking me out, to the confusion of my parents. Ryan is also one of the few babies strong enough and curious enough to be able to lift his head up and look around. Good going! Newborns are rarely this strong or curious. (Both shots with D40 and 18-55mm II, auto ISO, available yucky fluorescent light.) Helping dad work on dad's website. (shot by mom, D200, bounced SB-400.) (D200, direct flash)
18 December 2006, Monday First Day Home (D40 and 18-55mm II, bounced SB-400.) (photo by wife, SD700)
17 December 2006, Sunday Helping daddy with his work.
Baby's first night home. Ryan scored a free toy at the drive-through when we let the fellow at Del Taco know it was baby's first drive-through. He said "Baby's first drive-through? Then here's baby's first toy!" That's what makes America great.
16 December 2006 One Day Old.
Born 8:16:30 PM PST, 15 December 2006, Friday.
(Photo by my non-photographer wife with my D200 and 18-200mm, in automatic white-rectangle focus mode. Auto ISO chose 1,600. Except for the weird lighting, focus is perfect and I wish I made shots this good! I'm letting my wife do the photography from now on; I'll just prep my cameras for her.) August, 2006 June 2006 |