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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

Ryan Rockwell at Desk

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.

Ryan Rockwell 8lbs 8oz

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.

Ryan Rockwell at the Doctor's

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

Ryan Rockwell at the CHP

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

Ryan Rockwell

Still sleeping Christmas morning.

Changing Ryan Rockwell

Getting Changed.

Ryan Rockwell all 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!)

Fujinon 14x40 Techno-Stabi

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:
Christmas eve at Noni and Pop's (Grandparent's) house

Holding dad's fiinger

Ryan Rockwell holding Dad's Finger.

Mimi

Great-Grandma Mimi, whose 91st birthday is the same as Ryan's: December 15th.

Grandma Cooking

Grandma (nicknamed Noni) cooking.

On dad's shoulder

Bug on Shoulder. Self-Portrait

Playing Silly

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

Ryan Rockwell at Christmas

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

Ryan Rockwell in the Lab

Lab tests. Ryan enjoys giving blood!

Ryan Rockwell's Foot

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

Ryan Rockwell with hat

(D200, 105mm, SB-600 bounced, with white paper for kick. The SB-400 does the same, but for bouncing takes longer to recycle.)

Ken and Ryan Rockwell

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.)

From Above

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.

Doctors Visit

Raising head

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 Daddy

Helping dad work on dad's website. (shot by mom, D200, bounced SB-400.)

in bed

(D200, direct flash)

 

18 December 2006, Monday

First Day Home

Ken and Ryan Rockwell

Ryan Rockwell

(D40 and 18-55mm II, bounced SB-400.)

Ken ho,ding Ryan Rockwell

(photo by wife, SD700)

 

17 December 2006, Sunday

Reading SB-400 manual

Helping daddy with his work.

Baby and Wife

Home from the Hospital

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.

Ryan Rockwell

 

Born 8:16:30 PM PST, 15 December 2006, Friday.

Ken and Ryan

(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

Baby Rockwell August 2006

June 2006

Rockwell Baby

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