Photoblog 2.0

Napping, photo by Harold Davis.

We’ve had a great deal of excitement over Thanksgiving. My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew visited from Minnesota. We spent time at my parents house. Phyllis’s mom came in from Arizona and stayed with us. Phyllis’s brother and my nephew on his side visited us. Sometimes after all the socializing you just have to take a break. Katie Rose is shown above snoozing in Phyllis’s lap.

Below, the Davis boys are shown mugging for the camera with Katie Rose and Grandma Barbara.

Grandma Feeding Katie Rose, photo by Harold Davis.

Grandma Barbara has been staying with us this week. She’s shown here feeding Katie Rose a bottle. Katie Rose seems to recognize Barbara from her last visit, and is very content in her arms.

Bunny, photo by Harold Davis.

Katie Rose is a growing, plump, and happy bunny at over twelve pounds. She’s a cozy bundle to hold. This year the Thanksgiving turkey will likely be larger than Katie Rose, but not by much.

Nicky on His Seventh Birthday, photo by Harold Davis.

Nicky is seven, and it’s hard to understand where the time has gone. I remember him the day he was born, even then all mischief and sweetness and obvious intelligence.

Nicky celebrated his birthday with his first-grade class (the photo above is in his classroom), in after-school, and (of course) with us and his grandparents. The photo below shows the aftermath of opening birthday and “unbirthday” presents.

I don’t mean to give a false impression of extravagance with this photo. This year, like so many others, we are watching every penny. Each brother got a book, a lego toy, and a set of Kapla blocks. Once again, Phyllis made her famous castle cake (a/k/a Faulty Towers Cake). The boys sure enjoyed the presents, and the fierce rush of joy of present opening.

After all the toys were open, Nicky said, “Dad, this is my best birthday ever!”

View this image larger.

Other Nicky photos: Nicky is 4; Nicky on Flickr.

Pure Happiness, photo by Harold Davis.

This photo shows Phyllis holding Katie Rose in our breakfast nook. As Phyllis says, it is pure happiness to see Katie Rose so happy, and so altogether present. Yesterday she weighed in at twelve pounds and change, a very far cry from her beginning. Her health and happiness is more happiness than we could have expected back when she was born.

Baby Face, photo by Harold Davis.

Obviously I am prejudiced. I think Katie Rose has the perfect baby face.

Katie Rose had her first monthly shot of Synagis last week. Synagis (the generic name is Palivizumab) is a drug created using monoclonal antibodies produced by recombinant DNA technology. It is somewhat effective in preventing Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), or at least making the symptoms milder.

In the United States, 60% of infants get RSV each year. For most of them, this is no big deal, and manifests itself as a mild respiratory cold. But for a 24-week preemie with damaged lungs like Katie Rose, RSV could be a very serious matter. So three cheers for the new technology that came up with Synagis (it wasn’t around when Julian was born eleven years ago, so we had to quarantine him that first winter). Yes we can!

The dosage of Synagis is a precise matter, so they had to weigh Katie Rose before the double shot (one in each thigh). At almost twelve pounds, she’s six times her birth weight.

Four Arms and Two Heads, photo by Harold Davis.

When Mathew and Julian horse around it’s hard to resist a smile. Even though chaos often ensues.

Sleeping Angels, photo by Harold Davis.

When Phyllis puts Katie Rose to bed, she sits holding our little angel. Often Phyllis falls asleep herself.

Like Katie Rose in Chiaroscuro, this is an extremely low light image. The only source of illumination was a night light in Katie’s little nursery. I boosted the sensitivity, handheld, and intentionally underexposed to create an area of illumination around my sleeping angels.

[Nikon D300, 18-200VR zoom lens at 32mm (48mm in 35mm terms), 1/8 of a second at f/4 and ISO 2,000, handheld.]

Emperor Julian, photo by Harold Davis.

In this photo Emperor Julian is shown with his brothers Indiana Skywalker (a/k/a the Alien Monster, on the right) and the deceptively innocent-looking Holy Terror (stage left).

Worth noting: In the grand tradition of Scarlett O’Hara and Carol Burnett, Phyllis fashioned the Emperor Julian’s toga from old curtains. The laurel wreath was likewise handcrafted using an old coat hanger and leaves from our garden.

Alien Monster, photo by Harold Davis.

Nicky went to his school Halloween parade dressed as an “alien monster” in huge orange sunglasses, red spiked hair, and his mom’s orange vest. Black finger nails—Phyllis painted all three boys—are not apparent in this photo. Here’s a photo of Nicky from a Halloween d’année passé (Nicky is the little pirate on the left).

Katie Rose’s Smile, photo by Harold Davis.

When Katie Rose smiles…

• I see the promise of new beginnings
• I sense her joy in discovery
• I feel the melting of my heart
• I know we are all connected
• I believe the world will be okay

Katie Rose was two months old yesterday “gestationally corrected.” Meaning, if she had been born when she was supposed to be born instead of born early she would be two months old. She is acting for all the world like a normal, happy two-month-old baby.

Carrying Katie Rose, photo by Harold Davis.

Katie Rose is thriving. Tolstoy wrote that “happy families are all alike.” Indeed, there’s not much to tell. Carrying Katie Rose is like carrying a normal two-month-old, and it is easy to forget how small she once was, and what a miracle she is. I feel blessed every time I see the intelligence behind her gaze.

I’ve written a “report” about the day Katie Rose was born; you can read it here.

Prize Specimen, photo by Harold Davis.

This week Katie Rose went to see her pediatrician, Dr. Cuthbertson. Katie Rose weighed in at almost eleven pounds. She’s shown here being held by Dr. Cuthbertson for all the world like a prize specimen of some special fish.

Dr. Cuthbertson explained that she likes being held this way because it gives her the most possible head control, and she feels the effects of gravity less in this position.

Nurse Ashley Visits Katie Rose, photo by Harold Davis.

We had a nice visit this week from Ashlee, a NICU nurse who was there when Katie was born, and who helped take care of Katie in the NICU. This photo shows Ashlee holding Katie Rose in our living room.

Katie Rose in Chiaroscuro, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

Katie Rose was sleeping upstairs. The room was dark, except for a low-watt lamp that illuminated part of her face. I shot this handheld, high ISO (ISO 1,600) photo in low light conditions to take advantage of the wonderful chiaroscuro light (not to mention the angelic baby).

Chiaroscuro refers to a lighting situation in which there is an extreme contrast between light and dark areas.

In Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), I made several passes on the RAW file to exaggerate the chiaroscuro effect. I combined these different exposures from the same RAW file in Photoshop as layers.

It would have been pretty easy to process the noise out of this high ISO image. In fact, I made no effort to process the noise inherent in the photo. Instead, I converted the noise to simuated film grain using the NIK filter set. Next, I partially converted the image to black and white, using two Photoshop black and white adjustment layers, one set to maximum white and the other to maximum black. The point of the multiple black and white adjustment layers was to partially desaturate parts of the photo while continuing the chiaroscuro.

[Nikon D300, 18-200mm VR zoom lens (with image stabilization engaged) at 105mm (157.5mm in 35mm terms), 1/25 of a second at f/5.6 and ISO 1600.]