A Dad Who Makes His Premature Baby Do Manly Things, You Will Love The Results

Ryan, our son was born 9 weeks premature weighing below 3 lbs. He had to spend 6 weeks in the NICU and it seemed to last forever. My first daughter was born two years ago and I photoshopped her playing sports as an infant. I wanted to try something similar with my son. We started joking that he wasn’t a premature baby and decided to do a photo series of Ryan doing manly things.

All these photos took me about 15 – 20 minutes. A lot of the work was done by photo editing. First of all, I had to make props and find the relevant outfits for the photo ideas. The next step was to set the scene, frame the shot, and arrange and set the lighting to appropriate places. I had to elaborate on some setups – like the benchpress photo. To take that shot, I made a rig and hung it from the ceiling, then mounted a camera and held a barbell above Ryan. So all he had to do was to grip it.

My wife was really helpful in holding the baby so that I can take the required shots in certain positions. After taking the pictures of Ryan, I would take some shots of anything that he cannot hold. I then comb through hundreds of cute photos to choose the best ones. Finally, I combine these pictures with the best parts of his body to make these photos.

A lot of people seemed to love the photos and some people were disappointed when the series came to an end. Even though a lot of people found them funny, there were people who were concerned about Ryans’ safety. So I always explain how the “danger” came from photoshop. Ryan was never in harm while taking these photos. I am curious to know Ryan’s thoughts about these photos 18 years from now.

I have three pieces of advice for parents with premature babies – Be patient, be positive and seek support.

Scroll on to see the fun we had with Ryan!