Calendar Outtakes--Part 2

Here is the second installment of calendar outtakes and "behind the scenes" stories...

May—55 Pictures taken

This was actually the first picture that we took for the 2009 calendar. My mom went with my dad to Hawaii last year and she brought back outfits for all the kids (Riley and Kaiya included), When I saw the outfits for the first time, I knew they had “Kodak Moment” written all over them! For this picture, I enlisted the help of my professional photographer friend, Kristen Duke. A nearby neighborhood has a waterfall at its entrance and I thought it would be the perfect spot for the Hawaiian photo. Kristen came to my house and we got all the babies dressed and ready and we all piled in the Beast. Kristen even brought her brother and sister-in-law to help out. We had just pulled into the parking lot, when out of no where, it started to rain. We waited to see if it would stop, but it just started raining harder. We knew that even if we waited it out, the ground would be wet and the babies would not like that, so we gave up and went back home.

We rescheduled the photo shoot for a couple of weeks later. We got there bright and early in the morning so we could have the best light. After unloading everyone and all our gear, we made our way to the waterfall--or at least to where the waterfall was supposed to be. For some reason, there was no water falling from the waterfall that day. We tried calling a phone number we found at the pool (located fairly close to the waterfall), but no one was able to help us. After standing around for several minutes debating what we should do, we finally decided to take the picture anyway. By this point, the babies were hungry, tired and not at all excited about having their picture taken. We found another spot around the corner from the waterfall and got some semi-decent (although not very smiley) pictures.

Kassidy voices her opinion of the waterless waterfall.

Virginia and Mimi try an old favorite (Cheerios) to get the kids to smile---or at least stop crying!

Riley and Kaiya join Rustin, Kaydence, Kassidy, Kyndall and Ryder

I love this shot of Kaydence, Kassidy, Ryder, Rustin and Kyndall all trying to escape.

This one isn't really an outtake, but I thought Kristen got such a great picture of Kaiya that I decided to post it anyway!

The Final Result: May's Calendar Picture

June—139 Pictures taken

I have always liked Anne Geddes photography, and having five babies has given me the perfect excuse to try some “Anne Geddes” style pictures of my own! Taking the flower pot pictures was easier than some of the other pictures because I shot each baby individually and then used Photoshop to put them all together in the end. My biggest challenges with this picture were getting the babies to keep the flower headband on their head and keeping them from tipping over (or diving out in Rustin’s case).

Kaydence trying to escape

Kaiya posing for my lighting tests

Kyndall getting a bit tippy---after she fell over, we got Riley to go behind the backdrop and hold on to the pot--if you look closely you can see his hands in some of the other pictures.

Ryder

Kaydence--she hates getting her picture taken!

Rustin diving out of the pot

The Final Result: June's Calendar Picture

July—52 Pictures taken

Of all the pictures in the calendar, this one was the easiest to take. The babies were strapped down, so they couldn’t get away! (Not even Rustin could dive out of this one!) Our biggest challenge was keeping everyone from poking their eyes out with the flags. My sister, Tiare, was here to help me with this one---I am sure the neighbors enjoyed watching as we danced, sang, held props, and did whatever else we could think of to get the babies to look at the camera!

Kaydence, Rustin, Kyndall, Ryder and Kassidy---I am not sure what was so interesting about the fence!

Oops--prop overboard! I think it is funny how all the babies put their feet up on the chair in front of them.

The Final Result: July's Calendar Picture

August—192 Pictures taken

By the time we took the baby pool picture, it was well into September and baby pools were hard to come by. We were lucky to find the frog pool on clearance at Target for only $3! The lighting in the backyard was not very good, and there were lots of strange shadows from the trees, so we had to set up the backdrop behind me to create some shade.

Ryder was so fascinated by the frog eyeballs

Kaydence hates pools and she hates pictures, so this was a double whammy for her!

Once again, Rustin is doing his best to dive out of the pool!

The Final Result: August's Calendar Picture

To order a 2009 Wilkinson Quints Calendar, click HERE.

Calendar Outtakes--Part 2

Calendar Outtakes--Part 1

The older the quints get, the harder it is to get a decent picture of them! Getting TWELVE decent pictures to make the calendar was really a challenge! Just for fun, I thought I would share some of the “inside stories” and outtakes from the calendar photo shoots!

January—41 pictures taken

My mom and I really thought that this would be the easiest picture to take. After all, we were only taking a picture of the babies backs, so we didn’t have to get them to smile or anything---just sit still five seconds so we could take a picture. So we took off all their clothes and diapers and sat them down, facing backwards. We gave each baby a little bowl of Cheerios to entertain them (an idea we thought was brilliant at the time). We soon realized the complete un-brilliance of our plan. No one wanted to sit and eat their snack. Within seconds, babies were standing up and running around the room naked. Cheerios were spread all over and several babies had some stuck to their bottoms. It was chaos! My mom and I kept trying to pick the babies up and put them back in place, but by the time we got the last baby down, the first one was up and running again. I knew we were not going to get this picture unless we had help, so I called Virginia to see if she could come over. I must have sounded frantic on the phone, because she said all she heard was “naked babies, need help!” Virginia was out shopping when I called her, but she was at my house in about 10 minutes. When she got there, we came up with a plan that really was brilliant---we got out the portable DVD player and put on the Wiggles. Thanks to Virginia (and Greg, Murray, Jeff and Anthony), we finally got a good picture!!!

Kyndall, Kassidy, Rustin, Ryder and Kaydence---foiling my "brilliant" plan

Kassidy, Kaydence, Rustin, Kyndall, Ryder and Virginia who saved the day! Notice also the princess crown dangling from the top of the backdrop---we were trying everything to get the babies attention and keep them sitting down!

The Final Result: January's Calendar Picture

February—95 pictures taken

Finding the lollipops was one of the biggest challenges for this picture. I checked several stores before I finally found them at a world imports store in the mall. I was worried about everybody becoming a giant sticky mess before we could get a good shot, so at first I didn’t even take the wrapper off the lollipops. The babies were completely uninterested in the lollipops that way, so I peeled off a small corner of the plastic and tried to get them to suck on that part. This worked a little better. One of the hardest things for all the pictures is that the boys, especially Rustin, did not want to sit still. The second you put them down, they would try to escape.

Kassidy, Rustin, Kaydence, Ryder and Kyndall

The escape artists in action

The Final Result: February's Calendar Picture

March—58 pictures taken

My original idea on this one was to have all the babies together in the laundry basket. That didn’t go over too well, so I finally settled for any shot that had all five babies looking in the right direction!

Rustin, Kaydence, Ryder, Kassidy and Kyndall

Kyndall, Kaydence, Rustin, Ryder and Kassidy

No matter what prop we used for pictures, Rustin was always diving out of it.

The Final Result: March's Calendar Picture

April—232 pictures taken

I made the little chick costume by taking two turtleneck onesies, putting one inside the other, and then filling the middle section, in-betwen the two onesies, with batting. Then I took three feather boa’s and tacked them around the outside. The resulting costume was very hot, so the babies were not very excited about it. It was also a bit difficult to get on and off, so halfway through the shoot, I cut off the arms of the turtlenecks to make it a bit easier. After we got done taking the pictures, I posted the best ones on my family's blog. My brother, quickly pointed out that chicks are YELLOW, not white (I guess he really does deserve that PhD he has). I must have been thinking of chickens, not baby chicks, when I made the costume! After all the work we went through to take the pictures, I did NOT want to re-shoot. Instead, I became very good friends with Adobe Photoshop!

Of all the babies, Kaydence hates getting her picture taken the most!

Rustin, diving off his seat

Of all the babies, Kyndall is the easist to take pictures of. She loves the camera and will smile and pose. She also has lots of really great expressions.

Kaiya agreed to be my model while I tested the flash settings

The Final Result: April's Calendar Picture

If you are interested in purchasing a 2009 Wilkinson Quints Calendar, it's not too late! We still have several left! Click HERE to see more pictures from the calendar, or to order your own! Any proceeds will be used to support the consumption of diapers and wet wipes by the Wilkinson Quints!

Calendar Outtakes--Part 1

"Outtakes"

Most of the time, I like to post really adorable pictures of the kids. This really isn't that difficult to do because let's face it---I have really adorable kids. (in my totally biased opinion of course--doesn't every mother think her kids are the most adorable things around?). However, to be totally honest, the cute smiling pictures I usually post aren't always the whole story. Today, I decided to share a "behind the scenes" look at what really goes on when we take pictures at our house...

The Cute Smiling Picture I Posted on the Blog...don't they look angelic?

Kyndall, Rustin, Kaydence, Ryder, Kassidy

What really happened during the photo shoot...

Cute picture of my cousin Christine and the babies.

Christine with Kaydence, Rustin, Kassidy, Ryder and Kyndall

What really happened during the photo shoot...

You probably don't recognize this next picture because we never did get a "cute" one to post to the blog. Have you noticed that Ryder does not like getting his picture taken? Even the Cheerio's we put in his mouth during this photo shoot were not making him happy...

Kyndall, Rustin, Kaydence, Ryder, and Kassidy

Kaydence was clearly unaffected by Ryders tantrum, but Kassidy decided to take matters into her own hands...

Poor Ryder!

No one was very happy in this shot of my friend, Halli, and the babies

Halli with Kyndall, Ryder, Kassidy, Rustin and Kaydence

But sometimes a change in location can do wonders...

Riley and Kaiya are not exempt. Even with all the pictures we take around our house, they have a hard time giving a real smile. Their "fake" smiles make it look as though they are being tortured (maybe because they rank picture taking right up there with eating a large bowl of raw tomatoes), but when we try to coax a "real" smile out of them, it usually ends up in laughter.

Before

After

Before

After

I think we usually average around 10-15 "bad" shots for every good picture we get. For the calendar, the number was more like 50. Thank goodness for digital!!!

"Outtakes"