Stevens Family Calendar: January

This is part of a series about the Stevens Family Calendar (if you know, you know).

The January cover page

The first month on our 2024 calendar is dedicated to home and near home: Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. 

It evokes the feeling of the wild west, starting with a shot of Chimney Rock National Monument, which is about five hours from our house just southwest of Pagosa Springs, Colorado. 

The uncropped version of the photo I used

I've been there twice – once with Caty and once with Scott, but apparently never blogged about it. You can read more here.

I opted to use the close-up of the Chimney instead of this one, but I like both

A great encounter

The next shot is a marvelous picture of a red-morph Eastern Screech-Owl that Caty captured very close to her home in Fort Collins. 

Fort Collins a good place to see Owls and Eastern Screech-Owls aren't too hard to come by there. 

The red morphs are more rare and both of us spent considerable time stalking it (as well as its more typical gray counterparts).

Caty got great shots in low light and rain 

Caty and I were also thrilled to finally see at Great Gray Owl in Grand Teton National Park. You can read the story here.

Caty got much better photos than I did and hers is featured on the main page. One thing you can't easily tell is the size difference between these two Owls: the Screech is about eight inches tall, while the Great Grey (the largest Owl in North American), stands more than two feet tall.

Another of the Great Gray by Caty that we didn't use and three of the more
typical gray Eastern Screech in its adorable Owl-shaped hole; We didn't use
the left and right that I took; the center bottom by Caty was on the cover

In the middle if the left column, I used a gorgeous photo of a wild horse that Scott took in Wyoming. 

The horse. The sky. The broad expanse of land. Does it get more western than that?

I chose the wide shot for the calendar because of the feeling of vastness it communicated,
but these other shots Scott took were also in contention.

Another great shot by Caty

And, the last photo on the left side of the cover page is a shot of a hot air balloon skimming Prospect Lake in Colorado Springs during the Labor Day Lift-Off that Caty took. 

I sprinkled photos from that event throughout the calendar, mainly because hot air balloons bring color and drama. We have attended Labor Day Lift-Off and the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta several times in recent years.

Balloon shots I already discussed in my installment on the front and
back covers and the calendar opening

Every time we go, we end up with piles and piles of great shots, but I usually can't find a page to fit them in.

Two that didn't make the cut this year: Left: Caty Stevens; Right: Scott Stevens 

This year was extra special because I gave Scott and Caty a ride on a Rainbow Ryder hot air balloon as an early Christmas gift.

Caty and Scott in the balloon

The page featured one of Scott's aerials

They were able to get some fabulous shots of the Labor Day Lift-Off from the air. 

I used one looking down on the launch field (right) on the calendar section of the January page. It's a completely different perspective that's not something you get every day.

This almost didn't happen because windy conditions on the day they were scheduled for their ride grounded all the balloons. It doesn't take much to do that (10 mph), so grounding is common. Fortunately, the next day was calm enough and they were able to take off and see what balloon pilots see when they lift off.

A few more of Scott's I couldn't use

Another place that often makes calendar appearance is Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming because, well, it is one of the most beautiful places on Earth and it's pretty close to home (nine hours from our house, which, in Colorado terms, is close).

This place keeps showing up

I try not to be too repetitive in the calendars, but somehow Grand Teton always slips in.

I did exercise some restraint; these didn't make it

Nor did these

Yellowstone National Park also often makes an appearance. On the January pages, it just showed up as a backdrop for a couple of Pronghorns grazing on a hill.

I opted to use the closer shot on the left rather than the wide shot

Of course, the thing that catches your eye the most on the cover page is Scott's marvelous ultimate western shot: a cowboy on a bucking bronco caught at the Westcliffe Stampede Rodeo in Westcliffe, Colorado.

I had to do a little Photoshop magic on the background to make the cowboy pop!

Using this shot was unusual since I generally shy away from featuring photos of people in our calendar, opting instead for scenery and wildlife. But, Scott's images were so compelling (and he liked them so much), I couldn't resist.

I also used this one in the calendar

It's a fluke that we got these photos. We had gone to Westcliffe on the spur of the moment to enjoy some mountain scenery and to photograph the night sky. Westcliffe is only two hours from our house, but, because it is a recognized "dark sky" location, we were staying overnight. We didn't know there was a rodeo going on. We didn't even know that Westcliffe had a rodeo!

It was a relatively small, casual affair and we attended both a paid-entry session and a free qualifying session. Just some good small-town fun.

The rodeo lights interfered with getting good Milky Way shots, but Scott came away with some nice western action pictures.

And, here are a few I had to sacrifice

A device that I use to spice up the calendar is putting photos on the unused squares of the calendar page. 

I have already discussed the rodeo, Pronghorn and hot air balloon shots. Let's look at the rest.

A typical sight in the American west is the beautiful Northern Harrier, a regal raptor with a unique Owl-like face and a habit of rapidly soaring close to the ground, making photographing one a huge challenge.

The shot I used

Females and juveniles are brown, but the male is gray, black and white, earning it its nickname, "The Gray Ghost." Seeing a male is not that common. Getting close enough to photograph one is even less common. So, I was thrilled to have a front-row seat to some aerial acrobatics, Gray Ghost-style, at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Denver.

I captured some interesting maneuvers.

Two other good ones I didn't

Colorado, of course, has some spectacular scenery. And, we spend a lot of time photographing it. 

A big, jagged mountain

This mountain outside of Ridgway, Colorado, deep in the Rockies, was taken just as the sun was rising on a very chilly fall morning.

It's not your typical Colorado shot. There's no lake, no aspen trees, nothing but the essence of what the Rocky Mountains are: impressive pillars of solid granite jutting into the sky.

I had only one other scenery shot I rejected for this page. I used shots from these featured locales one other pages we'll discuss later. January was a bit of a catch-all, where I pulled from other "buckets."  As a result, I didn't really have as many "rejects" here.

Miscellany: the sunflower appeared on the front cover and the other three on the back

I chose not to use this photo of Lake San Cristobal in southern Colorado taken
from a lookout on gorgeous Highway 149

It is impossible to talk about Colorado without mentioning Moose. In my informed opinion, my home state is the best place on Earth to find and photograph these magnificent and somewhat goofy creatures. 

Snuggles

Every year in the late spring/early summer, Caty and I go looking for baby Moose on an adventure we call Moosecapade. 2023 was not a great year for baby Moose encounters, but we did have one particularly good one on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park. Caty's photo of a tender moment between mother and child won the calendar lottery from a number she and I took.

Other contenders; Top photos: Caty Stevens

I always have some random animal and bird photos to consider for the calendar and I had a few more in the bucket for this page.

A herd of Elk in Grand Teton that just didn't fit in

An American White Pelican also in Grand Teton

We saw a surprisingly large number of Beavers in Grand Teton;
they were cute, but didn't make the cut

And, finally: trains. We spent a weekend looking for fall foliage in Colorado and found we were a bit too early. So, instead, we went chasing trains, getting lots of photos of both the Silverton-Durango and the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad.

Both are steam engine-powered trains that carry tourists through some phenomenal Rocky Mountain scenery. We have ridden the Silverton-Durango train, but have never actually been on the Cumbres & Toltec. After all, the photos of the train are often better than the photos from the train.

I used this one that Scott took


I didn't use these; Left, top and bottom right photos: Scott Stevens

And, these were on the back and front cover, respectively; Left photo: Scott Stevens

And, that's it for the January. Next month, we'll talk about Bears!

Brown Bear on the beach, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska

Stevens Family Calendar

Every year, we produce a calendar featuring photos we have taken throughout the year that we give as Christmas gifts.

A lot of work goes into making the calendar: taking the photographs (and all the upfront work of planning and managing the trips where we take the photos); processing them; gathering them and sorting them into "buckets" that will eventually become the pages; designing the pages; creating the pages (which I do); working with a local graphic artist (Lourn Eidal at Crystal Peak Design) to get all the type set, everything placed just so and to get the calendars printed; sorting them; wrapping them; and mailing them across the country.

But the hardest part is picking the photos to use. The most painful part is picking the photos not to use. So many great photos end up on the (virtual) cutting room floor.

A magnificent shot I didn't have room for

Another painful part (for me) is that, sometimes, despite all efforts to make it perfect, things go wrong. This year, the printing came out a bit darker than the proof. I probably could have (and should have) had them reprinted. But, I was on a tight schedule because of a trip we're leaving on a few days after Christmas. So, this year is just a bit dark. 

Then, I didn't notice until after I had shipped and distributed some calendars that holes had not been drilled for hanging. I got most of the local ones fixed, but lots of people will have to punch their own. Sorry about that!

I get lots of questions every year about the photos and I am always sad about not being able to put every good photo in.

So, I am trying something new this year: a monthly blog post about that month's page and the photos that made it and the ones that didn't make it.

Whose Work is It?

I already told you that I design the calendar. The photos come from me ...

Shooting on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, and in Dutch Harbor, Alaska;
Photos: Scott Stevens

... my husband, Scott ...

Scott in Dutch Harbor

... and my daughters, Caty and Becca. Caty is a voracious photographer like Scott and me and Becca is not. So, Becca's contributions are less: generally pulls from video she takes when SCUBA diving or casual shots she grabs while on trips.

Becca and her boyfriend, Aaron, in Maui

Often Scott and I or Caty and I or Scott, Caty and I have photographed the exact same thing and I often lose track of whose photo is whose.

Scott and Caty even got aerials from a balloon

That's OK. 

I try to balance how many shots each of us have. I don't give photo credits in the calendar because of this and because I don't have the space. We know who we are. 

As you would expect, because travel is our thing, Scott and I have the most. But, Caty gets a good portion as well.

The photos we feature are taken between the cut-off dates for the previous year and this year for the next year's calendar. In this case, that means October 2022 through November 2023. It can vary depending on our travel schedule.

The Full Calendar

To kick us off for this series, here are all the pages for the 2024 calendar. 

I will cover each page separately in the future.

On the each month, I identify every photo, but I don't have the space to do that for the cover, the opening or the back cover. So I will do that here.

The Front Cover 

The front cover features one of my favorite photos from 2023 surrounded by a collage of favorite shots that I couldn't fit in on the actual pages. Every month is represented.

The photo in the middle is a Many-banded Aracari, a member of the Toucan family, that landed on a wire just feet away from us as we stood on the canopy walk platform at the Sacha Lodge on the Napo River in Ecuador. I don't think I could have gotten a better shot if it had been a captive bird in a studio.

Both Scott and I had other photos of this gorgeous bird in the mix for the calendar, but the profile photo was definitely the way to go.

Too much cable; not enough drama; Right photo: Scott Stevens

Now, briefly, let me explain the perimeter shots, which I have grouped by location/theme:

Birds of Arizona: Broad-billed Hummingbird, Summer Tanager and Crested Caracara;
Left and right photos: Caty Stevens

Redwood National and State Parks; Umpqua National Forest; Lassen Volcanic National Park

Scenes of Colorado/New Mexico: Sunflower; Eastern Screech-Owl;
Cumbres & Toltec Railroad; Middle photo: Caty Stevens

Labor Day Lift-Off, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Photos: Scott Stevens

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado; Saguaro National Park, Arizona;
Left photo: Scott Stevens

Alaska: Russian Orthodox Church, Dutch Harbor; Calving glacier, Prince William Sound; Bald Eagles, Dutch Harbor; Middle photo: Scott Stevens

Faces of Ecuador: Giant River Otter, Napo River; Marine Iguana, Isabela Island, Galapagos;
Left photo: Scott Stevens

Colors of Ecuador: flowers in Guayaquil; fruits in Otavalo; Galapagos Butterfly on Isabela Island

Fall: 1 & 3: Denali National Park, Alaska; 2: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee;
4: New River Gorge National Park, West Virginia; Photos 1, 2 & 3: Scott Stevens

Brown Bears, Silver Salmon Creek, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska;
Left and right photos: Scott Stevens

Scenes from Hawai'i: Maui beach, Haleakalā silversword, Green Sea Turtle and
Ring-necked Pheasant: Left two photos: Scott Stevens; Right middle photo: Becca Stevens

This is where I would normally show you photos I didn't use, but the cover (and the back cover) picked up some that I like but didn't use on the pages, so you won't see the "extras" until I start covering individual months (with a couple of exceptions that I will get to momentarily).

The Opening
One of the devices I came up with a few years ago when I was struggling to place some great photos that just didn't fit the themes I had selected for the calendar pages was to add a two-page opening section.

That also gave me an opportunity to add pictures of our family (oft requested by recipients) and to include a message. Now, the opening has become a regular thing.

Let me give you a rundown of what I included this year:

A rare photo of all five of us together; this one before whale-watching in Maui;
Aaron, Scott, Caty, Becca and me

I also included this one of Aaron, Becca and a Green Sea Turtle 

(no, they aren't always underwater!)

One of the trips Caty and I took was specifically to see the annular solar eclipse; 

this progression was taken at Great Basin National Park in Nevada

After a going east to see fall foliage, Scott and I stopped in New Orleans and 

he got this marvelous shot at the Bayou Bacchanal Parade

We had some other cool N'awlins shots we didn't use; Photos: Scott Stevens

Colorful, just not calendar material; Left photos: Scott Stevens

When Caty, Scott and I went to the Big Island (Hawai'i), we saw a small eruption at Kīlauea; 

Photo: Scott Stevens

We narrowly missed seeing the major Mauna Loa eruption; that would have rated as a full calendar page! Top photo: Caty Stevens; Lower left photo: Scott Stevens

And, we saw a rainbow over the Kīlauea Crater

Plus, we snorkled with Manta Rays! Photo: Caty Stevens 

I also included these two unrelated Hawai'i shots because I liked them, but they didn't fit the beachy theme of the August page: Haleakalā National Park and a Gulf Fritillary Butterfly on the Big Island

Caty and I visited White Sands National Park on our way home from the eclipse

We also stopped at Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park in Nevada

And, when Scott and I went to Grand Teton National Park,

we found a view with Bear #1063 (you'll see her picture in my February blog)

I took two trips to Grand Teton/Yellowstone this year; Top photo: rural Wyoming, Scott Stevens; Bottom photo: Yellowstone National Park

Scott and I also took two fall foliage trips in the calendar timeframe: Left, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee; Middle, Starved Rock State Park, Illinois; Right, rural Illinois; 

Right photo: Scott Stevens

Scott took two trips to Alaska and I took one; Prince William Sound on a foggy, foggy day

The highlight was birding in Dutch Harbor: Left, Bald Eagles; Right, Whiskered Auklet and
Black-footed Albatross and Northern Fulmars

We also birded in Lake Clark National Park; Common Murres in flight

The highlight there was seeing baby Brown Bears!

Scott and I traveled to Ecuador for nature and culture: Mealy and Blue-headed Parrots on the
Napo River and the Basilica of San Francisco, Quito

The trip included a brief foray to Galapagos: Eagle Ray, Santa Cruz Island;
Isabela Lava-Lizard and Santa Cruz Giant Tortoise, Isabela Island

Caty and I traveled to Arizona: Left, Black-chinned and Broad-billed Hummingbirds square off;
Photo: Caty Stevens; Right, Spotted Owl on Pinery Canyon Road

Caty and I went to California and Oregon, including visiting Redwood National and State Parks;
Left, Lady Bird Grove; Right, Roosevelt Elk Bull

And, you can't beat home sweet home; Labor Day Lift-Off, Colorado Springs;
Left photo: Caty Stevens; Right photo: Scott Stevens

The Back Cover

I used the back cover to reflect the places we had traveled.

Newfound Gap Road, Great Smoky Mountains National Park; Photo: Scott Stevens

Sweet rides: Durango-Silverton Railroad and Labor Day Lift-off; Photos: Scott Stevens;
Napo River, Ecuador: Silver Salmon Creek, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska

Scenes from Alaska: Aurora borealis, Healy; Photo: Scott Stevens; Alaskan Moose, north of Anchorage; Bald Eagle atop a church steeple and crabbing gear, Dutch Harbor

And, of course, we saw birds everywhere! Left, Trumpeter Swan, Yellowstone National Park; Photo: Caty Stevens. Right, Vermilion Flycatcher, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico

Scenes from Colorado: Raccoon, Fountain Creek Regional Nature Center; Colorado/New Mexico border; Million Dollar Highway; Great Blue Heron, Chatfield Lake State Park

Ecuador scenery: Isabela Island sunset; Tintoreras bay; Hacienda Molinas;
Sacha Lodge, Napo River

More Ecuador: Rose plantation, Cayambe; Basilica of San Francisco, Quito;
Green Iguana, Guayaquil; Right photo: Scott Stevens

Looking for fall: Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina; Lorain West Breakwater Light, Ohio

Hawai'ian critters: Mongoose and Black Durgon; Right photo: Becca Stevens

Architecture: Hot Springs, Big Bend National Park, Texas; Charcoal Oven, Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park, Nevada; New Orleans, Louisiana

So, that wraps up what we've include on the covers and in the opening section. 

This was, perhaps a bit repetitive with what you can see on the actual calendar. But, I gotta admit, those little photos on the back and front are pretty small. And, with the darker-than-desired printing, they can be tough to see. I hope this shed some light.

In my next post, I'll talk about the wonders of Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming when I cover what's in and what's on the January 2024 page.

Colorado is next; Photo: Scott Stevens