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.
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| 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 ...
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| Shooting on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, and in Dutch Harbor, Alaska; Photos: Scott Stevens |
... my husband, Scott ...
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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:
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| Birds of Arizona: Broad-billed Hummingbird, Summer Tanager and Crested Caracara; Left and right photos: Caty Stevens |
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| Redwood National and State Parks; Umpqua National Forest; Lassen Volcanic National Park |
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| Scenes of Colorado/New Mexico: Sunflower; Eastern Screech-Owl; Cumbres & Toltec Railroad; Middle photo: Caty Stevens |
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| Labor Day Lift-Off, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Photos: Scott Stevens |
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| Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado; Saguaro National Park, Arizona; Left photo: Scott Stevens |
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| Alaska: Russian Orthodox Church, Dutch Harbor; Calving glacier, Prince William Sound; Bald Eagles, Dutch Harbor; Middle photo: Scott Stevens |
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| Faces of Ecuador: Giant River Otter, Napo River; Marine Iguana, Isabela Island, Galapagos; Left photo: Scott Stevens |
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| 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 |
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| Brown Bears, Silver Salmon Creek, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska; Left and right photos: Scott Stevens |
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| 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).
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:
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| A rare photo of all five of us together; this one before whale-watching in Maui; Aaron, Scott, Caty, Becca and me |
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I also included this one of Aaron, Becca and a Green Sea Turtle (no, they aren't always underwater!) |
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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 |
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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 |
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| We had some other cool N'awlins shots we didn't use; Photos: Scott Stevens |
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| Colorful, just not calendar material; Left photos: Scott Stevens |
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When Caty, Scott and I went to the Big Island (Hawai'i), we saw a small eruption at Kīlauea; Photo: Scott Stevens |
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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
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| Plus, we snorkled with Manta Rays! Photo: Caty Stevens |
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| 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 |
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| Caty and I visited White Sands National Park on our way home from the eclipse |
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| We also stopped at Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park in Nevada |
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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) |
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| I took two trips to Grand Teton/Yellowstone this year; Top photo: rural Wyoming, Scott Stevens; Bottom photo: Yellowstone National Park |
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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 |
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Scott took two trips to Alaska and I took one; Prince William Sound on a foggy, foggy day |
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| The highlight was birding in Dutch Harbor: Left, Bald Eagles; Right, Whiskered Auklet and Black-footed Albatross and Northern Fulmars |
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| We also birded in Lake Clark National Park; Common Murres in flight |
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The highlight there was seeing baby Brown Bears! |
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| 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 |
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| The trip included a brief foray to Galapagos: Eagle Ray, Santa Cruz Island; Isabela Lava-Lizard and Santa Cruz Giant Tortoise, Isabela Island |
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| 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 |
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| Caty and I went to California and Oregon, including visiting Redwood National and State Parks; Left, Lady Bird Grove; Right, Roosevelt Elk Bull |
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| 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.
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| Newfound Gap Road, Great Smoky Mountains National Park; Photo: Scott Stevens |
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| Sweet rides: Durango-Silverton Railroad and Labor Day Lift-off; Photos: Scott Stevens; Napo River, Ecuador: Silver Salmon Creek, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| Scenes from Colorado: Raccoon, Fountain Creek Regional Nature Center; Colorado/New Mexico border; Million Dollar Highway; Great Blue Heron, Chatfield Lake State Park |
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| Ecuador scenery: Isabela Island sunset; Tintoreras bay; Hacienda Molinas; Sacha Lodge, Napo River |
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| More Ecuador: Rose plantation, Cayambe; Basilica of San Francisco, Quito; Green Iguana, Guayaquil; Right photo: Scott Stevens |
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| Looking for fall: Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina; Lorain West Breakwater Light, Ohio |
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| Hawai'ian critters: Mongoose and Black Durgon; Right photo: Becca Stevens |
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| Architecture: Hot Springs, Big Bend National Park, Texas; Charcoal Oven, Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park, Nevada; New Orleans, Louisiana |
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.
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| Colorado is next; Photo: Scott Stevens |
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