Every year, we produce a calendar featuring photos we have taken throughout the year that we give as Christmas gifts. Last year, I started something new because, of course, I am always on a quest to make new work for myself!!
So, now, I send our recipients a monthly blog post that explains the page in the calendar and shares a lot (!) of photos that we didn't use in the final product.
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| One of Scott's photos of Mont-Saint-Michel, France, we didn't use |
As I said last year, 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 ...
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One bucket this year was castles and ancient sites;
Unused photo of Roquetaillade Castle in France: Scott Stevens |
... designing the pages ...
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| A cover design I rejected (we used the photos, just not this way) |
... 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.
The most difficult 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.
I design the calendar. The photos come from ...
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| Me (in Wales and Antarctica here); Left: Caty Stevens; Right: Scott Stevens |
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| My husband, Scott (in France here) |
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| My daughter, Caty (in Wales here) |
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And, sometimes, my daughter, Becca (with partner Aaron on top of Pikes Peak here);
Photo: Scott Stevens |
Caty is a voracious photographer like Scott and me and Becca is not. This year, Becca didn't submit any photos. But, that makes her a valuable impartial critic who helps me select designs and photos. Caty and Scott also contributed in that respect, as well.
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. I don't identify photographers in the calendar captions because, #1, who cares? and, #2, it takes up too much space to do IDs. In the blogs I do ID photos. See what I mean ...
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| Paradise Bay, Antarctica, by me, left, and Scott, right; We didn't use these |
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 November 2023 through October 2024. It varies year-to-year because of our travel schedules.
Of course, the content of the calendar is also determined by our travel. And, this year, you may notice that the calendar is a little different. That's because our travels took Caty and me to the United Kingdom and then Scott and I spent three weeks in France, Andorra and surrounding areas. So, you'll see a lot more of what I call "culture," vs. the usual nature.
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| Moose at Rocky Mountain National Park we didn't use; Photo: Scott Stevens |
So, you'll see lots of castles, cathedrals and narrow village streets, but only one (yes, one!) Bear. And, the Bear photo is tiny. I'll explain as we move along.
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| The only other Bear (a Brown Bear in Yellowstone) photo in contention; Photo: Scott Stevens |
The Full Calendar
So, let's get started. Here are all the pages for the 2025 calendar ...
I will cover each page separately during my monthly posts. In this post, I will concentrate solely on the front and back covers and the opening.
The Front Cover
This year, I went back to a design element that I really like: selecting compelling photos with contrasting color profiles to signify the variety that you will find within. Often, this type of design splits by the seasons: but we didn't have photos this year that clearly represented fall and spring and we had an abundance of winter and summer (even if most of the "winter" photos were taken in the Antarctic summer.)
So, three of the four photos represent two of our three biggest excursions in 2024 (somehow, France didn't make the cover).
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| The upper left is from the trip Scott and I took to Antarctica in January |
The upper left photo is a group of Gentoo Penguins (you'll see more of these fun birds later) on an ice flow in Leith Cove, Antarctica. You can read about that trip starting here (there are 13 installments; just move up to read them).
The upper and lower right photos are from a trip Caty and I took to England and Wales in June that culminated with Taylor Swift's Eras Tour concert in Cardiff, Wales. You can read about that adventure starting here (there are 14 posts; you know the drill).
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| The upper right is the trailhead for Aber Falls in northern Wales |
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| The lower right is a Gower Pony grazing by the beach in Rhossili, Wales |
Rhossili was the most beautiful spot we saw in Wales, so it just had to be on the cover.
And, the lower left, with its vibrant oranges, was taken by Scott at home in Colorado Springs during the Labor Day Liftoff balloon festival.
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| The evening glow reflecting on Prospect Lake; Photo: Scott Stevens |
We have featured shots from this annual event in previous calendars. I even blogged about it in 2022, but we also attended in 2023 and 2024.
The Opening
The two-page opening section of the calendar gives me a chance to share a message with our friends and family and to squeeze in a lot of favorite photos that just didn't make it on the main pages.
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| And, I am pretty good about squeezing a lot of photos in |
Here's what I included this year ...
Page 1 is several large favorite shots, all of places that are featured later in the calendar ...
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Oppede-le-Vieux, France, and Lowther Castle Gardens, Penrith, England;
Left: Scott Stevens; Right: Caty Stevens |
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| Gordes, France; Photo: Scott Stevens |
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| The French Alps |
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| Greater Flamingos, Parc Ornithologique du Pont de Gau, the Camargue, France |
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| Freud Passage, Antarctica |
Page 2 has many, many photos that are not identified specifically in the calendar. So, here they are (and where they are) ...
Oh, and some are cropped differently to show you more how they originally looked.
These are from Europe ...
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| Bridge, Paris; Photo: Scott Stevens |
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Gordes, France; Pentre Ifan Dolmen, Wales; Lowther Castle, Penrith, England;
Left: Scott Stevens; Right: Caty Stevens |
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| Mont-Saint-Michel, France |
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| La Croix Valmer beach and Saint-Tropez Harbor, both in France; Left: Scott Stevens |
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| The French Alps, including Aiguille de Midi in Chamonix |
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| Carcassonne Castle, France |
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Church of Saint-Louis-en-l'Île and the Tour Saint Jacques in Paris and Château de Chambord,
all in France; Middle: Scott Stevens |
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| The Louvre in Paris and some white grapes in Provence, France |
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| Tibetan Bridge, Canillo, Andorra, and the Spanish Pyrénées |
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| Mirador Roc Del Quer, Canillo; Photo: Scott Stevens |
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| Bourton-on-the-water, England |
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| The Black Dog, London; Photo: Caty Stevens |
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| Beaumaris Castle, Wales |
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| The Welsh flag at Cardiff Castle, Wales |
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| Taylor Swift, Eras Tour concert, Cardiff; Photo: Caty Stevens |
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| Fountain and lion statue, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg |
These are from South America ...
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| Tierra del Fuego National Park, Argentina; Photo: Scott Stevens |
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| Fire-eyed Diucon, Tierra del Fuego National Park |
These are from Antarctica ...
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| Kayakers in Neko Harbor and an iceberg in Yalour Islands: Left: Scott Stevens |
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| Campers watching Humpback Whales, Leith Cove |
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| Adélie Penguin, Petermann Island |
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| Two shots of Freud Passage; Photos: Scott Stevens |
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| Weddell Seal, Yalour Islands |
These are from a birding trip I took to Tamaulipas, Mexico ...
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| El Cielo Biosphere Reserve |
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Blue-throated Mountain Gem, Bosques de Monterreal and
Groove-billed Ani, Campos Héroes de Chapultepec |
These are from the good ole' USA ...
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| Mountain Goat, Mount Blue Sky, Colorado |
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| Crested Caracara, South Texas, and Short-eared Owl, LaSalle, Colorado; Right: Caty Stevens |
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Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, Raton, New Mexico; "Diamond Ring" total eclipse, Ennis, Texas;
Night Glow, Labor Day Liftoff; Middle: Caty Stevens |
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| Longhorn Steer, Ennis, Texas; Photo: Caty Stevens |
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| A bluebonnet bloom, Ennis |
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| The USAF Thunderbirds, Colorado Springs; Photo: Scott Stevens |
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| Iris in our front yard |
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Brown Bear (THE BEAR) and Old Faithful,
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming; Left: Scott Stevens |
Whew!!!!
The Back Cover
The back cover features (as we often do), roads and conveyances of transportation.
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| It is all about getting there and seeing it when you are there |
What we have is ...
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Quintessential tunnels in France: a covered walking bridge in Beaufortain
and a tree-lined lane in Bazas |
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| Taking to the sky, but tethered: the Aiguille du Midi cable car, Chamonix, France |
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| Untethered travel: flying over the Argentinian Andes and a hot air balloon over Colorado Springs |
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Portals: a doorway in a stone wall, Levens Hall Gardens, England,
and a staircase in Foix Castle, France |
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So many fun vehicles are red: G Adventures' Expedition and Zodiac, Neko Harbor, Antarctica,
and the Montenvers Train, Chamonix, France; Left: Scott Stevens |
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| Heading out: a Zodiac in rough waters, Yalour islands, Antarctica; Photo: Scott Stevens |
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Heading back home: the trail from Aber Falls, Wales |
What We Didn't Use
The main purpose of my blog is to share the photos we didn't use. But, for the covers and opening, I don't cover any areas of topics that figure prominently in other parts of the calendar. So, I just have a few areas that didn't fit anywhere else.
The biggest is the Labor Day Liftoff ...
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| We had lots of nice photos |
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| Some looked a lot like photos we used in past calendars; Photos: Caty Stevens |
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| Some looked like Scott's cover photo of the evening glow; Upper right: Caty Stevens |
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| Some were fun, but didn't fit; Left: Caty Stevens |
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| Where would you put these? |
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| We could probably do a calendar exclusively of balloon pictures; Photos: Scott Stevens |
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| They never get old; Left and right: Scott Stevens; Middle: Caty Stevens |
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| Great shots; Photos: Scott Stevens |
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| So, we had a lot we didn't end up using; Left: Scott Stevens |
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| I am sure we'll have more next year; Left and right: Scott Stevens |
Scott also had some really nice shots (one of which was in the opening) of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds from the Air Force Academy graduation ...
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| Flying over Colorado Springs: Photo: Scott Stevens |
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| Cool shots; Photos: Scott Stevens |
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| In formation; Photo: Scott Stevens |
And, I mentioned that Caty and I went to the UK to see Taylor Swift's Eras Tour concert in Cardiff. You can read about it here.
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| I can't believe how close we were; Photos: Caty Stevens |
Two photos of Swift appear in the calendar: one in the opening and one in April.
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| But, we couldn't fit them all; Photos: Caty Stevens |
This is unusual because we rarely feature people (even though Scott has taken lots and lots of concert photos and we did feature some rodeo riders last year).
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| Beautiful dresses; Photos: Caty Stevens |
But, I believe the Eras Tour was a cultural turnstone, an event like Woodstock (yeah, I might have featured that if I had gone, if I had a camera and if I did a calendar then!).
Plus, Caty got so many amazing shots!
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| End of the show! Photos: Caty Stevens |
So, anyway, now you know some of the basic set-up for the calendar.
In January (just around the corner), I'll share Antarctica with you.
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An unused Paradise Bay shot; Photo: Scott Stevens
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Just in Case ...
If you received a 2024 calendar and haven't seen the posts on that calendar (my email list was incomplete), you can see them here:
Overview,
January,
February,
March,
April,
May,
June,
July,
August,
September,
October,
November,
December.
Feel free to read any other posts in my blog, as well.
