If I Were Going...: 2025 Stevens Family Calendar: July

Sea breezes

I like to use sunny, colorful photos for our summer months. I already mentioned that I used specific color palette on the calendar cover. The pretty blue seaside shot from Rhossili on the Gower Peninsula, Wales, plays the “summer” role there.

This entire section is about blue skies, even bluer ocean, boats and sunshine (plus a full measure of wild horses).

Main Page

The layout of June’s main page puts one photo front and center: three wild (well, probably actually semi-wild) Gower Ponies grazing on a green cliffside above a broad sand beach.

This wasn’t what came to mind when we planned our trip to Wales,
but it turned out to be a favorite spot; Photo: Caty Stevens

I have many more Rhossili photos to share, but I will wait so that I don’t get off track.

The photo at the bottom of the page shows the rugged Mediterranean shore in Les Issambres on the western side of the French Riviera.

The Mediterranean is truly as blue as we were led to believe; Photo: Scott Stevens

This page also has two photos of two different types of wild horses: the aforementioned Gower Pony and two Camargue Horses, a sturdy breed that roams the marshes and salt flats of the Camargue in southwestern France.

Adult Camargue Horses have short pure white coats; Gower Powers have
many color profiles and flowing manes; Left: Scott Stevens

The last two pictures were taken 8,000 miles apart: The top right is an artist’s easels in the posh jetset resort of Saint Tropez, France. The third shot down is a rugged coastline in Tierra del Fuego National Park in remote southern Argentina.

Two very different places with equally blue skies and exotic appeal: Photos: Scott Stevens

Calendar Page

The calendar page picks up some of the same themes and places, but with the addition of a shot taken much closer to home and some of the boats we saw on our travels along the Riviera.

These Green Darners, looking a bit like aircraft, landed on a shallow lake surface at
Chico Basin Ranch near our house in Colorado

Worms Head, a headland jutting into the Atlantic, tempts photographers, inspires artists
and occasionally strands hikers during high tide

The flowers, which add a pop of color, sit on the Rhossili cliffs above the beach

Seaside flowers in Ushuaia, Argentina, a photo I didn't use, have a similar look

Back to the page: we saw a staggering number of boats along the Riviera;
these are in Saint Tropez and Saint-Raphaël

These photos of Les Issambres and one of the Gower Ponies from the main page photo,
echo the black-and-white of the Saint-Raphaël boat photo above; Left: Scott Stevens

That’s it for what is in the calendar. Unlike many of the other sections, we didn’t have a large number of rejected photos. But, we had good ones.

Unused Photos

Let’s dive right in with other pretty pictures of Rhossili Wales and those beautiful Ponies.

When selecting a photo of Worms Head, which, as noted above, is on the calendar page, the main question was …

Medium distance?

Far away? Photo: Caty Stevens

Close?

Or maybe just around the corner? Photo: Caty Stevens

We went with a medium, but there were certainly lots of options.

As for the Ponies, sturdy little creatures that delight tourists by roaming along the cliff edges and trail, well, they are delightful.

Small, with crazy manes and feathered fetlocks, they rachet up the appeal of an already picturesque site.

Here are two more options of the Pony that appears on the calendar page

There were several foals, including one that posed by the trail

When you add the Ponies to scenery, you have a winning combination; Photo: Caty Stevens

A lesson in perspective: the white Pony didn’t move, but its prominence in the photo did

Even without Worms Head or Ponies, Rhossili was gorgeous

The rest of my rejected photos came from two places in France, both on the Mediterranean.

The Camargue (which you will see much more of on August’s bird page), is wild and rough with marshes, sea grasses, glimpses of blue water and its own wild horses.