A little bit of Telluride for every season
Local photographer creates 2012 Telluride calendar
By Katie Klingsporn
Editor
Usually, fall in Telluride brings the release of two Telluride specific calendars. There is the TCAH desk calendar — a small stand-alone affair filled with images of the area created by local artists. And there is the Telluride Calendar, a full-sized wall calendar released by Telluride Publishing that features stunning photographs of the scenes that make this area so special.The calendars are purchased each year by people who want to have a piece of Telluride on their wall or give a gift that reminds loved ones far away of the beauty of this place.
In a strange coincidence this season, however, both entities opted not to put out a calendar.
Daiva Chesonis, who co-owns Between the Covers bookstore, said the news came as a shock and meant a big void for her store, which usually sells out of Telluride Calendars each year.
“It’s just such a tradition for us to have it and sell it, and
have people buy it to give it as gifts,” she said. By the time the
store found out, employees had already taken orders from Chicago,
Missouri and Wisconsin.
“It was going to be a void,” she said.
The void, was, well, avoided.
Ryan
Bonneau, a local photographer who shoots for the Telluride Tourism
Board and local publications like Telluride Magazine, stepped into the
situation, and in a matter of days, put together his own 2012 calendar
of the area, entitled Images of Telluride.
His calendar showcases
all the many stages of a Telluride year — wildflowers and brilliant
greenery of Bridal Veil Basin in August, the frozen, bruised-purple sky
of a January morning, the flaming golds of September foliage.
The
calendar just hit the shelf at Between the Covers, and is priced at
$12.95 each. The store received about 600 copies; Chesonis expects them
to.
Bonneau said he volunteered to build the calendar after
hearing that the bookstore was in a bit of a bind. He didn’t have any
experience building a calendar, but he had a vast archive of photos of
the area he’s shot over the past few years as both a photo tour guide
and a paid photographer.
After he agreed to make a calendar, he
dove into his archive, discovering pretty quickly that while he had
endless possibilities for high-season months like July and February, the
options were fewer for stick-season months like April and November.
But
with some input from friends and the ladies at the bookstore, he came
up with a dozen lovely images of the area. He found his way through the
design process, built the calendar, found a printer in California that
could publish it quickly and sent off an order. All in a matter of about
two days.
It was a little rushed, he said, but it was a good process.
“It was I think a great learning process because normally I’m on the other side of things,” he said.
He hoped that the calendars would arrive in time for Noel Night; instead they got here on Monday.
Most of the images were taken in the last year, and all at locations near town.
There
is a stunner of Lewis Mill in Bridal Veil Basin surrounded by
high-alpine wildflowers, a surreal shot of a technicolor sunset over
Little Molas Lake in July, and a beautiful shot of a skier getting fresh
tracks on a ridge in Upper Bear Creek. Elk graze on the Valley Floor as
the mountains turn purple with the evening light and a hiker surveys an
orange and green patchwork landscape from a perch on the Sneffels
Highline trail.
Dividing a year in Telluride into four seasons
wouldn’t do justice to the nuance that each month holds. Each has its
distinct shades and behaviors. March with its wet spring snowstorms,
June when the aspens explode in shades of lime, August with its
canyon-shaking thunderstorms and October when the fall foliage and first
snow meet in a vibrant clash of color. And that’s what Bonneau says is
so exciting about behind a photographer around here.
“One of the
things I love most about Telluride is that even in one season, things
change so much on an almost weekly basis,” Bonneau said. “I really love
it all.”
The ladies at Between the Covers are thrilled.
“We’ve got the calendars and they’re beautiful,” Chesonis said. “Void, filled.”
