All of the 2025 Photography 139 Calendars have been distributed or mailed except for one. It is fair game now to start sharing the calendar images. This is the front cover image:
FRONT COVER – 2025
Technical Details:
CAMERA: SONY 7M4
LENS: SIGMA 14-24 f/2.8 DG DN ART
FOCAL LENGTH: 20mm
APERTURE: f/8
SHUTTER SPEED: 1/500
DATE TAKEN: April 27, 2024
The subject of this picture is the statue of John Wayne in front of the John Wayne Birthplace Museum in Winterset, Iowa. I visited this museum with Nader on a road trip that is as close to a birthday road trip as I took in 2024. This trip was a bit of what I would call “unfinished business”. My Mom was a big fan of John Wayne movies. As are/were many members of her family. One of the last places we went to on the final road trip I took with my Mom was to Winterset and walking around the John Wayne Birthplace Museum. However, it was during the pandemic, so we never went inside. It was important to me to finally go inside and see the museum.
A few notes about the calendar.
1. I switched to a different printer. For the last several years I have had the calendar printed at VistaPrint. This year I switched to Snapfish. The movie saved me over $200. I’m very pleased with the quality. In fact, I think the quality is actually slightly higher as far as image quality and paper quality. However, the proof is usually in the pudding and what that means for the calendar is we will have to see how it holds up for 365 days. The other part of that equation is that I’m not a master of the Snapfish editing software, so there were a few mistakes made. Next year, those mistakes we hopefully be corrected, if Snapfish manages to maintain the Photography 139 account next year I look forward to correcting those. I can’t predict the future. After all, as the source of much of my Christian wisdom (Christian Mingle: The Movie) tells us. “The Heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”*
2. The calendars that are mailed were mailed on December 18th. Not a single one has arrived (as far as I know) a full 2 weeks later. And most of them weren’t going all that far. 2 to Minnesota. 2 to Kansas. 1 to Nebraska. 1 to Arizona. 1 package of 2 to Texas. Very frustrating. Unfortunately I don’t have any tracking info, so either they are just completely lost, will show up sometime in mid April, will show back up on my front porch in a month, are completely lost and will never show up, or maybe they were stolen. It is a mystery that hopefully is solved soon. Very soon!
3. When I reveal each calendar image I will reveal the people that picked it as it their favorite image from the calendar. Not a single person picked the front cover. So nothing to reveal here for this image.
Hopefully you enjoy the reveal of the calendar images for this year.
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It is a new year, but I like to look back at 2024 and reveal statistics that mostly me and Joe Duff find interesting.
Every post has categories. While I’m in the process of redoing how I do the categories, here are where the categories currently rank.
TOP 20 CATEGORIES – ALL-TIME
1.Black & White – 1,298
2.Flowers – 1,044
3. Art – 913
4. Animals-850
5. Jesse – 795
6.Teresa – 712
7. Road Trip – 696
8. Macro – 688
9. Formal Portrait – 669
10. Carla – 665
11. Shannon – 644
12. Nature – 595
13. WPC – Submissions – 589
14. Still Life – 560
15. Candid Portrait – 533
16. Mom – 479
17. Logan – 474
18. Kim – 469
19. Photoshop – 437
20. Micky – 425
TOP 20 HUMAN CATEGORIES – ALL TIME
1. Jesse – 795
2. Teresa – 712
3. Carla – 665
4. Shannon – 644
5. Mom – 479
6. Logan – 474
7. Kim – 469
8. Micky – 425
9. Vest – 417
10. Willy – 414
11. Andy – 404
12. Sara – 378
13. Jay – 376
14. Jen – 373
15. Dawn – 367
16. Derrick – 355
17. Cathie – 352
18. Tamara – 343
19. Angie – 337
20. Michelle – 330
TOP 20 NON-HUMAN CATEGORIES
1. Black & White – 1,298
2. Flowers – 1,044
3. Art – 913
4. Animals-850
5. Road Trip – 696
6. Macro – 688
7. Formal Portrait – 669
8. Nature – 595
9. WPC – Submissions – 589
10. Still Life – 560
11. Candid Portrait – 533
12. Photoshop – 437
13. Street Photography – 410
14. History – 407
15. Self-Portrait – 405
16. Naima – 404
17. Christianity – 390
18. Iowa State – 346
19. WPC – Reminder – 322
20. Night – 281
Now to look at what were the most used categories of just 2024.
TOP 20 CATEGORIES – 2024
1. Art – 146
2. Still Life – 144
3. Street Photography – 143
4. Teresa – 104
5. Jesse – 95
6. Logan – 83
7. Black & White – 77
8. Flowers – 74
9. Carla – 72
10. Road Trip – 71
11. Elizabeth – 68
12. Andy – 66
12. Sabas – 66
14. Brandon – 65
15. Kim – 63
15. Scottie D. – 63
17. Willy – 62
18. Nathanial – 61
19. Dawn – 60
19. Aunt Linda – 60
TOP 20 HUMAN CATEGORIES – 2024
1. Teresa – 104
2. Jesse – 95
3. Logan – 83
4. Carla – 72
5. Elizabeth – 68
6. Andy – 66
6. Sabas – 66
8. Brandon – 65
9. Kim – 63
9. Scottie D. – 63
11. Willy – 62
12. Nathanial – 61
13. Dawn – 60
13. Aunt Linda – 60
14. Shannon – 59
15. Vest – 58
15. Angie – 58
15. Lowell – 58
18. Cathie – 57
19. Bill – 56
20. Micky – 55
20. Mindi – 55
TOP 20 NONHUMAN CATEGORIES – 2024
1. Art – 146
2. Still Life – 144
3. Street Photography – 143
4. Black & White – 77
5. Flowers – 74
6. Road Trip – 71
7. Tenderloining – 54
8. Nature – 53
8. WPC – Submissions – 53
10. Macro – 52
11. Animals – 51
12. Christianity – 47
13. Candid Portrait – 45
14. Birthdays – 43
15. Self-Portrait – 42
16. Travel – 35
17. History – 33
17. WPC – Alternate – 33
19. Music – 32
20. Railroad – 29
If you have spent any time on this website you realize the 100 most used categories are listed on the left side. When I’m looking at these stats, I also like to look at the bottom 10 of the top 100.
Bottom 10 of the Top 100
91. Nathanial – 117 (+61)
92. Russell – 114 (+3)
93. Pufferbilly Days – 105 (+14)
94. Mindi – 98 (+55)
95. Faust – 97 (+5)
96. Becca – 96 (+6)
97. Pastor Sarah – 94 (+3)
98. Writing – 93 (+1)
99. Sheri – 91 (+54)
99. House – 91 (0)
99. Layla – 91 (+2)
The categories that are most likely to fall into the Bottom 10 of the Top 100 in 2025 are:
+ Bethany
+ Blogging
+ Tenderloining
+ Jill
+ Nate
I’m sure Tenderloining is pretty safe. I need to get out of my house and visit Nate and Bethany this year. I hermitted pretty hard this year. As we will see later.
The categories that are most likely to climb into the Bottom 10 of the Top 100 in 2025 are:
+ Mary
+ Commercial
+ Andree
+ Photo Journal
+ Flat Earth Joe
Although there are probably some categories that aren’t as close to the Top 100 currently that have a better chance to break in. Like Bokeh, for example.
On to the most popular Photography 139 Galleries in 2024:
20. Drone – 54,022 Views
19. Daisies – 55,109 Views
18. South Dakota Trip – 2017 – 55,869 Views
17. Iowa State Fair – 2023 – 57,439 Views
16. Naima – 57,919 Views
15. Photo Journal Rejects – 59,548 Views
14. Phonetos – 61,145 Views
13. New Orleans – 2024 – 69,224 Views
12. Home Improvement – 72,195 Views
11. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 10 – 83,769 Views
10. 365 Day Photo Project – 2012 – 94,307 Views
9. 9 Emotions Project – 116,852 Views
8. Town Sign Project Auxiliary Images – 125,685 Views
7. Town Sign Project – 137,773 Views
6. Life – 147,856 Views
5. 365 Day Photo Project – 2013 – 148,808 Views
4. Tenderloining – 151,436 Views
3. Weekly Photo Challenge Year 3 – 193,931 Views
2. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 11 – 398,026 Views
1. Instagram – 496,850
To look at any of the galleries, you can just click on the picture and voila, you will be there. And yes, I purposely picked pictures that had people that are no long with us to represent some of the galleries.
In 2024, the gallery had 6,616,054 views.
There were the most popular days for the gallery in 2024:
1. 2024/09/21 – 72551
2. 2024/07/19 – 72168
3. 2024/04/05 – 70007
4. 2024/07/20 – 64376
5. 2024/07/21 – 56076
6. 2024/07/29 – 54710
7. 2024/08/01 – 53564
8. 2024/07/18 – 51727
9. 2024/07/22 – 51004
10. 2024/07/26 – 50839
But what about my 2024 that isn’t related to this website? I know, it is hard to believe that I exist outside of this website. But I do, I really exist in the physical world. But first, the social media world:
I had a goal to post on Instagram once a day in 2024 and failed miserably. I posted 99 times. But of those 99, these were my Top 9:
As for Snapchat?
I have no real Snapchat goals, except to not be the one who breaks the streaks. I ended the year with the following streaks:
+ Logan – 1,091
+ Brandon – 848
+ Nathanial – 681
+ Lowell – 235
+ Elizabeth – 232
+ Fran – 119
+ Dawn – 4
I don’t listen to much music on Spotify. It is almost exclusively a podcast vessel for me, but here are the highlights from my wrapped:
If you are wondering, 127,186 minutes is 2,119.8 hours. 88 days. I mostly put up that monster number because I listen to podcasts when I go to bed at night and they play all night.
But we talked about the physical world. I have to freely confess, my travels this year were pathetic!
7 States… That’s it?!!?
I never even made it to Minnesota or Kansas this year! I never saw Bethany or Nate once! The only reason I saw Becca is because she came to Iowa! I’ll have to address this in my 2025 goals.
In 2024 I attended 29 sporting events. Every single one of them was related to Iowa State. This was my favorite:
Iowa State 29 Kansas State 21
This game put Iowa State (as long as BYU beat Houston later that night) into the Big 12 Championship Game. And next to Iowa, Kansas State is the team I enjoy beating the most in football. To be honest, maybe more than beating Iowa. Farmageddon needs a trophy so freaking bad!
Honorable Mention goes to:
+ Iowa State 66 #4 Baylor 63 (Women’s Basketball)
+ Iowa State 96 #7 Kansas State 93 (Women’s Basketball)
+ Iowa State 69 #1 Houston 41 (Men’s Basketball – Big 12 Championship Game)
+ Iowa State 67 #25 Washington State 56 (Men’s Basketball – NCAA Tournament 2nd Round)
+ Iowa State 38 Central Florida 35 (Football)
I only saw 5 movies in the theater. A long cry from when I used to go about every week. But by far, the best movie I saw in the theater in 2024 was:
I didn’t track the concerts I went to, but it was also a pathetic number. I didn’t go to a single concert where I had to buy a ticket. A few Boone City Band concerts and some musical acts at some town festivals. The Step Show before Iowa State football games. So picking out my favorite concert was pretty easy.
Shannon Curfman
I also didn’t track how many television shows I watched this year, because the number would probably be terrifying. But the best television show I watched this year was pretty obvious:
Shrinking – Season 2
Honorable Mentions:
+ Hacks (Season 3)
+ Somebody Somewhere (Season 3)
+ Only Murders in the Building (Season 4)
+ Nobody Wants This (Season 1)
+ We Are Lady Parts (Season 2)
And finally a couple of random stats.
+ Christmas cards received – 10
+ Trick-or-Treaters – 48
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But enough about 2024. What are my goals in 2025.
In general, I want to freshen up this website. It has had the same look for years now. Nothing wrong with it. Nothing great about it either. I want to continue to add and delete and modify the way posts are categories. A fairly drastic reorganization of the Photography 139 Gallery is also underway. I hope to have a new logo in 2025, but my graphic designer has been working on it for like 3 years now. So we will see.
I hope to visit more than 7 states (including Iowa). So 8 states! I already have work trips on the calendar for Texas and Pennsylvania. I hope to go to Ireland this year, but I need to get on the ball with getting the details on that worked out. So I’m part of the way their in theory.
I always make a list of places in Iowa I want to visit. It has been fairly fruitless, but I am going to make that list again this year and this time, when I think about going to on a road trip, but am lacking inspo, I’m going to go look at the list. Duh!
But rather than making a list of places, I’m going to make a list of people I want to see in 2025. There are so many people that I haven’t seen. Some I didn’t see in 2024. But some that I haven’t seen since before pandemic or maybe even before that. Heck, you might even make that list. I know some people have chosen to remove themselves from my life. I get that, but to the others, fair warning. We are breaking bread or going to an art show or a movie or a concert.
I want to see more live music in 2025. It has been missing from my life for a few years and I need to get it back.
I plan on bringing back THE SELFIE PROJECT in 2025. Fair warning for that as well.
Finally. I’m thinking of having a birthday party in 2025. In May I will officially be older than Methuselah. I should celebrate that on some level. I have a few ideas and have my eye on a couple of you as caterers. Fair warning to you.
I wish all of you the best in the impending disaster that will be 2025! Happy New Year!
*Proverbs 16:9 in case you were wondering. (ESV)
