Since I would be sitting here for hours typing up a year-end wrap up for everything that’s gone on personally and business-wise, I thought I’d summarize in a paragraph apiece!

Business wise I started 2010 out by adding in the A Day in the Life documentary photo sessions as well as launching the pet division (Sit.Stay.Snap. Pet Photography) and ended it with narrowing the portraiture business focus to children/tweens/teens/seniors (on the human side) and dogs & cats (on the pet side) for 2011. The documentary sessions, as well as commercial headshot commissions will still be available, just limited to a set number per quarter. Traditional family sessions and engagement sessions will be available on selected mini session dates during next year. In February I found out that the readers of the Athens Review picked me as Best Photographer for the 2009 Readers Choice Poll (thank you again!). I also made some major equipment upgrades (with a couple more additions/upgrades to go in 2011) that have made shooting and editing so much easier/faster during the fall, even when I had to send my primary camera body off for repair! And as the year ends, I’m anxiously awaiting the results of the WFAA A-list as Sit.Stay.Snap. was in second place a week out from the end of voting (they hid the rankings the last week of voting); we’ll know next Monday how we finished!

Personally, while I didn’t travel quite as much (or as far away) as I did in 2009, I spent a week in Colorado and the other 51 wishing I could live there at least during the summer months! I also initiated several old hobbies that I’d lacked time for and challenged myself to shoot (with a camera obviously) something each week that wasn’t related to clients/commissions. We also had a bit of a scare early in the year with my brother when he was injured in a freak accident — thankfully his knee (the only lingering injury he sustained) is slowly recuperating from surgery that that he and the doc conceeded had to be done (in September).

A few other changes/announcements related to the business will be on the horizon in the coming weeks … I’ll blog about them as they occur/are initiated! One small hint … the focus of this blog will be changing pretty soon!

… and because I have so many images this year left to edit that were of a non-business variety, here’s a few recent holiday themed ones I’ve managed to edit so far …

Here’s to wrapping up 2010 … and to a much better 2011!

[ contact CMP | follow CMP on facebook | follow Christina's tweets | subscribe to the blog ]

 From Christina & the elves at CMP, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!

(in case you weren’t on the mailing list, this is the card I sent out to clients, business associates, family, and friends this year; front side has two images taken locally on February 12, 2010 when we got 9 inches of snow out where I live, back side image is Bear Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park in late May 2010)

[ contact CMP | become a fan on facebook | follow CMP's tweets | subscribe to the blog ]

Always remember, never forget …

I created this image just after September 11, 2001 and each year I post it in memory of everyone who lost their life in the attacks on the WTC towers, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania, along with the rescuers that gave their lives as well.

Its hard to believe its been nine years. How far my life has evolved in that long, yet fast moving period of time — further, in fact, than I ever dreamed. Nine years ago, I was a month and a day out of my undergraduate studies, job hunting and taking classes I didn’t get to enjoy as electives due to the lack of elective hours in my bachelor’s degree. I spent the night before 9.11.01 in my World Religion class, where a classmate asked about jihad and our instructor, a pastor, encouraged discussion and helped us gain a bit of understanding as we hadn’t reached the Muslim portion of our textbook as of yet. Prior to that class, a Muslim coworker and I, after he saw me reading my textbook for that night’s class, discussed our religions, comparing and contrasting them without fear or worry.

What a difference that 24 hour period made in all of our lives.

My coworker and several of my undergrad finance classmates were of Middle Eastern descent, some here as international students, others first or second generation Americans whose parents sought a better way of life and the American Dream. I watched as they were disrespected and ridiculed for actions they had no part in. Just because some fellow Saudis back in the Middle East and Southeast Asia happened to have an extreme view of Islam doesn’t mean they all did. And I mourned like every other person who — American or not — was impacted by those hijacked airplanes who forever changed our lives. I was already patriotic as the daughter of a war veteran; now I cannot hear a patriotic song without tears flowing and thanking my lucky stars and the Lord above for living here, having my freedoms, and a military that protects them.

Nine years later, we may feel the impacts and changes created by the events of September 11, 2001 less than we did initially — unless one travels frequently — but I know I don’t take life for granted any longer. Our laws may make some feel stifled by the changes that were put into place to protect us, but I’d rather that than the alternative.

So, today, remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 — then hug your families or, if they’re not physically nearby, call them up and tell them how much you care and are grateful they’re in your lives.

[ contact CMP | become a fan on facebook | follow CMP's tweets | subscribe to the blog ]

Zoom forward five years later, on the way back from a work conference in Austin, I detoured at the Georgetown exit to grab lunch. The above story completely forgotten, I took the exit for the university knowing there’d be some sort of fast food option nearby. I passed the major places near the interstate and made my way down to the campus. The story from my classmate was recalled as I drove around the campus, wishing that the university I attended just had SU’s architecture and history. That wasn’t my last trip to Georgetown … as it has become one of my favorite towns in Texas … but with only point and shoot cameras in my ownership on a few future stops, I was determined once I got a DSLR I’d be back to photograph all the details and views.

Last fall, I belatedly made good on that plan. I made a day trip down to Georgetown just before the majority of the holiday decor went out to photograph both the historic downtown area as well as the campus of Southwestern University. While these images have been marked as ‘friends & family’ over on my flickr account for the past ten months, I thought I’d finally get around to sharing some of them here …

At one of the city parks where I went to enjoy my lunch I encountered a flock of geese …

See what I mean about detail! Southwestern University campus …

The zoomed out shot … Southwestern University campus …

Just off the downtown square …

A cafe on the square … I love the colors!

A bridge I’ve cross many many times on the old school bus … first time I’ve ever set foot on it though!

Leads to a private ranch/community. Beautiful setting, just way outta my price range.

Would be perfect for rural portrait sessions if I didn’t want to risk being shot in the process of conducting sessions here!

Since I almost always have my point and shoot camera with me, I snuck it out a few times and photographed the treasures that just weren’t in my budget … or that I lack the space to lug home! Here’s a few of them …

Over Labor Day weekend, I went scouting locations with a friend for his upcoming book release (*hint, hint* Seth, can’t wait to see which one y’all pick for the cover!) — these were some of the ‘rejects’ due to orientation or that I snapped for myself while out driving around a two county area.

This is really a cute little blue house. However, due to the subject content of the book, I was on the lookout for something that looked like a meth house or that I could photoshop some grunginess to make it look like one. I think we were in the wrong part of the two-county area based on where all the busts were occurring for awhile. Anyway, Seth’s request was for black and white images — so once I finished converting the final round of images, I sat down with the rejects and had some Photoshop fun with some textures I rarely ever think to use while editing.

Loved the hazy/dreamy quality to this image once I finished with it. This ditch and the vista behind it would be perfect for sessions (as long as they haven’t mowed it) … if I only remembered where the heck it was located!

This is from the Athens City Cemetery — near the Murchison family plot. I love this angel statue, its been a previous ‘photo subject’ of mine.

Tomorrow the Till’s slideshow will be online — and Sunday I will be sharing a few of my top favorite national park images from The Roadtrip in commemoration of the television premiere of Ken Burns’ The National Parks miniseries. And, yes, for those that know me well enough, not only is the dvd version that will be released next month on my Christmas Wish List, I’ve already guilted someone into pre-ordering it to guarantee its under the Christmas tree! Now if anyone wants to get me the companion book, I won’t complain a bit

The other night I was capturing some images for a commercial project I (voluntarily) suggested and undertook — while doing so, I took some time to get a few artsy images for myself …

Anyone know what this is? Guess correctly (aka leave a comment) and a surprise gift will make it into your mailbox! One entry/comment per person — first person to guess correctly wins.

I created this image just after September 11, 2001 and each year I post it in memory of everyone who lost their life in the attacks on the WTC towers, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania, along with the rescuers that gave their lives as well.

Its hard to believe its been eight years. How far my life has evolved in that long, yet fast moving period of time – further, in fact, than I ever dreamed. Eight years ago, I was a month and a day out of my undergraduate studies, job hunting and taking classes I didn’t get to enjoy as electives due to the lack of elective hours in my bachelor’s degree. I spent the night before 9.11.01 in my World Religion class, where a classmate asked about jihad and our instructor, a pastor, encouraged discussion and helped us gain a bit of understanding as we hadn’t reached the Muslim portion of our textbook as of yet. Prior to that class, a Muslim coworker and I, after he saw me reading my textbook for that night’s class, discussed our religions, comparing and contrasting them without fear or worry.

What a difference that 24 hour period made in all of our lives.

My coworker and several of my undergrad finance classmates were of Middle Eastern descent, some here as international students, others first or second generation Americans whose parents sought a better way of life and the American Dream. I watched as they were disrespected and ridiculed for actions they had no part in. Just because some fellow Saudis back in the Middle East and Southeast Asia happened to have an extreme view of Islam doesn’t mean they all did. And I mourned like every other person who — American or not — was impacted by those hijacked airplanes who forever changed our lives. I was already patriotic as the daughter of a war veteran; now I cannot hear a patriotic song without tears flowing and thanking my lucky stars and the Lord above for living here, having my freedoms, and a military that protects them.

Eight years later, we may feel the impacts and changes created by the events of September 11, 2001 less than we did initially – unless one travels frequently — but I know I don’t take life for granted any longer. Our laws may make some feel stifled by the changes that were put into place to protect us, but I’d rather that than the alternative.

So, tonight, remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 — then hug your families or, if they’re not physically nearby, call them up and tell them how much you care and are grateful they’re in your lives.

If you’ve been following the ROLP blog recently and picked up on the hint in last month’s newsletter, a major announcement was forthcoming. I originally planned to hold off until September, closer to the two year anniversary of ROLP’s first official day in business, to make the announcement. However, since everything has proceeded faster than I expected, I decided about ten days ago to make the announcement today rather than wait any longer.

(those that know me know I’m not the most patient person, especially when I have a secret or someone is keeping one from me!)

So ….

As of today, June 1, 2009, Reflections of Life Photography (aka ROLP) has been officially been renamed Christina McCall Photography!

Why the rename, you ask?

The simple answer, the one that 95% of the few who were in the know for the past month have gotten in response to some variation of that question …

To be honest, I’ve never really *adored* the name Reflections of Life Photography. Don’t get me wrong, it defined, so to speak, what I wanted to do in terms of portraiture photography — capture all the moments in life for future generations and for those pictured to reflect upon in the years to come. When I was contemplating going into business, trying to come up with a name, and find a url/domain name, I just didn’t like the other suggestions made to me (or thought up by me). Reflections of Life was my photoblog name at the time. At the time, I didn’t want to use my name, as I was interviewing and starting in the field that my day job is in — which in itself will make sense if you know what my day job is exactly.

However, after two years, I feel a bit more secure in going with the obvious — my name. Clients who choose me to capture them are selecting me (I hope) because of both my work and what they glimpse about me and my personality and life when they visit both my business and personal sites. Additionally, there is no other Christina McCall Photography that I’ve located via google or any other search engine. The only ‘famous’ person by the same name was a Canadian political journalist who has since passed on. On the other hand, there was at least two other photography websites/studios in Canada and the northern US who had the business name of Reflections of Life Photography. Most of my search results (via my stat counters) were showing that more and more hits were from people searching for my name or part of my name.

So … now for all of the details of Christina McCall Photography …

Just in case anyone is wondering or worrying, Robby will still be behind the scenes assisting and second shooting. If I can convince him to spare a few minutes now and then, you can view his work over at robcphoto.com/blog as well in the coming months.

Our new mission statement/motto/tagline is pictured above with the new logo. For the curious, that is my handwriting for the CMP. Everything — well all my branding, that is — has been based around using my initials + the tacked on P (for photography). In junior high and high school, I always signed (when allowed) all of my artwork with the CM squiggle. So, inspired by a discussion on a forum I belong to, the new logo was born. It took about thirty minutes of being driven crazy with dual monitors and a wacom tablet the size of my laptop screen to get it just right (many thanks to Robby’s former boss for his assistance in that department!). From there, I came across the perfect business materials collection that I did some *butchering* to in order to make it fit what I had in mind. I will feature all of my new materials the coming weeks here along with the awesome photographer/graphic designer who created the original materials.

This has been a decision that’s been a good ten or more months in the contemplation stages before I finally listened to my gut and just went for it. For over a month, I’ve been working on the new logo and branding. Most of the new materials have arrived (just waiting on my logo stickers to make it here from ‘across the pond’!) and I’ve just about worn myself ragged getting everything done in time to launch today. A few things are nearly done — should be no later than next week when I leave for my trip! — but the major stuff was ready to launch tonight. The new portfolio site is one of those ‘almost done’ items!

Site: The new site (aka here!) looks almost identical to the ROLP one –except the logo change, new bio picture, and some recent additions to the banner slideshow (which isn’t working for some crazy reason, working to fix it!)! I will be retaining the reflectionsphoto.org domain until the end of 2010 simply because of all the WOM and materials out there with the information on it. After June 30th, the ROLP url will redirect to this one; until then, this message will appear in place of the blog entries.

Email: the ROLP gmail address/account will not be deleted. I have way too many vendor accounts in which it is my account login/contact info, so its still okay to email me at it. The new email is christina [at] christinamccall [dot] com.

Phone: The phone number will also remain the same — however, much to my frustration, after listing it on do not call listings after going into business two summers ago and having a disclaimer on my voicemail, I’ve received four calls from telemarketing vendors this morning/early afternoon before I could announce the change to my clients, family, and friends. So — if you call and get a long voice mail with a ‘please take this # off your list’ at the end of the message, apparently my requests and hangups with them haven’t ceased! Please forgive me for sitting through it!

Twitter: I will be phasing out the ROLP twitter account (http://www.twitter.com/rolphoto) and using http://www.twitter.com/christinamccall in its place. Follow me there as I will be twittering my upcoming trip (along with twitter only specials!) on there!

Facebook & MySpace: A new Facebook page for CMP is nearly done — anyone who is a fan of ROLP currently will receive a message to join as soon as I launch it. As for MySpace, I’ve really debated creating a new account simply because I rarely ever log into MySpace for the business profile or my personal one.

And — with that — please go see the new (and improved!) Christina McCall Photography! (okay, you’re already here !) A few promotions will be announced in the next several weeks, so add the url to your favorites and/or blog/feed reader so you can be on top of the news!

Sidenote: Rather than going through two + years worth of images on my external drives and cds/dvds to find the original images that are posted on the blog and re-watermark them, disclaimers will be posted in the coming month or two on each of the previous 266 entries with the new name change information. I’m also still going through the info pages and catching all the ROLP’s too! Thanks for your patience

For all those who’ve given their lives, are still missing, those who have survived life altering injuries in battle or peacetime, and those who have returned, thank you.

Closer to home, I’m thankful that both my father and my Uncle Eddie Gene, who served the U.S. Army in Vietnam and Berlin during the 1960s, respectively, returned home, even if my father’s return from service to his country was marred by disgraceful acts of protesters.

A bit about Memorial Day for my international visitors …

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 25 in 2009). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action. (via wikipedia)

Photo taken in Spring 2006

In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 – 1918)

Photo from Yahoo News, taken on March 17, 2003 in Kuwait (text added by me).

Take a few mintues to observe The National Moment of Remembrance at 3 PM local time today.

Visit the US White House Commission on Remembrance + US Memorial Day History & Information on US War Memorials

Sidenote: As of June 1, 2009, Reflections of Life Photography was renamed Christina McCall Photography. We apologize for any confusion this may cause.

In addition to client sessions and editing this spring, I’ve had a few other *projects* going on behind the scenes … yes, this is gonna be a long entry … with some annoucements and deadlines towards the end … so, clients, keep reading after the image below!

 – February was “overhaul the workspace/step one in ‘my plan for world domination’” as I dubbed it … the final product:

That’s a PBS Masterpiece Theatre movie (one of the Jane Austen ones) on the tv screen for the curious. It looks slightly different now (this was taken in March) as I’ve shuffled things around and there are stacks of notes, books, atlases, and travel guides currently scatted across the workstation!

Since reorganizing everything to have a completely dedicated workspace for the biz, I’ve not once used the laptop/set up a workstation on the bed or relocated into the kitchen as I previously did since I didn’t have enough desktop space for the two laptops pictured above. This is great for many reasons, including the lack of lower back pain and when I do crawl in bed, I normally pass out a lot quicker since I wasn’t sitting there already all evening long.

(thanks so much to Melody & Scott for their contribution of the file cabinet!)

 – March – this point in May is a ‘secret project’ that’s under wraps until June 1st. Still waiting on the receipt of several items + documents I have to get filed/amended next week to make it truly official.

 – I’ve recently (as in mid April) sat down and wrote out my workflow (finally) from start to finish when it comes to sessions as well as set office/business hours. With working a full time job Monday through Friday, conducting sessions on weekends, and editing/biz stuff the rest of the time, I hardly had any downtime scheduled in. Both health-wise and emotionally, the lack of time off from ‘working’ has taken a toll over the past year and a half — so after drafting up the workflow, I came up with a daily schedule + set days for ordering and time off. See it here.

 – Orders for prints (as of mid-April) are only placed on Wednesday evenings and Sunday late morning/early afternoons. In order for me to submit your order to my printer, I have to have it by 5 pm the evening before in order to prep the files. Also, as I have a very slow internet connection at home, I have to go to one of two local places with wi-fi to upload/place orders, which is another reason for only placing orders twice a week now.

 – Also, until further notice, Thursday evenings and Sunday after 5 pm, we are closed. That’s now my down time — either I’ll veg out and get to bed at a decent hour or catch up on personal business, namely bill paying, letter writing to my penpals around the world that I’m months behind on (sorry!), reading the 30 + books I’ve accumulated, or what not. Also, I’m setting aside one Saturday morning a month for taking care of personal business I can’t do during normal business hours (i.e. oil changes, tires, haircuts, errand running, grocery shopping … and so on). So — once three Saturdays (particularly the AM hours) in a month are scheduled with sessions, the remaining Saturday not scheduled will be automatically closed to sessions. However, PM sessions will be available on those dates.

 – And lastly, but most importantly for those with active galleries: The deadline to get your print order (or wrap up your custom items that are prepaid) is June 1st at 5 pm. I will be placing the LAST print order on the evening of June 2nd (a Tuesday). Reason? I will be traveling out of state/country from June 12-29, therefore, I cannot prep + order + receive/process + ship/deliver any orders submitted after June 1st before I leave before daylight on June 12th. In fact, I will be expediting shipping from the printer to me in hopes of having all the orders delivered by the 9th or 10th at the latest — so I have time when I get home from work on the 11th to wrap up packing and hit the sack super early! So — if I don’t receive your order by then, it will not be processed until I am back in the Lone Star State and knocked out all the laundry I’ll have to do before I return to the day job — aka June 30th or July 1st. Additionally, we will be closed during that time period in terms of telephone access as well — my cell service will be intermittent at best, and while out of the country for a few days, the phone itself will be turned off to avoid roaming charges. So — I will do my best to respond within five (5) days to emails since I will have internet most evenings (there are at least three (3) evenings in a row that I will not only be without internet, but tv as well).

 – Tied into the last annoucement: on the evenings when I do have internet during my travels, I will do my best to blog photos from my travels. I have a ‘promotion’ of sorts that will be linked in with the blog posts that will be announced/emailed out during the week before I leave …

And that is it for right now! Check back this week for some more sneak peeks + a special Memorial Day post!

Sidenote: As of June 1, 2009, Reflections of Life Photography was renamed Christina McCall Photography. We apologize for any confusion this may cause.