Christina McCall » pay it forward

Colorado Springs – 2009 Edition | East Texas Based Travel Photographer

christina — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:30:01 +0000

On the Sunday I took these last June, I spent 11 hours on the road between Colorado Springs, Colorado and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. So … most of the images I took that morning in the Colorado Springs area were, as a result, not processed until late April 2010 when I realized that I had a day and a half’s worth of raw files still on my laptop that I hadn’t finished editing. And since there are some in here I wish I’d edited to share last year, I figure a year to the day from when The Roadtrip commenced was as good a time as any to share them …

See the Kissing Camels above?

This was one of those ‘just happened to look around at the right moment’ shots …

I love this landscape … so hard to believe that it was once underwater!

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Colorado Springs – 2009 Edition | East Texas Based Travel Photographer

christina — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:30:17 +0000

On the Sunday I took these last June, I spent 11 hours on the road between Colorado Springs, Colorado and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. So … most of the images I took that morning in the Colorado Springs area were, as a result, not processed until late April 2010 when I realized that I had a day and a half’s worth of raw files still on my laptop that I hadn’t finished editing. And since there are some in here I wish I’d edited to share last year, I figure almost a year to the day from when The Roadtrip commenced was as good a time as any to share them …

What? You didn’t know Nirvana was in Colorado?

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Friday Miscallany | Athens Texas Photographer

christina — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:23:12 +0000

Confession: I’m an Olympics junkie.

Therefore, the next couple of weeks of my life are pretty much pre-empted for very little else (sorry NCIS and The Amazing Race, that’s what my VCR is for!). Okay, I do have to continue showing up at work during the week, sleep during the night, and shooting/editing the sessions on the calendar between now and the end of the closing ceremonies …

… but just know the best way to reach me is via email during this time period. Because if I’m not at work, in the car going to/from home, work, sleeping, showering, or shooting sessions, I’m listening/watching whatever sport is being broadcast on the NBC & Universal Sports networks I pick up at out of DFW. And, well, I become grumpy when someone interrupts my patriotism fanaticism with all things Olympic. Don’t believe me, ask the members of my family and a friend or two how I responded to them during all the pre-Olympic coverage on Universal Sports when they interrupted my attention from world cup skiing and luge (okay, I should clarify, more like my attention on the gorgeous yesteryear Winter Olympics locale of St. Moritz, Switzerland that I was taking a virtual vacation to - the hostels there are probably out of my accomodations budget!). Imagine how much worse it would be if I had cable/satellite and all the various NBC affiliated networks to watch …

And please — if the regular NBC station is airing snowboarding or curling, please know I’ll respond as soon as its over or during a commercial break

I promise not to post too much Olympic-related stuff here. But I won’t promise not to on my personal blog if you’re a fellow Olympics junkie.

Oh, and the significance of the teepee image at the beginning of this post …

(a) its an encore image from The Roadtrip taken during our stop in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada last June. How huge is this teepee? Large enough to see easily from the main highway coming in from Lethbridge on the other side of the city.

… and (b) from the Medicine Hat, Alberta website: Originally constructed for the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics, the Saamis Tepee is a tribute to Canada’s native heritage. Built entirely of steel with a concrete foundation, the tepee is ringed with 10 large circular story-boards depicting aspects of native culture and history. Below the Saamis Tepee in scenic Seven Persons coulee, lays one of the Northern Plains archaeological sites – the Saamis Archaeological Site. This self-guided walking tour will show you one of the foremost important archaeological sites of the Northern Plains. The area was once a buffalo camp and meat processing site. Experts believe over 83 million artifacts are buried at the site.

This week’s quote that I wholeheartedly agree with … came from an email forward of all things:

A Birth Certificate shows that we were born

A Death Certificate shows that we died

Pictures show that we lived!

… and on that note, back to editing images from recent client sessions I go! I’ll share snow photos tomorrow … I only have eight gigabytes worth to convert from RAW to jpeg …

Call to Arms — Help a Texas Photographer out!

christina — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Saturday evening I logged onto both Twitter and Facebook to see a series of tweets and status updates from a number of photographers about one of my favorite photographers who is based in Fort Worth — Fred Egan (twitter | website | style blog). While he was not at home Saturday morning, there was a fire at his apartment complex. He lost nearly everything he owned – pretty much all he has left is the clothes on his back and some of his photography gear/work and computer he was able to recover. He is also a single father with two sons who are elementary school aged. Unfortunately his insurance had just lapsed — and in this economy, the combination is extremely devastating when you’re a home based entrepreneur.

So in lieu of a holiday gift idea post today, how about we demonstrate what the spirit of the holidays is all about — that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Jory Cordy, a close friend of Fred’s as well as fellow photographer has set up a paypal link to donate to help Fred out and Southern Weddings Magazine is also taking donations as well. Or you can go to Paloma’s Nest and buy the FAITH dove bowl — all proceeds from its sale will also go to help Fred.

CFC: St. Jude Donation

christina — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:05:45 +0000

As promised, here is the photo-documentation of the last CMP Comments for Charity donation to St. Jude’s Childrens Research Hospital …

Again, to everyone who — back in June and July — left comments here and on the RSS postings at Facebook, responded to or retweeted the tweets, or commented on images from the posts I posted at Flickr from The Roadtrip, thank you! Six charities benefited as a result. While I won’t be taking as long of a trip next summer, I hope to make this an annual event tied to my summer travels … so look for the CMP Comments for Charity Event to return next summer … and, yes, travel plans are already underway!

The National Parks | East Texas Based Travel Photographer

christina — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:12:50 +0000

For those unaware, in June of this year, I spent 17 days traveling through part of the Western United States and two Canadian provinces. During that trip, I either sat foot in, viewed from a distance, or drove through ten U.S. National Parks, Monuments, or Historic Sites. I can’t begin to tell you all how humbling and awe inspiring our parks, monuments, and historic sites are. It would be a safe bet that I had a constant slack jawed in awe expression on my face for most of that trip. As I twittered and said aloud multiple times during those seventeen days, “God is an awesome artist.” And He is — visit the Tetons, drive through Yellowstone, take a bus tour at Glacier, give yourself a crick in the neck gazing up at Devils Tower, stare at Pikes Peak from Garden of the Gods, get up close and personal with the bison at Theodore Roosevelt (from the safety of your vehicle, that is!), gaze at the artistry of what dynamite can do at Mount Rushmore, enjoy the peaceful beauty of Wind Cave’s lands, and quietly reflect on the lives of those who lost their lives in the spring of 1995 at Oklahoma City. That’s just some of the sites we visited in one trip — there are a total of 58 national parks in the continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, and US territories, and an even greater number of National Monuments, Historic Sites, Military Parks/Battlegrounds, and Recreation Areas to visit.

So — as a belated celebration of National Public Lands Day (it was yesterday, Saturday, September 26th) and to lead up to the airing of Ken Burns’ The National Parks miniseries, I thought I’d share a few of my absolute favorite images from the parks we visited.

The Tetons …

Jenny Lake — Grand Teton National Park

Jackson Lake — Grand Teton National Park

Old Faithful — Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Lake McDonald — Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park

Devils Tower

Mount Rushmore

Oklahoma City National Memorial

CFC: HSUS Donation

christina — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 02:52:13 +0000

As promised, here is the photo-documentation of the fifth CMP Comments for Charity donation to the Humane Society of the United States…

Check back in two weeks for the St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital’s photo-documentation …

CFC: Wounded Warrior Project Donation

christina — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:14:56 +0000

As promised, here is the photo-documentation of the fourth CMP Comments for Charity donation to the Wounded Warrior Project …

Check back in two weeks for the Humane Society of the United States’ photo-documentation …

CFC: Paralyzed Veterans of America Donation

christina — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:33:26 +0000

As promised, here is the photo-documentation of the third (of six) CMP Comments for Charity donation to the Paralyzed Veterans of America…

The photo documentation for CFC #4 to the Wounded Warrior Project will be posted in two weeks …

CFC: VFW Donation

christina — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:17:36 +0000

As promised, here is the photo-documentation of the second CMP Comments for Charity donation to the Veterans of Foreign Wars … you’ll notice I blurred out the critical info so identity thieves can’t have fun with it

Check back in two weeks for the Paralyzed Veterans of America’s photo-documentation …

Sidenote: CMP is closed from August 6-10 — all correspondence will be returned next week!

CFC: USO Donation

christina — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:46:48 +0000

As promised, here is the photo-documentation (okay screenshot) of the first CMP Comments for Charity donation to the USO … sensitive information blurred to protect my financial well being

I split up the donation to help each area of assistance — I contributed the majority of the $25 towards Operation Enduring Care:

Operation Enduring Care was designed to help meet the recovery needs of injured service members, their families and the medical personnel who care for the wounded. This program also includes support for funeral escorts, mortuary personnel and honor guards serving fallen troops.

For those interested, here’s the details on Operation Phone Home and United through Reading:

Operation Phone Home
Please help deployed service members call home by donating to USO Operation Phone Home.

They have sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and friends who are with them in spirit and silently supporting them from the other side of the world. But it would mean so much to our service members to be able to hear their voices.

The USO is working hard to bring home as close to them as possible. Please join us in USO Operation Phone Home, a campaign created to make it possible for Americans to extend this touch of home to the men and women of our armed forces.

United through Reading
The USO, in partnership with Family Literacy Foundation, is proud to offer the United Through Reading® program at select USO centers worldwide. This program helps deployed service men and women stay connected to the children in their lives through the medium of reading aloud. This program allows service members visiting participating USO centers to videotape themselves reading a children’s book. The DVD, a copy of the book, instructions, as well as information on the United Through Reading program, are mailed to the child and family back home. All recording equipment, books and packaging materials are supplied by the USO.

The parent or caregiver is encouraged to photograph or videotape the child’s excitement as they watch the DVD and follow along with the book. The photograph or DVD then can be sent to the deployed family member, boosting the morale of the entire family and enhancing the feeling of connectedness.

If you are interested in contributing to the USO, visit their website at http://www.uso.org.

Check back in two weeks for the photo-documentation of the donation to the VFW …

Comments for Charity Wrap-up & Winners

christina — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:05:57 +0000

I just want to thank everyone who left comments on the travel posts from The Roadtrip 2009 for the CMP Comments for Charity. I twice extended the ‘deadline’ since I was still posting highlights well after I returned home. The last of the highlights went online Friday, so yesterday morning I sat down and ‘generated’ a list of everyone who commented between the blog + the RSS feed updates posting on my personal Facebook account, as well as the Twitter responses & retweets … and even the comments on the handful of images I’ve posted on my personal Flickr account.

… and the grand (combined) total is …

142!!

I set the goal of 150 comments — in increments of 25 comments = $25 to a pre-designated charity. So — while only 8 comments shy of the 150, I will be making a $25 donation to each of six charities …

$25 to the USO
$25 to the Veterans of Foreign Wars
$25 to the Paralyzed Veterans of America
$25 to the Wounded Warrior Project
$25 to the Humane Society of the United States
and …
$25 to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital

How will you know that I’ll be making these donations? Well — I get paid every other Friday at my day job, so I will be writing out the checks (or donating online) to one charity each payday (or over the weekend immediately following said payday). And after I write out the check/make the online donation, I will photograph it (of course blurring out my bank/credit card account info) and post it here on the blog. So starting this Friday (well this coming weekend) through the first weekend in October, you’ll see a weekend post every other weekend regarding the donations. They’ll also be tagged with the comments for charity tag so you can easily locate them.

As a thanks to everyone for commenting, I have a few prizes to award! After tallying up the count, I used random.org to determine the winners …

The 11×14 mounted print goes to … Cheryl!

… and because I had so many online and photographer friends (on top of clients, coworkers, and friends from over the years) rally to help CMP reach the Comments for Charity goal, I decided to add in two 8×10 mounted prints and a set of postcards … random.org chose …

Evie (8×10)

Jen Gentry (8×10)

and …

Vinita (postcard set)!

I also ran a Twitter contest for a set of eight postcards (created by me) – those that responded to or retweeted my travel tweets were eligible.

The winner of that postcard set was … Photomomma!

And I have to recognize the two individuals who commented on nearly every post from The Roadtrip: Timber — my best friend — and Lydia — the awesome harpist featured here back in May. Look for a surprise in both of your mailboxes as well!

So …. Cheryl, Evie, and Jen — look for an email in your inbox asap and let me know your mailing addresses and the image you want for the mounted print! Vinita and Photomomma — let me know your mailing addresses asap as well, the postcards are in hand and ready for shipping!

Thanks again so much to all of you!

In other slightly off-topic news, check back later this week for the the travel photography gallery information plus the first of two contests I’m about to announce!