Christina McCall Photography | Athens Canton Kaufman and Tyler Texas Family, Children, and Senior Portraiture Photography » the roadtrip

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!

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

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?

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

Hail to the Chief | Athens Texas Photographer

christina — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:50:28 +0000

In honor of the little celebrated but federally recognized holiday today, I thought I’d preempt today’s original post to celebrate the presidents we normally think of on this date … Washington and Lincoln primarily as their birthdays are close (date-wise) to President’s Day itself.

… and in recognizing our past presidents, here’s a few images from one of the many places around our great nation recognizing former presidents I’ve had the fortune of visiting over the years …

The Lincoln Monument — west of Cheyenne, Wyoming on the old Lincoln Highway (modern day I-80). The monument is at the highest point on the transcontinental I-80.

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 …

Hotel Terra | East Texas Based Travel Photography

christina — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:37:10 +0000

Last summer — by a stroke of very good fortune — we stayed at Hotel Terra in Jackson Hole. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t shared the detail shots from the lobby and the room itself yet.

This week I’m sharing some of the details from the entrance and lobby. Truly a gorgeous — and eco friendly! – hotel resort worth every penny. Course, next time I’ll have to pay full price!

As I told them in the note I enclosed with the Christmas card I sent last month — the kindness of the night manager after the rude treatment from the evening desk clerk at the hotel next door we were originally scheduled to stay at guaranteed that any and all future trips to Jackson Hole will result in reservations made at Hotel Terra. Service and attention to detail does go a long way — especially after 14 hours on the road, having someone offer to help you get your bags to your room, a smile in the lobby every time you pass through, not to mention having the door held open for you as well, and the stunning views available from the room as well as throughout Teton Village.

I have a few more to share at a later point this spring …

To book a portraiture session with Christina, contact us via email at christina@christinamccall.com or call 903.477.9069 today.

Snowy Days | East Texas Based Travel Photography

christina — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:17:32 +0000

Ah yes, its freezing cold outdoors — it was a *balmy* 9 degrees this am when I darted out backdoor before daylight to head to work. Thank goodness I didn’t have to scrape the windshield …

What is this weather and what’s it doing here in East Texas, you ask? Blame the Almanac — it said we were in for a colder than normal winter! I know we hate the cold, especially in this neck of the woods that always misses out on the good snowfalls the western half of the state actually gets, but at least we don’t have to endure it for months, like my best friend in Great Falls, Montana does!

That said, here’s some good winter weather imagery — only, I didn’t take these photos during the winter. They were taken on June 15, 2009. Yes, you read that correctly … these were all taken either from the gondala ride to the top of Mt. Rendezvous (at Jackson Hole, Wyoming) or from its summit — just so you know why there’s a bit a motion blur in a few!

Brief intermission for an insightful and heartwarming poem shared with me earlier today:

” WINTER “

by Abigail Elizabeth McIntyre

Crap It’s Cold

The End

Oh, and silly me left my gloves back at the hotel that afternoon – so after 30 minutes atop the mountain, my poor exposed fingers were grateful for the return to 60 degree temps!

Now, if we had some of that white stuff here in East Texas right now, the temperatures would be a bit more bearable — and maybe we’d all have gotten a day or two off work in the process!

Sidenote: Yes, that’s a new watermark — you’ll see it on all of my travel, fine art, and landscape images from here on out …

To book a portraiture session with Christina, contact us via email at christina@christinamccall.com or call 903.477.9069 today.

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 …