The September newsletter is now live — you can view the full html version here — or the pdf version here. Text-only is available over here. Take you pick, but I recommend the first two

I have one other announcement that didn’t make the newsletter ‘deadline’, so it’ll be a special post one day next week …

And … the Fall/Holiday 2009 Specials are now available to the general public … As our two year birthday is just around the corner (on the 15th), we’re offering up a couple of great holiday specials as a thanks to all of you for supporting us through this adventure!

 As a bonus, I’ve added four more custom designs to the 2009 Christmas Card options (for a total of 18 to choose from). I’ll also feature the some of the stocking stuffers tomorrow night — so if you’re curious what the Mona Lisa Collection Mini Mounts or the Storyboard Collages look like, be sure to check back!

For the record, this is the longest amount of time off (excluding holiday breaks when I worked at the juco level) I’ve taken since I went to work full-time — its a very much needed break, especially now that I not only work part-time, but also have a photography business! Please forgive me if I’m just more than a tad bit excited to be ‘running away from East Texas’ as I’ve put it to several coworkers and friends lately!

Anyway, rambling aside, Christina McCall Photography (formerly Reflections of Life Photography) will be closed — yes, closed!!! — from 5 pm on Thursday, June 11, 2009 until Monday, June 29, 2009. I will be on the road well away from the state of Texas for 99% of this time period and my cell service will be sporadic, at best. I will have internet access for part of the trip in the late evenings, so if you need to reach me during those two weeks — don’t call, email (or fill this form out that’ll make its way to my inbox also)! I will try my best to respond as I am able to, but there will be at least three (3) days in which I will have no telephone or internet access. Yeah, the withdrawals are already starting … so please, to be on the safe side, allow up to five (5) days for a response until I return home.

All orders received while I’m gone will be placed upon my return. If you’re wanting to schedule a mini session or regular session at our ‘re-grand opening’ rates, shoot me an email with the date/time you’re interested in (for mini sessions), or the date and time of day (early morning, late afternoon) for regular sessions (Saturday or Sunday only for all sessions!). I’ll reply back as soon as I have the opportunity and send (via email) the info packet/payment invoice to you. Appointments will not be confirmed until both the contract (to be sent via email) and retainer fee are received.

While I’m gone, and on the nights I have internet access, I will be posting images and tidbits from my trip for all of you to vicariously experience. And tied in with that will be a promotion of sorts — that’ll benefit several charities near and dear to me. More details about that will be posted separately in the early hours tomorrow … and hopefully tomorrow night I will have a few images from Day 1 of The Roadtrip posted as well!

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

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.

slideshow

PS … if you can’t see a control to start it, just click in the space above this line — despite coding it to show the controls in grey, they’re not showing up on all the slideshows properly!

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

The sneak peeks I’ve picked out are a bit different than what you may spot on several other photographers’ blogs who regularly photography at Villa di Felicita — these were captured as we switched locations or as Lydia was switching outfits.

The entrance — I used a tilt/shift style blur in post processing to give it a bit of a dream-like quality.

After coming up the winding drive, you arrive at the Villa itself.

The entrance — this dome ceiling reminds me a bit of the ceiling in the throne room at Neuschwanstein in Bavaria!

The gardens behind the villa .. this area is between the Villa and the outdoor alter used for weddings. So many others feature the alter area (which is gorgeous), but rarely if ever feature the beautiful gardens that have a bit of a Tuscan feel to them.

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

Forgive me for only posting the last sneak peek (my favorite from the session — of her alone!) and nothing else tonight — I’m on my way out the door to Robby’s graduation (with his associate’s degree)!

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

Tomorrow night I’ll wrap up Lydia’s sneak peeks and on Saturday I’ll share a few from the Villa itself!

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

This is just one of a few in this series — due to the slightly muddy conditions, we left the harp on paved areas and ventured out into the field of wildflowers behind the outdoor facilities at the Villa. Everytime I look at this image, I think of the scenic vistas featured in the most recent version of Pride and Prejudice for some reason …

To all of the commenters earlier today — thanks so much for your kind words to both Lydia and I!

To everyone else — help Lydia reach at least 20 comments total on her sneak peek posts and she’ll earn a print credit; if she hits the 50 comment mark, she’ll receive a custom designed item!

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

As I mentioned in an email to Lydia earlier, I thought she was Robby’s age (20 for those wondering) by her accomplishments with the harp and her business. Then late last night I looked back at the model release form she gave me at her session.

I was off by two years — this phenomenal musician is only 18!

Even more so, last summer she attended Interlochen Arts summer camp — a prestigious, intensive arts school in Michigan. She has even been invited back to assist the harps teacher. In the meantime, she continues to study with her instructor in Dallas and is working on building her business up in lieu of the traditional education route.

On to the reason you all are really here … today’s sneak peek. This one is in my top five favorites from her session. It slightly resembles a photograph she sent me when she contacted me back in January — yet its a bit different I had a hard time deciding whether to post the color or the black & white version, but I went with the color one since its more eye-popping than the black & white version.

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

If you’re looking for a harpist for your wedding or event, you can contact her via her Twitter feed or contact me for her contact information!

(also, thanks so much to Ronda for allowing us to conduct Lydia’s session at the Villa — detail photos from the Villa along with the grounds will be posted at the end of the week!)

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