So … until then, a wildlife photography lesson sneak peeking some of the images from Rocky Mountain National Park …

I was minding my own business, photographing this absolutely beautiful landscape with a wide angle lens I’d rented when two things were brought to my attention … #1 — the elk herd and #2 — the idiot standing only about 50 feet from them.

I quickly swapped back to the other lens in my bag (my 28-75 mm lens — I’d left the 135 mm lens in the car) to capture idiocy in action.

Never ever ever go this close to wildlife — even in a national park — unless the title Park Ranger and the salary that goes along with it is in your job description or you have one escorting you.

I was a good 150 or so yards from my vehicle — along the marked trail/road for park visitors (leading to some cabins), and had they taken off in my direction, I *might* have been able to sprint back to the car in time had I cut across to the parking area. Key word is *might*. This dude — he would have been stomped right into that park employees dirt road he was standing on if they’d been spooked and taken off.

This shot was taken from the gate with a sign that — in a nutshell — said “only park officials past this point” … My life and the $4000 + worth of camera gear on my person at that particular moment just isn’t worth ignoring federal park signs to get *the shot* …

… and next time, along with renting a wide angle lens, I’m renting the 70-200 lens so I can get the shot he wanted without risking my life

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

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… 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.

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 …

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.

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.

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

Yellowstone National Park

Lake McDonald — Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park

Devils Tower

Mount Rushmore

Oklahoma City National Memorial

Oklahoma City National Memorial

… 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!

On our last day of traveling, we took time out to visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial in downtown OKC. If you follow me on twitter (or see the twitter updates that post to my Facebook profile) — or run your cursor over the recently link on the menu at the top of the page, you’ll notice the following tweet or status update I posted late yesterday evening: “I never fail to get teary-eyed/emotional when I edit/view images I’ve captured from (now) three visits to the OKC memorial – like right now.” I have no shame in admitting that by the time I wrapped up the sneak peek file prepping, I had tears streaming down my face once again and a runny nose.

April 19, 1995 is one of the three events/reasons that lead to my choosing my graduate majors (of criminal justice and political science) and what used to be my dream job of becoming an FBI Special Agent. Ask me where I was when I found out what a fellow American did to the people of OKC and our country and I can tell you as clearly as I can tell you were I was when I witnessed the Challenger explosion, when Princess Di died, the attacks on NYC, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania, and the Columbia tragedy. So to me, the least I can do when I pass through Oklahoma City is to take a few minutes and stop to remember those who lost their lives over fourteen years ago. I’ll be headed back to Oklahoma in a few weeks and I assure you, I plan to make another visit either coming or going (once I finalize what route I’ll be taking).

When we passed through there was a biker rally of some sort going on in Bricktown and near the memorial, so we had to detour to get to our ‘regular’ parking near the bus depot. Rather than describe each image as I normally do, I’ll let the images do the talking with the exception of one.

And Jesus Weeps …

On my first visit in 1999, all I had with me was a disposible film camera, yet of the three different times I’ve photographed the And Jesus Weeps statue at this particular angle, that first one is my favorite. You can view it and my other OKC Memorial images here (in my flickr photostream) — that image has never been retouched, only was scanned directly from the print.

This entry is one of two that’ll be posting today — images from the Oklahoma City National Memorial will be online this evening.

Last night I promised to keep the roadside and windmill images to a minimum. Well … I loved the colors too much, so I compromised. There are quite a few, but I combined several of them into collages instead Due to combining several of these, they’re not in chronological order — but a mix of images from both Nebraska and Kansas unless otherwise noted.

Note the top right image — the teeny tiny combines upside the ginormous windmills. I wish there had been a Ford or Chevy truck by the combines and/or windmills to really give a comparison!

These were captured in Ogallala, Nebraska — our second time of traveling along the Lincoln Highway during the trip (first time was in southern Wyoming).

Sign on the left I found interesting — the Dog n Shake?!?! Sign on the right — in Blackwell, Oklahoma. The best chicken fried steak I’ve had in a mom & pop owned restaurant — I just wish I’d been hungrier so I could have finished everything on my plate (you get two medium sized CFS’s with your meal). They also have these ginormous cinnamon rolls that are at least 6″ in diameter. And I hear the pancakes are delish! The evening we were there, the cook and only waitress on duty were constantly busy with no break time until right before we left. Both were kind and hospitable, coming to check on us as well as asking if we enjoyed our meal.

In southern Nebraska …

Southern Nebraska

Southern Nebraska or Northern Kansas

Southern Nebraska or Northern Kansas

Northern Kansas

Somewhere in the OKC area

Don’t forget to check back this evening for the last of the ‘major highlights’ from The Roadtrip 2009! And — please — leave a comment here on the blog (or the RSS feed posting on Facebook) so charity #6 will benefit as well! Thanks in advance!

On to images from Day 2 in South Dakota (and a bit of Nebraska) …

We started our day out in Spearfish … which, due its location along both an interstate and US highway, has quite a few vintage/retro hotel signs (along with a few other businesses with neon light signs). This one was my favorite, however:

I also spotted this (beginning to) fade mural/advertisment in the downtown area — if you know me, you know that I’m a bit of a Dr Pepper addict, but I do love retro and vintage Coca-Cola marketing too!

Then it was on down the road to Keystone, the small town just outside of Mount Rushmore. We briefly stopped at the Gutzon Borglum museum there in town — lot of information about his life and some of his other works, but you get a decent amount of the same information at the museum at Mount Rushmore National Monument (and you don’t pay extra to see it). Plus you can photograph the items inside the one at MRNM, whereas you can’t at the private museum. After we detoured through the gift shop, we then headed on up to Mount Rushmore itself (important note: The National Parks Pass will not get you into MRNM, its technically free, but you pay $10 to the official concessionaire to park.)

This is Gutzon Borglum by the way …

Because there is only so many ways one can photograph Mount Rushmore, I’m just sharing a few of my absolute favorites …

After we left MRNM, we headed on southward, passing by the Crazy Horse Memorial … this is from the highway:

We briefly stopped in Custer — watch out for the camera by the sudden speed limit drop sign (no warning!) coming into town that’s on a fairly steep incline — for gas and a restroom break while my travel companions were busy with that, I instead darted a couple blocks down the street to photograph some more vintage/retro hotel & restaurant signs and some buffalo of the painted variety …

Despite appearances, no, we weren’t racing the train … just liked the color combination …

This business had a ton of new and old tractors … this is all the old ones!

Nebraska roadside …

Another windmill …

Ever wondered what to do with your old tires? Here’s an idea I find as amusing as the boots on the fenceposts … no, I didn’t get a photograph of the boots on the fenceposts, too hard to catch in time in full manual mode! Btw, I saw probably 15 of these within about 5 miles along I-70 and the road we turned off on to head into Ogallala.

I’m hoping to wrap up the last two ‘travel days’ worth of images into one more post — I figure I’ve endulged you all in enough roadsides, mountains, and windmills that I can curb the remainder of Nebraska and Kansas (which we passed through on Day 1 — see June 12-13 posts for those images) down to a few images and feature Oklahoma instead.