about Shayla

Shayla McCallum
Photographer & Designer

I Love :: Jesus, My Fiance Christopher, My Family and Friends, Good Conversations, Reading, Cooking Vegan Food, Soy Lattes, Yoga, Hiking, Travel, Interior Design, Porches, Cotton, Flip Flops, Jeans, Movies, Canon Cameras and Lenses, Laughter (and lots of it), and yes of course, you guessed it, Photography & Design!

I was born in Jamaica and raised in Jamaica and the United States by my English-Jamaican grandparents and my Afro-Jamaican and Italian-Venezuelan parents. So far I've lived in Jamaica, Florida, Arizona, Pennsylvania and now Virginia. I'm pretty happy where I am right now so I don't think I'll be moving again anytime soon, if ever, but I sure plan on traveling a lot!

My eye for beauty, attention to detail, and thoughtful artistic approach to design and photography has led to a successful career in both fields.

In my artistic journey, I've learned that any gifts or talents I may have come from God and I work daily to remain humble to his grace. He created me to fulfill a unique role, and so I've come to learn that I'm not much good at trying to be someone else or mimic someone e'se's art or style. I am uniquely me (as is my art) and that's a good thing!

As a visual artist I love light, negative space, typography, grey, asymmetrical balance, unique hand drawn elements, desaturation, and hazy dreamy images that convey a soft romantic feel.

Along with catching light creative studio, I am also the owner & designer of Today & Always Paperie, where I design custom paper creations such as wedding invitations & suites, save the date cards, birth announcements and other personalized stationary items for the moments in life that happen today and stay with you always.

I also write a blog called designing a life where I feature all sorts of fun stuff that inspires and a few business tips I've learned during the past 5+ years of running a freelance photography & design studio.