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From Christina & the *elves* at CMP, Merry Christmas!

For those of you on our snail mail Christmas card mailing list, you’re already aware of the following news since these cards went out to you within the last couple of weeks, but I held out on making the announcement here on the blog until today …

Christina McCall Photography has evolved throughout the last four plus years … and after much consideration, I am taking a break from portraiture & commercial photography. CMP will be focused on only travel, landscape, and fine art photography for the foreseeable future. In addition, a new service that isn’t exactly photography-related will be debuted very soon.

The CMP blog will still be updated with images from my travels, projects, and pet sessions … along with the archives in place for reminiscing.

Sit.Stay.Snap., the pet photography division of CMP, will continue about business as normal after January 1st with some slight changes. I won’t rule out a return to offering portraiture sessions for my human clients … so if you’d like to be notified via email when that time comes, please sign up here (this is a different list than my regular newsletter that will continue to be sent out seasonally).

Thanks for a great four + years … and please visit the site again on January 1st to see the rebranded Christina McCall Photography that has been in the works for the last few months!

PS … below is the original image from this year’s card … this was a cottage near an inn in Gruene, Texas that had a vacancy sign on it, which immediately made me think of Mary & Joseph & the birth of Jesus

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Happy belated Veterans Day to each and every person that has served our country over the years as well as their families who’ve sacrified as well. So many of my relatives and friends have served in the various branches of the U.S. Military that I want to give special thanks too, especially the handsome guy above, my dad.

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[ contact CMP | follow CMP on facebook | follow Christina's tweets | subscribe to the blog ]

I created this image just after September 11, 2001 and each year I post it in memory of everyone who lost their life in the attacks on the WTC towers, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania, along with the rescuers that gave their lives as well.

Its hard to believe its been ten years. How far my life has evolved in that long, yet fast moving period of time — further, in fact, than I ever dreamed. Ten years ago, I was a month and a day out of my undergraduate studies, job hunting and taking classes I didn’t get to enjoy as electives due to the lack of elective hours in my bachelor’s degree. I spent the night before 9.11.01 in my World Religion class, where a classmate asked about jihad and our instructor, a pastor, encouraged discussion and helped us gain a bit of understanding as we hadn’t reached the Muslim portion of our textbook as of yet. Prior to that class, a Muslim coworker and I, after he saw me reading my textbook for that night’s class, discussed our religions, comparing and contrasting them without fear or worry.

What a difference that 24 hour period made in all of our lives.

That morning I woke up and went up to the local college, where I tutored at, met with one student, then drove across town to get gas before I went to class and then to my other job. While pumping gas, these two girls came out of the station laughing and one of them said, “yeah right, a plane flew into a building.” I went in to get a snack and a drink, and while checking out, the teary eyed clerk told me what she was seeing on the tv just around the corner from the register. I drove back to the college, stunned, flipping through stations to find out something, anything. My mom was a student at that time, so I went and waited outside her classroom door to tell her — her instructor went to his computer to try to find something out for us but couldn’t find anything more than I’d heard already. I decided to skip my class — knowing what was happening in my country right then was more important than learning about computer programming. I was about a mile from my house when (the radio station I was listening to was streaming ABC News) I heard a loud roar and Peter Jennings’ voice cracked as he said “The first tower has fallen.” I made it home to discover my dad sitting in front of the kitchen tv, tears streaming, as he watched it live. We sat together, him trying to tell me what had already happened, me trying to process it all. I called one of my coworkers at my other job at UT-Tyler to find out if we would be open; she said we would and asked me to bring a radio; although it was the university’s computer lab, no one could find a site with updated info. That radio I brought to work that afternoon had students, professors, and staff clustered around it until I left late that afternoon.

My Muslim coworker and several of my undergrad finance classmates were of Middle Eastern descent, some here as international students, others first or second generation Americans whose parents sought a better way of life and the American Dream. I watched in the following weeks and months as they were disrespected and ridiculed for actions they had no part in. Just because some fellow Saudis back in the Middle East and Southeast Asia happened to have an extreme view of Islam doesn’t mean they all did. And I mourned like every other person who — American or not — was impacted by those hijacked airplanes who forever changed our lives. I was already patriotic as the daughter of a war veteran; to this day, I cannot hear a patriotic song without tears flowing and thanking my lucky stars and the Lord above for living here, having my freedoms, and a military that protects them.

Ten years later, we may feel the impacts and changes created by the events of September 11, 2001 less than we did initially — unless one travels frequently — but I know I don’t take life for granted any longer. Our laws may make some feel stifled by the changes that were put into place to protect us, but I’d rather that than the alternative.

So, today, remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 — then hug your families or, if they’re not physically nearby, call them up and tell them how much you care and are grateful they’re in your lives.

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Since I only have a very limited number of session openings from now through mid-November, those that want holiday portraits with Christina McCall Photography this holiday season need to contact me soon to get on the calendar!

Holiday Seasonal Session Options …

#1: The Holiday Quick Snap Session — $225 + tax

Date: Saturday, September 24, 2011 — only 7 appointment times available
Location: Private farm near Athens, Texas (directions provided upon session confirmation)
On the farm, all clients will have portraits taken on the pine lined drive & in front of a rustic barn — a tuffed bench, a cream wingback chair, and a few other wooden/metal chairs will be available for use + two handmade vintage quilts will be available to choose from as well.

Details: 15-20 minute session for up to five (5) immediate family members and 1 outfit (no outfit changes due to time). Within 2 weeks, I’ll activate your five day online ordering gallery with five (5) photographer selected & basic color edited images.

Included in the Quick Snap Session Fee:
(2) 8×10
(2) 5×7 
24 5×7 flat custom Christmas cards w/ envelopes

No additional purchase required with this option. Clients will have the option of purchasing the digital files of all the images in their gallery as one of the add-on products available upon gallery launch.
Session fee + product value: $325.00 – Save $100.00 with this prepaid bundled option!

#2: Limited Edition Holiday Sessions: $450 + tax

Limited to the first 8 clients to book this option!  Only one more left!
Details: 30 – 45 minute session with up to five (5) immediate family members — 1 outfit at 1 location (client’s choice of locations in Athens, Tyler, Edom, or Canton). This session option is also available for Sit.Stay.Snap. clients (locations limited to pet-friendly locales in Athens, Tyler, and Canton).

Within 2 weeks, I’ll activate your five day online ordering gallery with 15 photographer selected & basic color edited images.

Included with your session fee:
Client’s choice of:
$250 print credit – can apply to a la carte print purchases or towards one of the collection options (cannot be applied to custom design products, canvases, or float wraps)
OR
(1) archival disc with your favorite 5 basic color image files sized to print at 8×10 or smaller + a personal print reproduction release & watermarked proofs to share on Facebook/via email

PLUS
(1) 11×14 Signature Line Wall Art Print 
24 5×7 flat custom Christmas cards w/ envelopes

No additional purchase required with this option.
Session fee + product value: $525.00 – Save $75.00 with this prepaid bundled option!

BONUS!!

All clients that book a Limited Edition Holiday Session will be entered into a drawing to win an 8×10 metal print of the image of your choice — a $100 value!

A la carte & Collection Options …

Essential Line Desk & Gift Art Prints (wallet sets, 5x7s, and 8x10s) start at $25.
Signature Line Wall Art Prints (11×14 and up) start at $100.
Elite Line Custom Art Prints (custom designed wallet sets) start at $60.
Custom Designed Products start at $75.
Print & Digital Collection options for full custom sessions start at $450.
6.25% Texas State Sales Tax is assessed on all services and products as per state law.

Ready to book your Holiday Portrait Session? Click here to contact Christina!

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[ contact CMP | follow CMP on facebook | follow Christina's tweets | subscribe to the blog ]

Add on Christmas (or Hanukkah or New Year’s) cards to your Summer 2011 full or mini session … at 10% off!

Your session must be held this summer to qualify and your card order must be placed no later than August 31st! A limited selection of quasi-customizable designs (i.e. text and a few w/ color options) will be available to choose from by mid June – I’ll ship/deliver your cards in early November … that way you won’t have to worry about misplacing them in the meantime!

Sale price for cards ordered by August 31, 2011
•Set of 24 custom 5×7 flat Christmas cards: $67.50 (regularly $75.00)
•Set of 48 custom 5×7 flat Christmas cards: $112.50 (regularly $125.00)
•Each additional set of 24 5×7 flat cards beyond the first set of 48 are $45.00 (regularly $50.00)

  *pricing does not include 6.25% Texas state sales tax or shipping/handling. Cards come with white envelopes.

Above are a few of the past Christmas cards created for CMP clients …

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[ contact CMP | follow CMP on facebook | follow Christina's tweets | subscribe to the blog ]

[ contact CMP | follow CMP on facebook | follow Christina's tweets | subscribe to the blog ]

[ contact CMP | follow CMP on facebook | follow Christina's tweets | subscribe to the blog ]

Love by CMP limited edition sessions are affordable alternatives to CMP’s full custom sessions offered two to three times each year on select dates (primarily spring & autumn). These are perfect for families, engagement/couples, and maternity sessions or even for those wanting to have more than one children’s session a year, as well as seasonal options to allow for different looks/wardrobe choices for seniors and adult individual sessions. A limited selection of props (mainly furniture items) will be on-hand at each session date.

Spring mini dates are listed on the Love by CMP site and all session dates will be held at a private farm near Athens; Bump Mini Maternity dates are scheduled seasonally (contact me for dates/locations — these are held at locations in/around Athens and Tyler).

Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate over the next several weeks – if we manage to miss out on any more hard freezes, we should have a gorgeous patch of wildflowers in a rainbow of colors to use as well as a hay meadow (possibly with even more wildflowers), a pine lined drive, a small grove of peach/plum trees, and an old barn for backdrops. No other photographer in this area has (or will have) access to this property so only CMP clients will have access to these backdrops! I also plan to use this property this fall for the Holiday sessions as well — and am already contemplating ideas to give a holiday twist to the rural setting!

Holiday 2011 dates will be announced in early August … I may offer one early date at the end of August, the rest of the mini dates will most likely be offered in October (still finalizing my fall/holiday 2011 calendar!). Similar collection options will be available this fall as well as a mini option that’s for those just wanting custom holiday cards!

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