Twenty-Five Things

Thanks to Katie. I used to love doing these things in high school!

25 Things about me....that you may not have known.

1. I am indeed 25 years old. No one believes me when I tell them. Which I guess is a good thing, when I get to be 30....

2. I am originally from Orlando, Fl. Up until the age of 8, I went to Disney, Sea World, and Universal for my birthday....when I moved up to TN, I went to Pizza Hut. Everything is definitely better in the Sunshine State.

3. I've never been to camp. I know, it's sad, but I just didn't go. Camp wasn't a huge thing in Florida. Do I wish I had gone to camp? yes. I may have learned to enjoy the outdoors more than I do now.

4. I had traveled to Mexico, the Caribbean Islands, Puerto Rico, San Juan, etc before the age of five. My grandpa and dad used to own a traveling agency. So we took Cruises all the time. I wish every day that my dad still owned it....Spring Break would be awesome!

5. Speaking of my Dad, he used to own his own photography company in Orlando. He is where I got my love of photography from. :) I've been taking pictures since I was little.

6. I am terrified of any water that I can't see the bottom of. This includes lakes, rivers, ponds, and the ocean....and maybe even a few large puddles. When I was 10, I went camping with a friend and went wading in the lake for the first time....and a snake started wrapping around my leg. After that, I was pretty much done with anything but a pool.

7. I will buy any dress that has pockets. Seriously, whoever invented pocket dresses....I love you.

8. I had a cancer scare when I was 21. I have cysts on my thyroid that they thought could be cancerous. Luckily they were not. But, I am supposed to have them checked every few years to make sure they haven't gotten worse.

9. I used to want to be a Broadway singer. I used to sing all of the time....but due to the whole thyroid thing, it hurt and strained my throat when I tried to sing. I do have my own CD.

10. My right arm is disgustingly crooked. I broke it playing baseball with the kids in my neighborhood when I was 10. It didn't heal back properly and now it's crooked. I think it's pretty cool...it makes most other people gag.

11. I have a drawing I did in 7th grade in a calendar. We had a county wide drawing contest for a health calendar. I got honorable mention....I was 1 of 2 students in my school whose drawings were put in the calendar.

12. I have run 2 half marathons, but I call myself a marathon runner. 13.1 + 13.1 = 26.2.....which is what a marathon distance is. haha. But, for real, I am planning on running a full race one day.

13. I love, love, love scary movies....but, hardly watch them because no one wants to watch them with me.

14. I have an unhealthy relationship with the movie "The Little Mermaid". I watched it so many times when I was a little girl that I literally wore 2 VHS tapes out. I now own it on DVD and swear that it was fate that I joined Zeta Tau Alpha....because our secrets are in the movie....:)

15. I actually waited until I was 21 to begin drinking. I haven't met anyone else like me! Some think I'm crazy...I am proud. I'm a very strong-willed person and that just proves it.

16. I am 25 and have never had a pedicure. And I have only had a manicure once, and my best friend had to take me. I've just never really thought to pamper myself in that way. I feel like I can do just as good a job and not have to pay that much for it. Maybe one day....

17. I met Shaquille O'Neal when I was 8 (this was when he was in his Rookie year playing for the Orlando Magic). My mom used to work for the American Cancer Society and they took a group of cancer patients to go meet him and get autographs. I got to tag along......I came up to his knee cap. I have a picture to prove it.

18. I am OCD about cleanliness and organization. I literally start to freak out if things aren't in their place. Nate can vouch for this.

19. I believe the saying, "once you go Mac, you never go back". I changed over 2 years ago, and PCs disgust me. Mac's are just so easy to use, it makes my life so simple. I have even converted everyone in my family....and my boyfriend.

20. I used to be engaged...to my current boyfriend. We got engaged in January of 2008 and called it off November of the same year. We just decided that it was too soon in our relationship. We wanted to make sure that we both knew where we wanted to go in life and set a plan in motion. I think it was a great decision. He and I are both in school working towards the degrees that we want. We have now been together 3 1/2 years....so we will see when the ring will come again.

21. I hate sweets...especially chocolate. I think I had enough sweets as a child to hold me over the rest of my life. I have about a dozen pictures of me as a young child digging into some chocolate cake....not anymore.

22. I love Moleskine Notebooks. I try to justify buying one every time I go into a store that sells them. I have 2 large sketchbooks, a small sketchbook, 2 lined notebooks, and my planner (which I love and absolutely couldn't live without)....oh and I am buying a new 'Passions Recipe book'. love, love, love.....

23. Speaking of planners....and being OCD about organization....I have an obsession with different colored pens. Everything in my planner is color coded by what type of event it is, i.e., Zeta, School, birthdays, personal, etc.... I wouldnt have it any other way.

24. I am a health food nut. And I absolutely love all things organic! If Whole Foods wasn't so far away, I would do all of my grocery shopping there. It's sad that it costs so much to be healthy nowadays.

25. If there is a movie that you have watched when you were younger and you think it was awesome, say a cult classic, don't ask me if I've seen it, because chances are, I haven't. I just never spent much of my childhood or adolescent life watching movies....well except for the Little Mermaid.

26.....one to grow on....I am named after Jamie Lee Curtis. She used to be one of my mom's favorite actresses. I hate Jaime though...that's why as I've gotten older, I've been trying to go by Jaime Leigh....but it just isn't catching on. I was almost a Heather Alicia....but thank the Lord my parents thought about what my initials would be before they put it on the birth certificate....HAM.

that was a tad bit harder than I expected. I'm rusty since my high school days. Hope you enjoyed!

-jleigh.

Photo Website Update

So, I just recently updated my photoshop website. I added the Meredith/Crytzer Engagement Pictures and changed some of my Charleston pictures. I'm highly considering making my own website. I know several sites that offer you free space. Something I am definitely going to look into in the coming months. Especially if I decide to go forward with the engagement/wedding photography. Anyway....here is a slideshow of my favorite place in the world.....

Check out all of my pictures at: http://jleigh_photography.photoshop.com

There will definitely be more to come in the following weeks, so check back!

Save the Date Designs

After doing my sorority sister's engagement photos, I offered to design some Save the Dates for her. I did 4 different designs, some including her wedding colors (aqua and brown), and have added a few that I did for my brother as well.

After creating all of these Save the Dates, I would definitely like to do more. If I decide to go the route of engagement/wedding photography, I think I will make them an add-in to a package. Such a fun way to put photography and design together!

-jleigh

Zeta Tau Alpha Design Work

This summer I offered to do some design work for my Fraternity, Zeta Tau Alpha. I definitely didn't want to get rusty in my skills going in to the Fall Semester.

Our Bid Day theme for the fall is Smuckers (since strawberries are one of our symbols). I created a couple of designs for our t-shirts. We are going with the first one, since it looks more like the actual Smucker's jar. I personally am in love with the crowned strawberries...

We also needed a layout for our Greek Recruitment brochure. I think these are really modern looking, and I wanted to do something I didn't think any other sorority would do. My advisors and EC picked the first one....also my favorite!

Lastly, I was asked to design the Bid Day bags. This is one design I came up with. I wanted to keep it simple. It will be on a canvas tote with navy accent, so I thought that the red would really pop out. I love it, and am still waiting on the final decision.

Oh, and these are some designs I made for our Lipsync flyer in the spring. They are loosely based on a Hatch Show Print. (love!). The pink one is the design we went with.

Engagement Photos: Meredith/Crytzer

After seeing my brother's engagement photos, one of my sorority sisters asked me to do hers. I was absolutely thrilled! We went to a lot of the same locations as my brother did, but they added a few of their own. I was so excited to come home and get these on my computer. After doing so, and seeing them, I ended up editing a few and posting them immediately. They were such a beautiful couple and were so photogenic. I thank them a thousand times over for allowing me to photograph them!

After this session, I decided that I would like to try to do more engagement sessions. I just love being able to capture the love between two people and create amazing photos that they can cherish forever!

It Sure Has Been a While.....

Yet again, the happenings of life have caused me to neglect this blog of mine. I have been doing more engagement and wedding photography, as well as some design work for my chapter of ZTA. Nothing major or hard that I can put in my portfolio, just things that need to get done. I'm going to go ahead and upload my design work from my Type class. We didn't have too many projects this semester, so it wont be like previous times where I'm uploading a bizillion things.

For this project we needed to create our own digital font. We could only use horizontal and vertical lines, no diagonals, or stair steps. This is what I came up with. Kinda cool, huh?

I really enjoyed this project, because I took it as a possible design job I would get one day. We were to design a series of 3 ads for a cause related to health. Of course I chose Breast Cancer because of my grandma, and my Zeta Tau Alpha. I really wanted to grab the reader's attention, because by doing research and looking at ads in magazines and newspapers, those were the ones that I was drawn to. I also wanted to add a bit of humor, it was those types of ads that I remembered most. I think that simplicity it best. You want to be straight to the point, get across what you want to say, and let the reader move on. So, overall, I wanted to captivate, keep it simple, and make sure they remembered it. When I presented it in class, I had lots of people in the class tell me this was their favorite. And of course, I got a few chuckles.

This was our final project, and aside from the Ad Campaign, my favorite. We had to take pictures of letterforms in our environment (and not letters already spelled out, letters that were created by things in an environment), and they all had to have the same theme. I originally went down to my local run down train station and took shots related to railroads. But, unable to find a few letters, and having a change in my overall idea, I abandoned that idea. Instead, I moved on to letterforms from all over Nashville. And made a map of where you could find them. I really liked my design, the map itself. I wasn't so thrilled about my cover.

I really enjoyed my typography class, and am falling more and more in love with my major every single day. :)

A Personal Design Project

Ok....well, here is what I completed tonight. It only took me about 2.5 hours. It isn't anything really complicated, and I'm pretty sure it needs something else.....but this was my first shot. I do like the organic look of it, and the colors.