Spendyourself « J*Grace Photography

Welcome to my blog!

Hey there! I'm Jessica. So glad you made it over to my new blog, where we get to see pictures in sweet awesome BIG sizes. That makes me happy.

I'm currently living in Louisville, KY, but fancy myself as a lover of the world and other cultures. My dream? Shoot your destination wedding or your mission trip overseas... don't deny a girl her dream now!

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Archive for the ‘Spendyourself’ Category

Spendyourself Kisumu Shirt

July 20, 2009

The newest Spendyourself shirt is officially here! This shirt benefits a village in Kisumu, Kenya that has been ravished by AIDS and political violence, leaving many of the childrens orphaned or on the streets. We are partnering with our friends at Life in Abundance (LIA) to empower the church in Kisumu to minister to the orphans in Kisumu. Read the story of Kevin, a young man from Kisumu and the pioneering methods LIA is using to empower this community here. And buy a shirt while you’re at it! 100% of the profits head straight to Kisumu.

Since this IS my photo blog, I just have to share with you a few of my favorite images I captured on Friday while doing the photoshoot for this shirt. We had some INCREDIBLE models… they did crazy stuff… like this:

And this

And then there was the field. Oh I love you, field. Except that I had to painfully photoshop out all the light poles and the house in the background

Um, well… I guess I got too lazy to keep photoshopping them out

Posted in Anytime Photos, Spendyourself | 3 Comments »

Spendyourself

May 19, 2009

As some of you know, I had the chance to spend several months living among the poorest of the poor in West Africa. Needless to say, it was life-changing experience and an experience that demanded a response.

In the spirit of Isaiah 58:10, a couple of friends and myself have created a non-profit apparel company called ‘spendyourself.’

Love has compelled us to feel the weight of responsibility, and to take hold of an opportunity that can make a difference. That’s why spendyourself is much more than an apparel company—it represents a heart for social justice and a vision to drive potential change in the world.

The vision of this movement is two-fold.

First, we want to give a voice to the voiceless and oppressed all across the world. Each t-shirt tells a story, and we’re depending on YOU to tell the individual stories that each shirt embodies. Without your part, we would be unable to spread the message of those who have no voice.

Second, the money you spend on the shirt goes directly to fund the specific project that your shirt was inspired by. Each project helps empower the powerless in a sustainable way. We don’t want to be about just throwing money at something, but we work with reputable, trustworthy partners to fund specific projects that bring lasting, sustainable change.

The exciting part right now is that our website has officially launched and I wanted to share the link with you if you would like to support our efforts. I’ve attached the link below and would love to hear your feedback!

http://spendyourself.net/

And because every post is better with pictures, here’s a few more from Africa.

Posted in Spendyourself | 3 Comments »

Spendyourself shoot

April 15, 2009

So, even though I am highly unqualified for such a thing… I have been named “Art Director” for this company I’m a part of. It was pretty much born out of a joke, really… but I have been handling some of the artsy fartsy stuff regarding getting Spendyourself off the ground.

Spendyourself is a non-profit apparel company designed to help be a voice for the voiceless and oppressed around the world… and help restore their dignity through sustainable projects. Basically we are designing a t-shirt or a series of shirts where all of the profits go toward a specific project and aim to create sustainable solutions.

The first t-shirt series… “Omed”… is for a camp of internally displaced refugees in Afghanistan. Basically, these people left many years ago when things in Afghanistan were bad. They returned to Kabul a few years ago, to find that there were no jobs and nowhere for them to live. The government “relocated” them out into the middle of nowhere… the middle of the desert.. with pretty much nothing but tarps for tents. Sozo International stepped in to bring some basic relief and meet their survival needs. We are slowly moving towards sustainability in the village, and so this t-shirt series is helping to finish building a school in this village, Barek Aub, for these refugee children who currently have no place to go to school. Barek Aub means “broken water” and we hope to bring True, Living Water to this place. This is reflected in the t-shirt design.

The Spendyourself website will be up in about a week for you to order shirts! But, for now, I thought I’d show you some of the fun shots I did in our t-shirt photoshoot. You might recognize one of those uber-handsome men… its my boyfriend Lee…

Those are our logo tees… designed by Tyler of Pedale Design

Fun fact: Those two are getting married in 10 days!

And this last one is a little blurry… but I just think it is soo dang cute of my man… The reluctant model did pretty good, don’t you think?

Posted in Anytime Photos, Spendyourself | 4 Comments »