JUST TO ANSWER EVERYONE'S LINGERING QUESTION

A few months ago I talked about the way the world pressures High School students to know what they want to do early on.  I continue to find myself in that awkward silence/thing w/ no way to answer their question.  But let's just clear the air for a sec here.

I'm not going to college for photography.

And that doesn't mean I'm not passionate about it anymore and it doesn't mean I'm done with it.  It just simply means that I don't want to professionally pursue it.  I will always follow that dream and I will always pursue photography and I will always do it for all my life.  But please don't act surprised when I tell you I'm not going to school to learn it.

You see, if there's one thing I've learned in all of my home-education years, it's that learning to love learning is the best for you.  Memorizing things just to get it in your head or doing busy work just to get the credit isn't going to get you anywhere in life.  And it's not that going to school for photography won't benefit me.  I'm sure it would, but I want to learn differently.  I want to learn through experience. I want to learn through the light at sunset and the way people's eyes glitter when the sun shines from behind them.  I want to learn to see people differently and I want to learn how to love the people I'm shooting.  And for me, the only way to do that is to not pursue it professionally.

A dear friend came out from California last week and I got a few shots of her.  I was pleasantly surprised when I looked through my viewfinder and noticed something fabulous.  Her recently dyed purple hair brought her superdarklovely eyes out so wonderfully.  I had never noticed it before.  & what a precious thing that was to me at that time.  Wrestling w/ all this photography stuff... this just calmed my fears.

I shoot to see people differently.  I shoot to see the ways their eyes shine and what makes them laugh.  I shoot to catch their raw personality.  Who they are when they are most themselves.  I shoot because it teaches me to see people differently.  & this little passion that's been growing for quite some time... I now see the Lord's purpose in giving it to me.  I may not want the business part, I may not want the college degree, but I want to see the way people's eyes sparkle when they laugh and I want to see the world through the viewpoint of my camera.

Of course I will always pursue photography.  But this particular shoot with this particular girl made me realize once again how much I truly loved it and how much I want to continue pursuing it differently.

xo emma