Emma J Photo

I have been reinventing a lot of stuff in my photo world, so check back for updates.. but for now, you get pithy posts.

The lighting in the hotel room this week was lovely.

So I took pictures of it.

<3

Happy fourth of July from a hotel room in Houston and an iphone camera that has been much too used during the past 48 hours.

<3

emma

ps.. be happy to be an American. I know I am, because it allows me to be free to explore and be me.. as is.

quote by Rylee Machen

a friend wrote this. I got to put it on a picture to share.

Now I’m off to another place more to share next week. have a lovely weekend!

Icy weekend. I thought this snowy week was funny because I posted about a west texas winter earlier in the Winter

All week I have been pushing myself to try to actually write a post. I have been brain storming non stop but when it came to what to put up next my brain went mush and I had to start all over again. So HERE is my mush brain post. (partly a precedent of the earlier days of the week and partly because I’m distracted and watching Mama Mia as I attempt to write;))

Something has been laid on my heart for whatever reason (on my List of 6 post I stated ‘know where your Joy comes from, and never let it go’- this thought is branching off of that one), so I thought I should share: Our relationship with Christ is crucial. everything we say and choose to do consistently, no matter what the current circumstance, determines how strong your relationship is, and how brightly it shows to be true to others.

I have a tendency to be all gung-ho about God and about talking to him and about simply consistently spending time with Him when I sense things are getting rocky. This usually happens after I step away from myself for a second and examine what I become and realize I don’t want it (for good reasons, but still my own).  So I turn to God after a drought, and He takes me in. He changes whatever  needs to change and then I become happy in that until the obviously temporary thing that shows itself to be promising in my life comes along once more. Then it starts all over. It is so cliche, I know, but it is so changing after truly believing it to be truth in our own hearts.

When we stay connected in the rough and smooth we see more truth more vividly. It is good for the bad times when you stay connected during the good, because you don’t just walk into it on your own understanding and come out with truth, you walk into it listening to truth and walk out of it with truth and refreshed.

It’s easy to go to a friend who has been with you and been a part of your life in it all, but it isn’t so easy to go to a friend who you haven’t seen in ages. That friend will still be there, but will be harder to connect with in a time of need.  Not to mention, it simply isn’t fair to the friend to deal with all of this with you for a while, then watch you go and do your own thing without appreciating. God wants to rejoice in good times with us, as well as feed us truth during the bad.

When we spend time with God during the bad, it’s great, and in the end it can turn into a story to inspire people, but when we stay fully connected with God when good things happen, people can see it in you. They can truly see a growing joy and a certain contentedness within you. And when people see it they believe it.

I KNOW it will happen again, I’m not saying I am completely immune to this since I realize it, but realizing it is one big step closer to understanding God and what he wants for us, so I’ll take it. And maybe this is one step closer to being content in any and every circumstance.

and that’s all my farty brain is allowing me to put together, but I might elaborate at some other point. not now.

SO I’m off to watch some Dana Carvey on SNL… This should be a good night!

~emma~

Breakfast one morning in Colorado… I love it.

more stuff to come this week.. The past few days have been crazy but tonight I’m finally catching up.

So on that note have a lovely evening!

~emma~

Marian and I have got this thing going to where we will play phone tag for a couple of days talk on the phone for a couple of hours then repeat this a few months later… and the beauty of it is that we never change. We never grow any farther apart, we stay the same even as two totally different people.

I think everyone could use someone like this.

To me these pictures express Marian… her quorky-ness… her unique personality and her loving heart.

See more Marian  here and here

~emma~

these are some pictures I took on my Summer trip, don’t relate at all to what this post is about but i thought i would share them anyway !

At the beginning of the year I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was make a STRICT routine and be by myself all the time… I was sick of being surrounded by stuff that didn’t let me express myself and I felt like I couldn’t get away from it at all. The truth is, that I can’t get away from it, but I can learn to be content with wherever I am. Although I still wouldn’t choose the life I’m living for myself I know there are plans in it all and I need to not only endure but also enjoy where I am, and be a tool of God while doing so.

I’m not exactly happy about the idea that I live in Midland, TX (where nobody seems to give a rats butt about art), or that I am not as respected as a photographer as an adult would be. I’m not happy that I am in high school living this life as apposed to living a life somewhere else learning what I want learn, where I want to learn it. But I know through this all God is going to use me here. And in order to fully fulfill God’s plans for me (or at least attempt to) I came to think that I should come up with a list  (yes, I’m a list maker, If don’t make lists and I go haywire, then become a big pile of worthless lazy mush) of guidelines and priorities to separate what I need to do in order to keep this boat (me, being who I’m supposed to be) afloat, and the things a normal highschooler takes part. And after writing them I came to realize that they may be relevant to more than just me and my circumstances.

1. Do your best for the good of mankind.
2. Keep things balanced and in proportion and moderation
3. Enjoy your life and the people, places and things placed in it.
4. Know your limits and your heart
5. Act as an advocate of support for all things good by as least being actively appreciative and respectful to people and their good effort
6. Always know where your joy comes from, and never let it go.

have a good evening!

~emma~

This album is one of my favorites! just thought i would share. The song here is just one that i have been listening to a lot the past couple of weeks. Buy song/album here. Laura Marling here

(click link to listen to Goodbye England)

06 Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)

…And I’m clearing all the stuff out of my room

trying desperately to figure out What it is that makes me blue

and I wrote an epic letter to you

And it’s 22 pages front and back And it’s too good to be used

and I tried to be a girl who likes to be used

I’m too good for that There’s a mind under this hat…

I thought I would share some thoughts.  But before i start please know, I have been praying that this inparticular piece of thought be of truth and one that opens doors to relate to more that the average 2 from LA, 4 from NYC, 3 from Austin, 20 from Dallas and 180 from the grand ol’ Midland texas (yes, i know who you are and where you live;). Know that i want to reach out to you and I want to know your there and listening. I want your feedback. So here it goes…

I say this a lot, but i’m going to say it again… My goal in this world is to have a contagious passion for what I do and inspire people to share that passion; that passion ultimately being Jesus and my relationship with him.

In this world there is a cycle: We live off of each other. We succeed because of one another and we fail because of one another. We have passion because of someone and we have hate because of someone. Wether or not we know it, our society functions off of what each individual succeeds or fails to put on the table, wether it be through personality, art, financial or political circumstances. Yet we tend to live our lives the way we believe it to be led, and very rarely are we intertwined with the ‘alternative’ way of another. Everyone lives for something, and if we don’t we hit that point of ‘rock bottom’ until we find something else to define our identity. We live for ourselves and our fellow people who live in the same way. In this way, there are differences in this world, unimaginable and they are inevitably the primary reason for destruction, pain, and all other bad things.

When groups of different types of groups join in one similar emotion simultaneously, it is one of the most respected, pure and lovely things on this earth. It is usually because of some epic outcry in society. The biggest thing that comes to mind when on this topic is 9/11: After 9.11 people instantly stopped and mourned with each other for the same reason and out of the same respect. For that short amount of time all people of different races, beliefs, and lifestyles came together and were still. And although terribly sad, it was, in this sense, beautiful.

I want groups of people to relate to me and my work. I want different types of people to read and see what I have to say (which, I hope is purely truth from Jesus) and understand it, and be inspired by it. The only way we can help one another is to inspire one another (see: explosions here) . Inspiration, I believe, is one of Gods tools to install a bigger unity in His people as a whole. It, and empathy is fellowship. (see here: So feel)

Ultimately by relating to people and respecting them, their stories and beliefs, we grow a connection and a bond with them (fellowship).  I don’t think my photography is just about equipment, pictures, blog hits, other photographers or the whole photographer network, to me it is what God is calling me to do. And how else to be in Him if not by sharing what I have found to be truth and living in the light (see here).

And one thing I know brings us together: we all search for the truth that will set us free. We are all striving together for one glorious hope for the future.

So this is me sharing what I believe to be the little bit of truth God has to share through me on this Monday evening. And these are my thoughts, inspired by God’s word, to relate to more than the average.

Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. ² Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. ³ Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. ⁴ For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. – ephesians 4

P.S.- more of them to come!