I’ll be the first to confess that I’m no professional photographer. I have so much to learn. What little I *do* know about taking pictures, I learned as a 10th-grader in the Nikon School of Photography on the campus of Indiana University. Although it was just a one-week class, I have to give them credit: they worked us from 8am until 8pm for five days straight. But take note: that was back in high school and those same lessons still echo in my mind today.

My point? Few of us have time to go obtain a degree in photojournalism. But virtually all of us could learn something in five days of study or less.

Example: Visit this site…
http://www.idigitalphoto.com/improve-your-photos/

There you’ll find a series of 24 lessons, each taking 60 seconds or so. Read and digest one a day, then try to take a few pictures that day to illustrate that lesson for yourself. In 24 days, you’ll be a better photographer or they’ll refund your money. (That won’t be hard. The lessons are free. :-) )

The goal of all this? If we can just learn to capture better images, our stories will be more effectively told… more people will identify with the needs we’re highlighting, and presumably greater numbers will be involved in missions. Simple, right? :-) Well obviously, there’s a lot more to the missionary call than good images… but admit it — don’t you find yourself looking at pictures of unreached people just as often, if not more so, than looking at endless rows of data? So … what are we waiting for? Let’s all improve our ability to capture images! Start today.
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