Here's a quick lesson for everyone in taking really bad photographs. If you have useful, beautiful pictures then this article is for you--because, really, who wants those? They lead to albums and websites and all kinds of sharing and distributing and reliving great memories over and over with friends and family. What a waste of time and energy.

Instead, and especially in light of ministry, taking bad photos will save you all this effort. Soon you'll forget about the past as those images quickly fade from your mind, and get on with life. Not only that, you can get rid of all those tabletop picture frames that the kids and the dog keep knocking over. So take these practical tips to heart when aiming for the worst pictures you can imagine:

Be distracted. First, you'll want to do something else at the same time you are taking pictures. Try working, or drinking your coffee, or carrying on a conversation. In fact, being distracted will probably mean you'll miss taking pictures altogether. Sure you'll have the camera in your hand, but you may get into a whole discussion on the season finale of your favorite TV series, and before you know it, the event is over and you have two, maybe three photos to show for it.

Be unfamiliar with your camera. Speaking of cameras, most of them have a bunch of buttons and knobs on them for various purposes. Whatever you do, don't learn what they change or adjust. In fact, if you can get a camera brand new out of the box and immediately take it to an important function for pictures, then good for you. If someone asks you, "Does your camera have a timer so you can put it on a tripod and get in the picture too?" just say "I don't know. This camera looks complicated." And don't actually have a tripod, because that will make you look stupid.

Stand as far from the subject as possible. Getting close to the subject is a big no-no. Within five feet of the subject you are almost guaranteed a great picture, so take five big steps back and snap a shot from there. That way, when people look at your photo, they'll ask, "Who is in that picture? Is that Bob? I can't tell because it's so far away." See, now the focus will change as to whether it’s Bob or not, and it's no longer about your photo.

Center everything. Who wants to "compose" a shot, taking into account foreground and background? What's all this nonsense about putting the subject of the photo in context? Who wants to think that much when taking a picture? Here's the easy solution--just center everything. With every picture, just aim at something, put it right in the middle of the frame (at a distance, mind you) and snap away. Using this method will develop consistency, because every picture will look relatively the same. People will say of you, "He takes very consistent photographs."

Make sure your hands are unsteady. This is another common mistake photographers make--putting the camera on a steady base, like a tripod. Some people even try to hold the camera still while taking a picture. A far more effective method is to jiggle or move the camera some while snapping the picture. If you can place the camera on a vibrating surface, or take a picture from a moving vehicle, then that's a bonus. Blurry images will result--the kind of blur that makes you think, "This photo was impromptu, like the photographer had no plan to take a picture." And that's what you want--impromptu pictures. Little blurry bits of life that are hard to make out. "Is she smiling or crying in that picture?" It makes you think, right? Likely, because it's blurry, we will never know.

Aim for the light. Some "professional" photographers will tell you the position of light in a photo is important. Honestly I don't know who those people think they are. Light is just annoying and it's never where you want it to be anyway, so I found a very simple workaround: aim for it. Just find out where the light is, put your subject in front of it, and snap the picture. What you're going to end up with is a brightly-lit silhouette. Now, you're going to lose facial expression and any discernable view of the subject matter. That's okay, because when you aim for the light, no matter what else, you can always say, "Hey, the light looks good in this one."

My hope is that these suggestions result in unimaginably bad photography. The kind of pictures that make people think, "Why do we buy cameras, anyway?" The whole industry has just gotten too big and it's become far too easy with all the digital stuff to take good pictures. I think we need to step back and think about how good photographs are communicating well and creating powerful memories. And who pays for those powerful memories? That's right, the common man.

The same thing happened with the horse-shoe person and the ice man. Soon the car and the refrigerator come around, and everybody gets one, and then what? What about the horse-shoe person and the guy who delivers ice? What happened to them? Wake up, photographers, before it's too late.

About the Author. Eugene L. Mason has more than two decades of experience in ministry communications and technologies. More...