taking pictures
Visual Voice has posted a how-to section on taking photos. See her FAQs
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author musician theologian
Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
In an increasingly secularised society few people have a good working knowledge of the Bible. Yet a great deal of our culture is built on stories or ideas that come from the Bible. Literature, art, music, language and even the fabric of our society - such as our justice system - are built on Christian concepts and biblical references. The Writing on the Wall provides a fascinating introduction to the Bible's best-known, and most influential, stories. Each chapter gives some background to the text of the Bible, and shows how the stories have become enmeshed in Western culture. Adam and Eve, the ten plagues of Egypt, The Prodigal Son and Mary Magdalene all feature - along with how the Bible has influenced everyone from Shakespeare to Monty Python, and Caravaggio to Banksy. 
Giving It Up explores the Lenten idea of 'giving up', taking it beyond the traditional idea of simply abstaining from something, and suggesting instead that what we need to give up is our existing ideas about God. With a daily readings for each day of Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, it follows the heroes of the Bible who had to give up their own too-small ideas about God.
This is Maggi’s bestselling book of daily readings for each day of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Advent is the beginning of the Church year, and marks the anticipation of the coming Messiah. These readings explore how beginnings and endings in our own lives are illuminated by the different Gospel narratives of Christ's coming.
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The only real “taking pictures” piece of advice in there is pure gold – get in close. As she notes, most people stay way back – as if getting someone’s shoes in the picture was of vital importance. Getting faces is where the real fun is.
One trick a really good amateur friend taught me a while back is the rule of thirds – think of the picture divided into thirds in both directions. The corners of the center panel are where the points of interest should lie – not in the middle of the picture (another common snapshot failing).
I agree, Dave – get in close is the golden line in the FAQs! I read somewhere a long time back that when photographing children you should never wait to get al of them in shot – wait till they are playing and in no way aware of being photographed – then just shoot doznes – feet, arms, heads, whatever – you end up throwing away a few blurred ones, but it’s a piece of advice that has got me the most beautiful, uposed shots of (bits of!) my son…