Several months ago, PhotoPlus Magazine contacted me to be the featured photographer in an article for their May 2009 issue. The section, called “The PhotoPlus Apprentice”, connects a professional photographer with a photo enthusiast who hopes to gain some insight in an area of specialized photography. I was the pro, and my apprentice was Gordon Holyoak, a semi-retired dentist from Arizona. The assignment was to capture city lights at night, so we headed to the Las Vegas strip where I spent a few hours teaching him the basics of nighttime photography.

While the British editors from PhotoPlus Magazine documented the evening, I focused on teaching and instructing my “apprentice” about how to better use his equipment, the effects of shutter speed, and advanced composition for nighttime photography. Over the course of just a few hours, I was able to assist Gordon with improving on some of his old techniques and to his credit, he was a very quick learner. It is great knowing that he was able to leave the shoot with some newly acquired knowledge that will hopefully allow him to take his photography to the next level.

Overall, the shoot went great and afterwards we decided to reward ourselves with something special for all the hard work. Since the guys from PhotoPlus were visiting the States for the first time, they were interested in trying something “American”, and what could be more American than an In-N-Out burger? These Brits from across the pond had never had a real American burger before, and their first encounter with the classic California style burger was “spot on”.