Our current Cover Story subject, noted advertising and fashion photographer Melvin Sokolsky ("The Imagined Spaces of Melvin Sokolsky"), gave me many pearls of wisdom during our interview. One of them was the advice to those who really wanted to learn photography. He said that a real workshop should be one where a student becomes a photographer's apprentice. "If all students could become apprentices for six months, they could learn more than they would in four years of school," he said.

For those of you who want to become professionals in the field, this is very good advice. Many budding photographers become assistants to the pros first, which is also a great training ground for their own careers.

In addition to the Cover Story, we hope you'll enjoy our other features this month, including the results of our latest Double Exposure Challenge, "Street Photography." There are some stunning images from the top three winners, as well as those in the runners-up gallery. We have also announced two important contests this month: Our Double Exposure Challenge: "Photographing Fall," and a big holiday contest, with a theme of "Family." In the latter competition, we're giving away more prizes than ever before.

Aside from this, in our "Member News" department, we have announcements about two Photoworkshop.com members, Ken Martin and Chris Sandberg. Both have images on exhibit in galleries in their respective cities. 

I hope all of you are doing fine, despite this tough economy we're in. And for those who want to make photography an avocation, hopefully you can benefit by the practical experience offered by the School of Life.

-Lynne Eodice
Double Exposure

Let us know if you found this article useful, and tell us what kinds of articles you'd like to see in upcoming issues. Send your comments and ideas to Lynne Eodice.