Southwest shutterbug? You’ll trip for these pics With a wealth not only of flora and fauna, but also spectacular views and extremes of weather, the desert is a photographer’s dream landscape. Here are eight spots within hours of the Strip where you can bring home some of the Mojave’s magic with a camera.

Talent? James Henninger scoffs at the idea. The secret to this painter’s growing profile: discipline, practice, work.

Step inside Hakkasan at MGM Grand and the first thing you may notice on the way to your seat are a pair of turntables. It’s an expected sight, given that much of the buzz surrounding the $100 million project focuses on the property’s multi-level nightclub rather than its ground-floor restaurant.

Whether you’ve got a precocious pre-schooler or an overwhelmed college freshman, these organizations offer support beyond the classroom Savvy parents and students know that a lot of learning takes place well outside the classroom — and we’re not just talking about hitting the books after hours at the dining room table. From free tutoring services to little-known scholarship opportunities, there’s a veritable library of educational support programs out there for growing young minds.

Ah, the sounds of summer: poolside splashes, the spritz of cold soda cans, the giggles of kiddos — and their inevitable whining that there’s nothing to do. Here’s a cure for those quintessential summertime boredom blues: March them to summer camp — but not just any summer camp.

In many ways, Monika Haczkiewicz is your typical 15-year-old girl. She loves to shop and hang out with friends, she reads avidly and she peppers her conversations with the word like.

When pets want to party — or just unwind with their humans — Las Vegas has plenty of doggone good options Admit it, pet lovers: Sometimes it’s hard to say goodbye to our fluffy, feathered and scaled friends when we leave the house. But after you’ve played in the park, relaxed on the patio of your favorite coffee spot and perused the aisles of a big chain pet store, it’s hard to know where else you and your pets are welcome.

Okay, I’m gonna venture out on a limb here and issue one of those grandiose, sweeping statements born of bungling enthusiasm, a statement that’ll probably result in someone laughing at me in a bar after this issue comes out: We are sooo living in a golden age of photography. Admittedly, my evidence for that is hopelessly anecdotal, based largely on, oh, say, noting the number of times I’ve “liked” a Facebook friend’s painfully arty Instagram pictures of trees, as well as the hours I’ve logged hopping from one random, eye-melting Tumblr photo blog to another.

Feeling the heat? Get a lick at some of the coldest, creamiest ice cream stops in town I scream, you scream, we all scream for ..

Want to snap it old school? Build the same pinhole camera we did You’ll need 1 soda can 1 #10 sewing needle 1 piece fine-grit sandpaper 1 8-inch x 36-inch x 1-inch piece of wood (any kind of wood will work, from pine to zebra wood) 1 4-inch x 5-inch film holder 2 hinges 2 1/4-inch T-nuts 2 1-inch precut wooden dowels wood glue 20 brads mitre or table saw power drill duct tape 1. Making the pinhole.