© Jeff Foley
I always love it when I find photographers online who give kudos to the people they work with. Especially the photographers who give credit to assistants who got their back, time and again.
Check out what Jeff Foley at Foley Photography has to say about his A-1 assistant, Krystal.
And, you can see Krystal’s blog at Krystal Photography.
Working as a photo assistant and traveling to a location shoot can be a lot of fun. I’ve had many, many opportunities to travel and work on location, and one thing that each has in common is that every one is different. Working with different photographers will inevitably lead to traveling to many different locations, working on various types of shoots, with many different types of people. So, I guess the other thing that all location shoots have in common is that they are hardly ever boring. But, it can also be a lot of work. If you like lugging gear, working your butt off from sunrise to sunset, overcoming adversity, dealing with weather and other uncertainties of the road–then assisting on location might be the life for you.
There is both an art and a business to traveling and photography. The photographer must know what the client expects from them. As a photo assistant, you must know what the photographer expects from you. If there is a producer, they will handle many of the minute details. But the photographer and assistant will need to be on the same page with concern to ad layouts, gear to bring or rent when arriving, job roles of everyone on the production, and catering to the client. Sometimes, the assistant will double as a mini-producer and handle, or assist, with such things as car rentals, hotel reservations, getting lunch, pulling permits, scouting, and scheduling. Making it all work takes resourcefulness, creativity, hard work, and many times, a lot of overtime.
Bauer -> Behind The Scenes from Jonathan Chapman Photography on Vimeo.
Here’s a great little behind the scenes video shot of Jonathan Chapman and his crew doing a very interesting shoot for Olson and the Bauer Hockey Athletic Camp 2010. I’m not posting this just because I am a huge hockey fan (well, maybe a little), but I just wanted to show that there is still some great imaginative work being done out there. I love it when everyone puts their heads together and pulls-off something fun like this!
You can see Jonathan’s blog at Jonathan Chapman Photography/Intrigue.
Well, shoot! I’ve been crazy busy. Hardly enough time to think let alone get caught up, here, on the blog. My apologies for leaving you hanging. Being extra busy the last couple months has lead to some scheduling conflicts when booking shoots, so I thought this was a good opportunity to talk about them here on APhotoAssistant.com.
Many freelance photo assistants may have one to five photographers who they always work with, almost exclusively. If you’re not there yet, no worries, you will get there. Lately, I’ve been working, a lot, out of town. Traveling, and just being generally busy, will easily complicate your schedule and make it difficult to always be available to the main core of photographers you work with. It’d be great if everyone was so busy that we could just book 3-5 days each week with the same photographer, but let’s face it, that’s probably not gonna happen–unless you are a full-time studio assistant. A good gig if you can get it, but that’s whole different topic for another time.
I just finished watching and participating in a livestream webcast over at Chase Jarvis’ blog. Not sure yet if there will be a link for a replay, so check at his site. You can search #cjlive in Twitter to see the live banter during the show.
Zack Arias is in Seattle to do his creativeLive workshop. Definitely, check it out. The price won’t be an issue, guaranteed!
Chase and Zack gave a great share, after a few audio problems were squared away, and their candid, genuine banter was just two friends talking shop. They answered many questions, one of which I posed to them, asking if they felt that photo assistants needed to do anything differently to succeed as an assistant in today’s economy and changing digital landscape. They both chimed in wholeheartedly, stating that it all boils down to attitude and persistence to get the good gigs that everyone is seeking. They both gave personal examples of how members of their current staff made themselves available in an honest and personable way that could not be ignored. Zack’s studio manager was even turned down twice by Zack before his persistence landed him the job. Great stuff!
Many other questions dealt with photographers finding work, building relationships, creative inspiration, photography school vs. no school… everything from both Chase and Zack’s personal and professional experience. It was a great talk, just like I was right there chatting it up with them. Good times!
I dug up the video that Zack produced the winter before last, as a guest blogger for Scott Kelby’s blog. I thought it was appropriate for any shooters who are having any doubts about their abilities as a photographer.
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