 |
| Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 2200, ƒ/5.6, 1/100 |
I was talking to my friend Gil Williams about how I look for photo assistants. Gil started his career in Atlanta doing photo assisting in the 1990’s.
We were talking about the do’s and don’ts of assisting.
Do’s
- Show up early
- Always ask about how to dress for the job
- Keep track of all equipment during a job
- Always be a second set of eyes. Pay attention and see if lights are flashing for example.
- Have your own little emergency kit. Keep things like a leatherman, gaffers tape, spring clips, etc.
- Look for ways to be helpful.
- Be first to grab all the bags and carry them.
- Keep positive attitude all the time
Don’ts
- Run late
- Dress inappropriate
- Forget where equipment goes when repacking
- Wait to be told what to do all the time
- Talk to the client. Always talk to the photographer unless they ask you to entertain the clients.
- Negative attitude and words are inappropriate
After talking about some war stories of our experiences Gil told me what he lived by on every job to the best of his ability. “Today is tomorrow’s resumé,” is what Gil told me.
He even told me about how he was cleaning up around the studio with one photographer. Later that photographer asked him to help convert a bathroom into a closet for him. At first Gil was disappointed that the photographer hire him to do cleaning work. What he realized is that the photographer appreciated him and gave him extra work.
 |
| Nikon D4, 85mm, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/60 |
What I do to help today be my resumé tomorrow
The photos I posted here are ways that I tried to go above and beyond. In the first photo, I used lights outside on a rainy day to give a better color profile than an overcast sky and helped to increase the dynamic range.
In the lower vertical shot I used the Nikon 85mm wide open at ƒ/1.4 and used off camera flash to help pop the subject out from the background.
I could have shot both with available light, but I used the off camera flash to help take the quality up a notch.