Making the Move from Assisting to Shooting
I don't really know how to answer this question when someone asks me.
Partly because I was always shooting while assisting and besides : I was an awful assistant, so I didn't really have much of a choice than to stick to shooting.
I believe that it takes a certain kind of personality to be a good assistant and one of my assistants simply LOVES assisting, much more than shooting, which is what probably makes him such an excellent assistant.
One of the first photographers I've ever assisted told me straight up that I suck at assisting because "I'm a Photographer".
I was very upset and moved to New York against his personal advice - he said "I would not even survive a week in New York" and should "just start shooting" instead.
How on earth was I supposed to go out there and shoot without knowing a damn thing?
So I survived more than a week, against his predictions, a whole 5 years even, before moving to LA (voluntarily).
My time assisting was extremely valuable ... not so much for the technical part (because I think that's relatively easy to learn) but more for being exposed to the various situations that photographers face on a daily basis.
To get to the point :
A friend of mine has been raving about this shooter Sebastian Kim ,who assisted Avedon for 4 years and Meisel for about 6 years.
I personally think that's an awful lot of assisting.
And I am not quite sure what to make of his work overall, although I do like some of his personal projects , but I mainly brought him up here because I've found this very insightful interview with him that gives an idea of the transitioning and the assistant vs photographer dilemma that many face and goes into a lot of detail on this topic:
The pros and cons of lengthy assisting, what to expect when you'll go off on your own, and also view a portfolio of someone who assisted 2 so very different photographers for long periods of time.
I cannot provide such valuable information in regards to assisting like Mr. Sebastian does. Period. And I've also heard that he's a nice guy, which is kinda rare for someone with his history of assisting.
Here's my fave from Sebastian's "Personal Projects" section:
I also like his funny series of spoof 80's prom shots, which shows in which ways assisting someone like Meisel can pay off:
Partly because I was always shooting while assisting and besides : I was an awful assistant, so I didn't really have much of a choice than to stick to shooting.
I believe that it takes a certain kind of personality to be a good assistant and one of my assistants simply LOVES assisting, much more than shooting, which is what probably makes him such an excellent assistant.
One of the first photographers I've ever assisted told me straight up that I suck at assisting because "I'm a Photographer".
I was very upset and moved to New York against his personal advice - he said "I would not even survive a week in New York" and should "just start shooting" instead.
How on earth was I supposed to go out there and shoot without knowing a damn thing?
So I survived more than a week, against his predictions, a whole 5 years even, before moving to LA (voluntarily).
My time assisting was extremely valuable ... not so much for the technical part (because I think that's relatively easy to learn) but more for being exposed to the various situations that photographers face on a daily basis.
To get to the point :
A friend of mine has been raving about this shooter Sebastian Kim ,who assisted Avedon for 4 years and Meisel for about 6 years.
I personally think that's an awful lot of assisting.
And I am not quite sure what to make of his work overall, although I do like some of his personal projects , but I mainly brought him up here because I've found this very insightful interview with him that gives an idea of the transitioning and the assistant vs photographer dilemma that many face and goes into a lot of detail on this topic:
The pros and cons of lengthy assisting, what to expect when you'll go off on your own, and also view a portfolio of someone who assisted 2 so very different photographers for long periods of time.
I cannot provide such valuable information in regards to assisting like Mr. Sebastian does. Period. And I've also heard that he's a nice guy, which is kinda rare for someone with his history of assisting.
Here's my fave from Sebastian's "Personal Projects" section:
I also like his funny series of spoof 80's prom shots, which shows in which ways assisting someone like Meisel can pay off:
posted by Beatrice Neumann at 9:16 PM
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