Assistant Photographer

Assistant Photographer Career

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An Assistant Photographer aids the Photographer who hires them in the technical details of a production. So, if you’re an Assistant Photographer, you will be setting up tripods, cleaning lenses, and putting in long days of grunt work. Your artistic input will be minimal if it even exists at all.

While this isn’t going to be a career-long position, it will give you good perspective on all parts of the profession. As Assistant Photographer, you will see and help a photographer do their job from top to bottom, and doing so will round out your picture of what it takes to succeed in that position.

Although starting as an Assistant Photographer can be helpful in some industries (like fashion), in general it is not a pre-requisite to becoming a photographer. The value you will gain out of this position will be in personal growth and learning. Because there is not much career advancement here, and it is hard work for low pay, you should duck out as soon as you feel you’ve learned enough.

How do I become an Assistant Photographer?

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Start looking around your neighborhood for job openings—check with local photo shops, talk to photographers, and so on. When you can, set up meetings, and be honest about what you want and what you have done. There is no artistic talent involved here, you need to exude more enthusiasm and passion than photographic genius.