Assisting in a new photographic age

So much is talked about new photographics and how the role of photography is changing at the moment. This is great, and photographers as well as aspiring photographers can learn from each other and bounce ideas around. However, an often overlooked part of this is the role of an assistant. 

Becoming an assistant to a photographer you admire for several years and honing your skills before taking off on your own used to be a common occurrence and route into the professional world. And most would know the skills they would need to become employable, as well as a personality that fit well with the photographers. And while this does still happen it is becoming less and less common.

The digital era changed a lot in the assisting world and assistants often became digital operators - a different set of skills for a different age. But along with these new skills that had to be learned, the assisting roles were, in many areas, drying up. Clients could see no reason to pay for assistants when everything was so 'simple' in the digital age. Many assistants set up as photographers while taking the odd assisting job when it showed up.

Now there is a whole new set of skills required to be a successful assistant including being fluent in tweet speak, flickr, facebook, vimeo, youtube and other social/media networking sites. Some assistants i know have also been asked what newspapers and magazines they read in order to stay on top of any trends/news that could affect shoots/clients/sales.

So what can be done by young aspiring photographers to get roles as assistants in this changing photographic landscape? Well, becoming well versed and a user of the above mentioned sites is a great start and something that will benefit your professional working practice anyway. Staying on top of the trends and social issues that could affect your photography or your employers photography is also a good idea. Really you should be doing as much as you can to give a potential employer confidence that you know and understand everything that they might want to pass your way. None of this will harm your chances at becoming a successful photographer in your own right, it will help.

With some uncertainty about the future of assisting it is great to see some of these professional skills now being taught on a few photographic courses as well as an emphasis on professional practice and getting real world experience. As sometimes there is no classroom substitute for a first-person, hands on photographic shoot.

My website can be seen at www.mjohnstonphotography.co.uk