Sunday, June 3, 2007

Don't Believe the Hype

I was never much of an assistant. I only did it a handful of times and my wife points out that I was over eager and too anxious to please. Apparently I made photographers nervous. There was one guy I worked for a couple times and I was always worried that he would hire someone else.

I ran into him one day at the photo store and asked him how he was and if he had been working. He turned to me and said "I work all the time" and walked away. Panicked, I ran to the lab where he kept his film log book to see when the last time he had processed film. The last entry was six months before and it was in my own handwriting. I was releived and confused at the same time. Thank god he hadn't used another assistant but why had he lied to me? What is it about this business that requires us to constantly beat our chests and always put on an air being incredibly successful at all times? They say the first casualty of war is the truth. That probably holds true for commercial photography.

In that vain here are some of my favorite posts from Rep's blog. Please send me more if you come across any. Names changed to keep people from hating me.



"Bill Johns unique vision and intense creativity has awarded him with incredible projects."

"Steve conitues to shoot constantly. We are excited to work with them:it is a great agency!"

"John Smith's ceaseless shooting schedule takes him all over the world."

"Mark is always busy! If he is not shooting he is traveling the globe for a cause.Very noble and kind of Mark I must say."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i like your stories and your awareness and when i went to the recent (and initial) PDN on the road seminar, i heard it taught that the industry is built on a culture of fear and to work hard to stay away from that - and other tips to the up&coming were to know the value of your work, learn when to say no, get unstuck from the poverty mentality and to remember it's a business. how's that?

http://pdnontheroad.com/

Anonymous said...

I sucked as an assistant, too; suffering from the same anxiousness and desire to please.