Photographer’s Assistant: What I look For

1. Great attitude
2. Great attitude
3. Hard working
4. Knowledge of technical/equipment
5. Great personality

Notice photo school is not on here, nor is 10 years experience, nor are a lot of things you might expect. For the newest assistant on the team, I’d way prefer to have simply a great attitude, be a hard worker, have an open mind, and a working knowledge of most things photo. And do note, this is is not for a first or second assistant. I have those on staff (you guys rock), but if I didn’t, I would only look to tweak the description above to put ‘knowledge of technical/equipment’ up one notch just below just one ‘great attitude’ and one ‘hard working’.

You get the picture. There’s actually a lot of information to take away from this…
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…post. Hope we those interested can read between the lines. Happy Friday. Have a great weekend.

[FWIW, this isn’t a hint that we’re accepting applications or to email me about assisting, we’re fully staffed….Reason for this post is that, in a strange confluence, I got asked that question a zillion times last week via email, just like this one below, reprinted with permission…]

Hi Chase,

When have a second I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me. I was wondering what you look for in assistant before you hire them, esp. if they have just graduated from school. I live in Montreal and I am ready to adventure into the world of assisting. I know times are touch with the recession, so I would just like some input from a successful photographer and there requirements on hiring a fresh new assistant from graduated from school.

Thanks for you informative blog!

Enjoy life!

Best,

NIkol Mikus