Should I get an Assistant?

I would say I am running a budding business. It's not my full-time job, nor will it be. I've already got the whole business thing going, and obviously have lots of hills and valley's ahead. Being that photography is a side business for me and that I have a family with 2 young kids at home, my time is quite limited. I have been working with portable lighting both inside and outside the studio for the past 6 months or so. I really want to continue to grow my skills and take my photography to the next level. Currently 99% of my work is portraiture work. I personally like to work fast and smooth, I don't like spending a lot of time on getting one shot, unless that's needed. Ok, to the point. I feel that if I hire or get a volunteer assistant of some sort to assist me with outdoor lighting and equipment carrying, I believe I can increase my skills faster and better. I've done a little homework on assistants, and I have yet to find out how much they really help the photographers. I know that's probably a very broad answer to be discovered, but should I look to bring on an assistant to help me grow, or since I am still in the growing stages would I be better off becoming more effecient solo? Just looking for some thoughts...Jake

How much do I like carrying my own gear across a park to a location, not much. Do I like taking a break from the shooting to settle someone down behind me because aunt Sally hasn't shown up yet, no. These are the sorts of things that I have an assistant do but I don't limit them to simply grunt work. They are there to learn and it is our responsibilities to make sure that happens. I do let them shoot with my gear and they can take whatever they have shot for self promotion. You have to understand that these are people from your area and that they want to learn all of this craft in order to become your competition. It is going to happen whether we do this or not so why not teach them the right way.

We are always learning but personally it you need to bring in an assistant so that you can beef up yon your skill sets makes me think that you weren't quite prepared to start this business. I spent several years working for an established studio that had about 5 locations across our district here. He also had a small retail operation. It helps and the assistant (me in this case) gets to glean knowledge from the primary. He took me under his wing and and it was well over a year before I was ever allowed to do a paid shoot but eventually he trusted me enough to cover weddings which allowed his studios to book more. He wanted to make sure that I also learned the business end. There is so much more than standing behind the camera snapping pictures. This was well in the film era and long before the word internet even existed. He paid reasonably well and I had the option of taking cash or taking the same amount in gear at 1.30 per dollar earned. It was his way of not having to lay out cash and the 30% premium in taking gear was his markup on alot of items so he was coming out even.

You can call these persons assistants or second shooters, it depends on what you are going to have them do. I normally start them out as assistants and if they hang around and show some dedication will let them start to shoot. I pay them the going rate but it is a work for hire situation. I supply all gear and we do have a contract with letter of understandings as addendums where required. I don't like the fact that some people take advantage of those that are willing to volunteer.It is not going to be very much in the way of a long term relationship if there is no cash involved. I view taking advantage of these persons the same way we like to complain about the GWC taking away business by pushing prices down, its not a good thing. I make them an employee if for even a day and that way they are covered under my company insurance policies. The most important thing though is that they are providing a service so why not pay them for it. Have you (the OP) talked to your insurance company about your liability if they are a simply volunteer and not getting paid.

A side note based on the original post. I took a break for several years while my kids needed me growing up. Would you rather go to their soccer game or go take wedding pictures. I still did the odd job here and there but generally didn't advertise at all. You have to look inward and decide what is more important to you, photography or your family at certain stages your children should be more important. I am very happy the way I did it. I also had a full time other job at this time and couldn't get enough of my kids.

Assistants and seconds have their places but you need to treat them as equals and you will save yourself alot of time and pain. I'm not sure bringing them on so you can learn more is the right reason but that is for each person to decide but they do provide a valuable service in our operation.

Having the right assistant can be huge, of course it is very broad though in what you're doing. Next week will have a simple portrait session where it'd be a waste of my money and his time to have him come in for it - other times I couldn't get through a day without him there helping along performing a lot of duties (not shooting though at this time), it just would hinder me a ton to do it all alone. Hell, I'd still be at least 2-3 months behind if doing it all myself this year! So really it's just to the point of you need an assistant or it will help you perform your job better then do it, yes you'll lose some profit but the benefit is usually you get to book more gigs and make it up and grow. Right now not having a full time assistant/office manager is killing my businesses growth, turning down gigs, not going after any because already booked up almost all year round - not complaining at all but you see there's room to grow and it's difficult to not be able to do it - right assistants and second shooters can help that.

...sounds like you're at that point where it's best to make friends with another photographer and offer to assist him/her on shoots in exchange for help on your own shoots.

Thanks for all for all the replies so far. I plan to still do research and will look for the right assistant which is the key part. I do plan to pay, and teach. My hope is to get a good one which will allow me to explore more as I'll have less to worry about. I am comfortable with my lighting and work, I just feel that an assistant may allow me to step out of the box a little and try new things as well as let me increase repitition, which usually improves skill sets.

I primarily work alone, but I occasionally need a second hand or someone to work on my behalf. Buying an assistant is like buying or renting a piece of gear, and some of the same questions apply:

Will this asset (assistant) enable me to...

Charge more?
Save time?
Do better work?
Expand my clientele?

And... Will it make my job easier?

ssim wrote in post #13292172
I pay them the going rate but it is a work for hire situation. I supply all gear and we do have a contract with letter of understandings as addendums where required. I don't like the fact that some people take advantage of those that are willing to volunteer.It is not going to be very much in the way of a long term relationship if there is no cash involved. I view taking advantage of these persons the same way we like to complain about the GWC taking away business by pushing prices down, its not a good thing. I make them an employee if for even a day and that way they are covered under my company insurance policies. The most important thing though is that they are providing a service so why not pay them for it. Have you (the OP) talked to your insurance company about your liability if they are a simply volunteer and not getting paid.

++++++1 totally agree...

I would never hire anyone as an assistant that didn't have enough self respect or belief in their own talents that would work for free and it is just wrong for a working professional to assume that his assistants would. I always pay when I use assistants. If you are charging so little that you can't pay someone to help you then you are clearly not charging near enough.

airfrogusmc wrote in post #13292939
++++++1 totally agree...

I would never hire anyone as an assistant that didn't have enough self respect or belief in their own talents that would work for free and it is just wrong for a working professional to assume that his assistants would. I always pay when I use assistants. If you are charging so little that you can't pay someone to help you then you are clearly not charging near enough.

Hi airfrog. I've been meaning to respond to your last post in that thread from a few weeks ago but just haven't done it yet

Have you noticed that digital has altered the sequence of everything? In the film era, photographers went to school and did trades with their friends when they needed help assisting. Then, they graduated school and got paid to assist for working photographers. While working as assistants, they got to know other assistants and did trades to help each other out while building portfolios. Eventually, the portfolio was good enough to get clients and paid work and this is when the assistant started to become a professional photographer. By this point, he had already assisted his friends and actual professional photographers and knew exactly what the process was and how to treat and pay an assistant.

The film sequence was a rough path and most people never made it to the stage of being a professional and hiring an assistant. But digital threw the film sequence out of order so that now it's possible to just be a professional right away. Digital allows people to skip school, skip assisting trades, skip paid assistant positions, and immediately become professionals and expect other people to assist them for free. Ain't digital wonderful?

Ross J wrote in post #13293167
Hi airfrog. I've been meaning to respond to your last post in that thread from a few weeks ago but just haven't done it yet

Have you noticed that digital has altered the sequence of everything? In the film era, photographers went to school and did trades with their friends when they needed help assisting. Then, they graduated school and got paid to assist for working photographers. While working as assistants, they got to know other assistants and did trades to help each other out while building portfolios. Eventually, the portfolio was good enough to get clients and paid work and this is when the assistant started to become a professional photographer. By this point, he had already assisted his friends and actual professional photographers and knew exactly what the process was and how to treat and pay an assistant.

The film sequence was a rough path and most people never made it to the stage of being a professional and hiring an assistant. But digital threw the film sequence out of order so that now it's possible to just be a professional right away. Digital allows people to skip school, skip assisting trades, skip paid assistant positions, and immediately become professionals and expect other people to assist them for free. Ain't digital wonderful?

There is going to be a backlash against a lot of this and I think some areas of the professional world are starting to see this already. First most commercial clients, anyway the ones that really matter would never hire a photographer they way the general public will sometimes hire one.

Sure you can say you do commercial work and create a website, now your a commercial shooter but the old ways are still very relevant in the industry in the fact that you need to fully know and understand the area that you are working in and you need a way in to get the work and that comes from assisting a very successful commercial shooter for some time to learn the ins and outs from the inside and form relationships with the right people. None of this has really changed much.

Wedding and portraits, where the public is the client, its gonna be a bumpy ride for a while. Some good is going to come of all of this because it really does weed out the riff-raff. Sure anyone can start a biz. Talk to me in 5 or 10 years and see how many that start are still with it.

The key that most that haven't came up in the industry they are trying to get into don't fully grasp is the strong loyal client/photographer relationship. The fact that its repeat clients and a strong client base that leads to longevity and to achieve this end goal is not only to deliver a high quality but very consistent product. When other jobs and reps are on the line and theres a lot of money involved then they the client needs to know they are not going to get any surprises. All it takes is one bad shoot and the word will get around like lightning.

Also the importance of having your own look/style. So that means turning work away the quick $$$ and constantly changing your look to fit the clients needs instead of establishing your own look so clients come to you for that look and lets not forget the client base that is in the same mindset. Those are the clients you really want because the get it.

Trying to be everything to everybody is the thing that most new photographers do wrong. Most of the commercial clients that you really want would never hire a wedding shooter to shoot a job for them.

When I first got out of school, the first place I worked did high end weddings and commercial work. The owner was a very good business man and fully understood that the commercial clients that he wanted to secure would never go to a wedding photographer for that kind of work so he had a separate commercial business and he hired large format shooters to work in that area.

I think that in time things will settle. This is still very new territory and some areas of photography are going to suffer. Some are going to thrive. One thing for sure is if your work looks like the herd then its probably going to be a bumpy ride. Why come to you when someone that is virtually giving it away stuff looks almost the same?

So yes anyone can open a business but the key is can they get and just as important KEEP clients. Anyone can have a good day behind the lens but that no more makes you a good or successful photogrpaher as one great at bat makes you an MVP in baseball. Everyone can get lucky but can you get lucky consistently? Thats the thing a lot of new photographers don't get, consistency is the key.

Back to the OP if you need an assistant, find a good one and pay them.