All hands on deck – working with assistants and second shooters.

There comes a time in the life of a photographer when a specific tipping point / tension presents itself; too much to do and not enough time, energy to do it. Now dont get my wrong here – this is a great place for your one-man-band business to be, but staying there can, and almost surely will lead to burnout, nervous breakdown or just generally volatile bad tempers. Even considering trusting another person and potential future competitor in the same market can be a daunting path scattered with legal,  relational, and professional land mines.

Having said that, there are a number of ridiculously amazing and successful photographers that make it work on their own and equally, those that aquire extra guys on the team – so which way do you go… The A-Team or The Lone Ranger? In this post I will try and highlight a couple of key factors to take into consideration then working in team, as equal partners or as photographer-assistant. The point is this as the afrikaans saying goes: “Vele hande maak lig die werk” (many hands make the burden of the work light). This does bring about a number of challenges – things i wish someone else had told me about, but i suppose thats part of learning what it means to be a photographer. Read more…