As an assistant, there are a lot of hats you have to wear. Errand runner, light setter, gaffer tape expert. Sometimes being a model is one of these hats.

I spent the last three days setting up lights (and then sitting under them) for a photo shoot with some suitcases. There are some photos of me pulling a girl around in a suitcase but let’s save that for another time.
As an assistant, there are a lot of hats you have to wear. Errand runner, light setter, gaffer tape expert. Sometimes being a model is one of these hats. I…

I have been doing a lot of onsite teaching for my studio as of late. Tonight I will be in the basement of the Metropolitan during the Met Gala, furiously downloading cards, editing and sending out choice shots (I’ve got my eye on you, Maya Arulpragasam).
Tomorrow will be very similar but with me working the Time 100. A few weeks ago, however, I did a more traditional gig and worked on a set of a lookbook for Judith Leiber that my bossman was shooting. If you don’t recognize that label, it’s probably because you don’t have three grand to drop on a purse. That’s alright, I don’t either.
Everything was done very sporadically and casual. Friends of the designer and art director modeled the new line at a dinner party thrown specifically for the shoot at the restaurant where my boss is part owner. Not having a stylized set was a bit of a headache, with me screeching that there were far too many glasses of water blocking the purses and ugly half-eaten plates ruining perfectly good shots, but my boss does au-natural best after all his years of shooting parties. So.
I sat just outside the shoot with a computer and a card reader. Sure, this is a little less formal than a setup like this one:

But on this particular shoot, the restaurant remained open and I had diners sitting mere feet away from me during the first portion of the shoot. A setup like that would have been too intrusive (and big!).

See how cramped we were? No room! That’s me sitting with the art director and photo assistant looking on as I go through some shots. The heads poking out of the assistant’s back are paying guests who looked bewildered at the flashes going on next to them. However, notice the food? I was fed whatever was on set and let me tell you–it was all sorts of wonderful.
Here is the Sundance write up I also did for my boss’s weekly blog about the shoot (I was unstoppable).
I don’t think tonight will be as casual. And I definitely don’t expect to get fed. Wish me luck.
I have been doing a lot of onsite teaching for my studio as of late. Tonight I will be in the basement of the Metropolitan during the Met Gala, furiously…

A few months ago, I was the 2nd assistant on a shoot for the Interior Design Buyer’s Guide. My duties basically had me getting coffee and lugging around rugs, and rarely touching anything I could mess up (I think they were given heads up that this was only my 2nd shoot). The other assistant, Jamie, was super talented and showed me the ropes and gave his input on how he thought the shots should be set up. The photographer, however, had some pretty concrete ideas and didn’t incorporate many of Jamie’s suggestions.
When the photographer stepped away from a shot of a crazy shell lamp, Jamie messed around with the set up and took a shot that the guys on set from the magazine totally loved. A ton of amazing shots came out of that three day set though, so I don’t think anyone necessarily thought that photo would be needed. Imagine my surprise, months later, when while perusing magazines, I found the Buyer’s Guide with Jamie’s shot on the cover.

That’s my sister being a wonderful, albeit silly, model. Always interested in byline presentation, I flipped into the magazine to see what kind of credit Jamie got.

Way to go Jamie! Being bold paid off and now he has an amazing shot for his portfolio.
A few months ago, I was the 2nd assistant on a shoot for the Interior Design Buyer’s Guide. My duties basically had me getting coffee and lugging around rugs, and…