What it's like to be a photography assistant. Would you please come in and have a look?

But to be a real photographer, there is still a long way to go. If a person does not have the spirit of hard work, humiliation and eagerness to learn, then he will first lose the basic premise of becoming a professional photographer. It must be very hard to engage in this profession, and no one else will regard the profession of "photographer" as an imaginary comfort and relaxation (of course, the off-season is not counted). Many extremely heavy and trivial tasks, from helping guests pull the exterior skirt to hitting the reflector and putting the background light indoors, need assistants to complete. I worked as a photo assistant and counted the number of times I bent down a day, as many as 50 times! It's hard just to travel on location every day! In summer, I have to endure the high temperature exposure and work indoors and outdoors with heavy outdoor lighting and outdoor equipment. Needless to say, sweep the floor every morning and evening. Photographic assistants have to endure grievances, because many photographers have a bad temper at work. It is perfectly normal to say that people call names. Whether you walk fast or slow, right or wrong, is when the photographer makes fun of you. Photographers who like to play big names used to be mostly from Taiwan Province Province. These people are grumpy, like raging wind and fire at one moment, and silent, elusive and extremely difficult to grasp at the other. Their strictness and harshness towards assistants can be said to be chinese odyssey! But things are better now than before. After all, the society is progressing and developing, people's cultural and moral level is improving day by day, and their words and deeds are becoming more and more civilized and standardized. Therefore, many assistants who have just entered the business are so wronged when they first entered the business. Many people really left with a slap in the face! There is also the most painful thing, that is, you have to endure the torture and suffering of low wages and low treatment (there is no treatment at all in many places). When will this bitter life end? In fact, I have no bottom in my heart. In many places, the so-called photography assistant is simply synonymous with the local minimum wage income. From 300 yuan's monthly salary a few years ago to 500- 00 yuan now. In short, it is based on the economic development of various regions. Of course, photography assistants earn thousands of dollars, but there are not many such studios, most of which are profitable, and photography assistants also get a certain commission. Speaking of this commission, it was unimaginable in the income of most photography assistants in the studio a few years ago. In recent years, these conditions have improved, and many photo studios have formulated the income distribution system of basic salary plus commission for photography assistants, which has improved the salary and benefits of photography assistants to a certain extent, in order to better stabilize morale and increase team cohesion.

If a photography assistant can survive the above three situations for a long time (more than one year), even if you still have a little knowledge of photography and have no chance to touch the camera, I dare say that he is already half a photographer! At least he has a passion and pursuit for this profession that is different from ordinary people. Unfortunately, many photography assistants will give up if they can't do these three things, because this is a primary tempering stage like purgatory. Without these basic qualities, it can be said that it is impossible to become a real photographer.

After experiencing the triple realm of hard struggle, seeking perfection through grievances and enduring the pain of low salary, you are still eager to trudge on the mountain where photography will never see its peak, looking forward to a glimmer of light before dawn on the road, and you will face two life-and-death tests again: Are you suitable for this industry, as the saying goes: Are you the right material? One more thing: if you keep working, you won't have a chance to get a camera? Will others train you? How do you master the feeling and skills of photography? The front triple realm may be achieved by many people, but the latter two are incomparable to the former, and few people can grasp it well. It combines various factors that are not affected by objective reasons, including changeable and unchangeable situations. It is a comprehensive carrier of complex factors such as personal opportunity, talent and professional level. Let more photography assistants choose to give up again!

There is no doubt that people who are talented in photography are definitely better than those who are not. Talented people often have better ability to feel, transform, imitate and even innovate than those without talent. It is easy for them to get twice the result with half the effort in the process of learning. I have also seen people who are very talented in this field engage in this profession, and their acceptance ability is extremely fast. It's only two or three months since they learned to pose, and they have strong communication skills and good images! But in our career, such talented people are few. Most of them are ordinary people with normal IQ, and only a few have received basic art training (even less have received comprehensive professional training). In fact, a large number of people belong to the role of professional mismatch or becoming a monk halfway (many photographers I know are not art majors). But this cannot be an excuse for a person to engage in this profession. Even a monk can become an excellent photographer! Because the improvement of professional skills and the accumulation of experience do not depend on your previous professional background to a great extent, what is important is whether you have a good positive attitude of learning and enterprising, a persistent professional attitude, and constantly break through the creative spirit of diligence and pioneering thinking. Just like Yao Weiwei, he studied computer, but this did not prevent him from becoming a photographer. After all, photography is a way of thinking to express and vent through pictures. The content of thinking consciousness is often more than the application of photography technology. Because there is a big difference between technology and art after all. Therefore, people who are engaged in this profession generally know their aesthetic taste and cultural level through photos. But now is the era of commercial photography. Many people may not have received such education, but he has been engaged in this industry for a long time and has rich practical experience. It cannot be said that he can't shoot good photographs. However, compared with those who have received aesthetic education, his defects are also obvious, that is, it is easy to turn photography into a craft-based job and he can't go far in artistic creation.

Our industry is really a strange industry (I still think so until now). It is an industry that combines the characteristics of artistic behavior and technical practice. On the one hand, it always boasts itself as a so-called artistic profession with fashionable and open mind and unconventional ideas, which transcends the fetters of traditional consciousness. On the other hand, its employees are extremely conservative and narrow-minded in skills dissemination and management. In many large studios, it is very difficult for a photography assistant to really become a photographer! Some of them are even impossible, because in these places, they don't intend to train any photography assistant to be a photographer at all. In the boss's eyes, photography assistants and makeup assistants are all dispensable small roles, and they are the lowest level in the pyramid structure of the studio. Their existence is like feathers fluttering in the wind, and they are insignificant. Because they can't add a few riches to the boss's profit account book, and they are not the core soul figures in the boss's enterprise. Therefore, it is impossible for a boss who pursues the maximization of interests to make great efforts to cultivate a person who has no relatives or friends with him. Moreover, it is even more impossible for a photographer to teach a photography assistant to take pictures by hand (I have hardly seen such a thing). Generally, a photography assistant can only watch and ponder while doing things. But there is no chance to get started (in some places, photography assistants are not allowed to touch the camera at all, and they will be fined if they touch it! ) Similarly, photographers are afraid that once a photo assistant really learns to grab a job! Although this business is very mobile, many people still have such concerns and ideas, which makes the photographer's circle very exclusive! This forms a strange circle: in a city, several familiar faces come and go repeatedly between its photo studios (at most, some shops find one or two foreign photographers to fill the facade), while other newcomers rarely have the opportunity to enter this circle and get ahead. It is also easy to form the interpersonal network of China maintained by the hilltop gangs. As long as the photographer works in this shop (interest group), he has established a complicated relationship with China. Other photographers came to apply, but they didn't even audition, because it doesn't matter! (Many shops are actually selling dog meat by hanging sheep's heads and looking for their acquaintances. The most bitter thing is that those photo assistants will quit their jobs and go all the way to other places (usually small) to apply for an audition. And if the photo studio where the photo assistant is located doesn't even have a chance to touch the camera or take pictures of the children, don't expect to get started again! By the way, many photographers go out in this roundabout way when they first start their careers, that is, they first go from a small studio (far from the central area)-a medium-sized studio (one step closer to the central area)-and then go to a larger studio (maybe a little farther away) to complete their career planning and training. The experience gained during this period laid a good foundation for the future career.

Hard work and sweat, patience and hard work constitute the basic work content of the photography assistant profession. They are down-to-earth every day, relying on their own efforts and struggles to realize their photography dreams step by step. Take a step forward and your dream will be one step closer. No matter how steep the road in China is, it is their little progress that can build the backbone of our industry tomorrow! Although not every photo assistant can eventually become a photographer, when he recalls the good times when he was young a few years later, maybe he can say, "I don't regret being a photo assistant!" " "