Photographer assistant

Pay in the destination countries

Monthly, in US dollars. Each country is an Imora admission package — open one for that route's fees, language requirement and deadline.

What does the day look like?

You never operate the main camera on paid shoot time. A standard day is 10 hours, extending to 12 or 14 hours on location or fashion advertising shoots. You arrive 1-2 hours before the photographer and talent: unload Peli Cases, build C-stands, booms, sandbags, V-flats, diffusers, softboxes, reflectors and backdrop supports, power Broncolor, Profoto Pro-10, Pro-11, B10 or Aputure, ARRI lights, meter with a Sekonic L-858D.

You prep Phase One IQ4, Hasselblad H6D, Canon EOS R5 or Sony A7R V bodies, connect them over Tether Tools USB-C to a laptop running Capture One Pro, set colour with X-Rite / Calibrite, name and back up files to 2 NVMe SSD drives, show clients on an EIZO ColorEdge monitor, then gaffer tape, sweep cyc walls, steam garments, fetch coffee and water. The split is 0% creative shooting, 60% physical labour and fetching, 40% gear setup and tether. 80% of assistants are freelance, calls start at 05:00, shoots run past 22:00, weekend work is standard.

Where does this lead?