The Photographer's Assistant Handbook

by Matt Proulx

The Photographer's Assistant Handbook is a text that offers industry insights to assistants in the field. This book includes the required skills and responsibilities of an assistant, details of professional business practices, and provides technical tips and tricks to help assistant's carve their path in the industry. The Photographer's Assistant Handbook includes everything from how to achieve the necessary mindset, to the everyday tools an assitant...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0240804139
• ISBN13: 9780240804132
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Focal Press
• Length: 152 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.5" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Must-Read For Prospective Assistants

This book is an absolute must-read for anyone looking at becoming a photographer's assistant. Matt has worked for many different photographers in the New York area. His advice is right-on and his long list of humiliating accidents covers the full gamut of what NOT to do. I didn't come to this book as a prospective assistant but rather as a professional photographer hoping to pick up a few tips and tricks from the author's experience with other photographers, a good spy novel in other words. Therefore, I was most looking forward to Chapter 9, Tips and Tricks. I found a few neat ideas, but nothing that Earth-shattering. Of course, mileage may vary and I readily admit the target audience is for assistants-to-be. If you are coming from that perspective, you unquestionably want to read this book and break out a box of highlighters. It would also be a great read and general overview for high school students thinking about entering the field. The only downside is that the book doesn't cover the digital era, so there is a lot of information about digital workflow and different photographer's preferences in that area which is missing.

Great book...a true head start for assistants!

Super book! I don't live in a big city so it's hard to get this information from other assistants. There aren't any here. This is time well spent. Matt knows his stuff and gives us a good insider's glimpse of how to work the jobs and, best, how to keep learning.His section on interviews with assistants who are working with the really big names in the business broadens the scope of information. These people are the best of the best (like Matt) and he has pulled their words and experiences into the lessons for us to read. Super!Apparently, the reader (here) from Lake Villa, IL misses the point when she/he claims that by working as an assistant for ten years, Matt is somehow lacking. She/he goes on the say that's not typical. Well, I know assistants who have worked longer and wonder why it's a negative to work as an assistant for a long time? Some of us work for two months and some work for fifteen years. What difference does it make? Matt's term as an assistant obviously qualified him to write the best book on the subject. I'm sure business is good in Lake Villa, but I wonder if having "made the step" as soon as she/he did means anything at all? Did it help her/him to become good enough to write a book?Some assistants, like photographers, keep learning for years and years. It's never "done." It's about a process. Matt has spent the time well, becoming the best in the business (according to some of the reviewers) and I'm just glad he wrote this book to share the good stuff with us."Lake Villa" reviewer writes "Proulx never made the decision to "take the last step" and start a business of his own."I attended a recent seminar given by Matt and I saw his portfolio and some recent jobs. He's started his career in a big way. Maybe in a few years, he'll write the book for those of us who (hopefully) are becoming "people" shooters for advertising. In the meantime...thanks for the head start, Matt.Ellie H

For every assistant's kit

I am the author of The Location Photographer's Handbook and have been a photographer for thirty years. I've just enjoyed my first reading of The Photographic Assistant Handbook.It is, of course, thorough and informative as one would expect from Matt Proulx. It's also written in a breezy yet crisp, clear, and professional manner. I think it goes a long way to putting readers at ease about the stress of photographic apprenticeship, a valuable service in itself. There were many things I learned, from a trick about monitoring flashes placed far from the camera, to better ways to cut seamless paper, to a clever idea for checking in luggage carts on flights.Matt's book should be part of any assistant's standard kit, along with the sharpies, scissors, and gaffers tape. It wouldn't hurt those of us who have graduated to careers to stock it as well.

The defacto reference for Photo Assistants

I ordered Matt's book a couple of weeks before my first assisting job. In retrospect, I would have been very ill prepared without Matt's easy to read book. The various checklists and lists of tools were worth the price of the book alone. In addition, the book discusses and describes in detail how to get work, how the relationship between assistant, photographer and the photographer's client should be held and various details including how and when to get paid, what an assistant's responsibilities are and how to solve various common problems. In later chapters you will get tips on how to plan you career and how to make the jump from assistant to shooter. In short, to the serious assistant and those that want to become successful in this field, this book is worth every penny of it's price.

Finally, a great book for assistants (and photographers!)

This is a wonderful book, packed with secrets and essentialinformation for people wanting to enter the profession of commercialphotography. Assisting is a great way to learn thebusiness. Matt's easy to read personable (and sometimes outright funny) text reveals a deep understanding not only of the fine points of assisting but how starting photographers, working without assistants, should manage their jobs. This is a book not just for assistants but also for pros who want an insider's look at how the bigger jobs are done successfully and what a good assistant can bring to the shoot.Matt offers tricks that are worth their weight in gold to keep disasters from happening on your next job.Photographers wondering how to start working with an assistant and what to expect from one should read this book too. So this is not just for assistants. If you're a photographer that doesn't yet know it all I (I'm one) then you need to read The Photographer's Assistant Handbook. It will help make you a good assistant and a better photographer.Disclosure: I'm one of many pros mentioned in this book. Matt has learned and taught well.