Found an interview this morning over at APE with the photographer Chris Buck. I'm a big fan of Chris' work which often gives a unique view of personalities and situations. The interview was also of particular interest to me due to Chris' perspective on assisting:
Well, if you look at the careers of assistants there’s a number of problems with it. You can certainly learn things from assisting, but I guess what I recommend for people if they feel any clarity about who they are as a photographer then I would really recommend that they intern rather than assist. And, I mean a real internship not sweeping floors. Don’t intern for photographers where you have no access to them or the shoots. People tell me they intern for big name photographers for their resume, but why do you have a resume. If you’re a photographer you don’t need a resume. Your portfolio is your resume, not some piece of paper.
I always find opinions like this quite reassuring that by not having ever assisted I haven't necessarily made the wrong decision. Yet at the same time the whole 10,000 hours thing as discussed by Chase Jarvis in a recent blog post, and as I read myself a few weeks ago in an extract from Malcolm Gladwell in the Guardian Magazine, is quite daunting. Knowing that you have to really be dedicated to follow a path for at least ten years is in some ways a frightening prospect - what if after ten years you still suck...
All photos copyright Chris Buck
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