Photo Industry Tips from High-End Assistants, with Mike Foley & Alex Savidis

As any established photographer will tell you, forging a career can be a long and arduous journey, with no instruction manual to guide you through the process. The lofty world of top-notch pros is often shrouded in mystery and full of things they don’t teach in photo school. In today’s show, we get to peek behind the scenes of this complex, and often chaotic environment in a chat with two colleagues who’ve found a way to balance their freelance careers as independent creators with lucrative work assisting in a high-profile photo studio.

Listen in, to learn how a casual job application through LinkedIn landed Mike Foley an interview, ultimately resulting in a salaried role as first assistant to a world-class portrait photographer. While technical mastery counts for a lot, we discuss the critical importance of soft skills like personality and work ethic to success in such environments. We also distinguish between salaried full-time work and more common freelance roles, and the juggling required to coordinate the complex planning involved. 

As freelance lighting assistant (and longtime café owner) Alex Savidis admits, “the juggle becomes quite hard at times, but I think it's a necessity, especially when you're trying to pursue something that you're passionate about. You can't just become a successful photographer overnight. It takes years to build up to that.”

Guests: Mike Foley & Alex Savidis

Episode Timeline:

• 2:57: Mike Foley describes heirloom portraiture as his bespoke brand of portrait with the ability to last a lifetime.
• 5:10: The backstory to Mike getting hired as a photo assistant for a world class portrait photographer.
• 11:25: The personality and skill set needed to work in a high-end photo studio, Alex’s take on being added to the team, plus the various roles within the studio.
• 17:30: The role of a B-cam operator to capture the finer details of a video shoots, plus an overview of a typical shoot day.
• 23:05: Mike talks about the video work in his portfolio as a differentiating factor in his getting the assisting job.
• 28:23: The work structure and expectations for photo assistants, from freelance to salaried positions, plus discussion about length of tenure.

34:50: Episode Break

• 35:55: Memorable stories from the studio—from the largest two-day shoot with a crew of 150,<