Helping Hands: My First Intern
Let me start by saying that I am currently at no point in my professional career to start thinking about hired help. Ideally, somewhere in my perfect world, I’d be at the point where I’d be so overwhelmed with work that I’d need to hire an assistant. But that isn’t the case, and I’m not sure when that will happen.
At the beginning of summer my friend Elise had me meet Jeremy Gillam. He’s an NYU student in film making and was a former music student of Elise’s. He was back home for the summer and he met with me and asked if I accept interns or assistants of any kind. I really didn’t know what to say. I’m certainly not busy enough to afford an intern, and I embarrassingly told him so. Payment wasn’t really a factor for Jeremy – who simply wanted to be spending time with a creative helping out and maybe picking up a tip or two along the way. I was nervous, but I invited him to a shoot I was having the next week. That turned into Jeremy helping out on almost all the shoots I did over the summer.
It was good just to have an extra set of hands when I needed them. And I made sure that Jeremy felt comfortable enough to ask questions about anything I was doing, and tried to get his input as well. I tried to make him feel as if he was part of the process. Any questions he had I made sure I answered as honestly as I could.
At the end of the summer I felt kinda bad that I couldn’t pay him – he had helped out with a bunch of location shoots. But he told me that he learned lots of great information simply by watching and asking questions. He got to digest tidbits of information and small tips and tricks to better understand things. He also got a free Portable Portrait Workshop on the house, as that was the least I could do for him as thanks.
Jeremy is heading back to NYU and another semester of classes. I just wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank him for his help this summer. He was great to have around, talk shop, and have laughs with. My door is always open to him, anytime.
If anyone reads this blog in the NYC area and is looking for an assistant – let me know so I can give you Jeremy’s contact information.
Thanks Jeremy. See you soon.
Cheers,
Sid
Elise Says: