Continuing my “Dialogue” series, here is my latest and greatest subject, a fashion photographer who left the assisting ranks over a year ago.

Sebastian Kim, Fashion Photographer

See his work here.

1. You’ve recently set off on your own as a fashion photographer. Can you describe your career arc to this point, and what lead you into fashion photography?

I graduated from photo school back in ‘96 and I had this mentality that I would assist for 2 or 3 years and then strike it out on my own. You know, like what every young photographer aspires to do. I was motivated and excited by it all back then and I knew I didn’t want to be caught up just being an assistant. I mean, what’s so hard about being your own photographer, right? I ended up assisting for 11 years and I just recently decided to leave my full time career as an assistant this past February. I didn’t stop assisting because I hated my job, I quite enjoyed it actually. But then I started shooting for little indie european fashion magazines. It was exciting to be thinking for yourself and to be working with friends and to just simply be shooting that it got me motivated to shoot more and more. One job let to another and within a year I couldn’t squeeze the shoots on the weekends anymore that I decided to finally make the big break. It can be quite difficult to make that transition in this day and age. I’ve seen a lot of assistant struggle making the transition. Some can’t because they’re dependent on the money but mainly because it takes a lot of money, resources and connections to be able to make a name for yourself shooting editorials. We all know magazines don’t pay these days, so just like any business start-up, you need a wealth of resources, a strong support group and just as importantly, enough savings and/or loans to get you going of the ground. All of which accounts for more than just sheer photographic talent.

For me I was quite fortunate to have a lot of resources available, enough savings to sustain unemployment and fund my projects, and most importantly, I had a strong group of friends and individuals that I’ve met throughout my years of assisting whom have all been very supportive and without them, I would probably still be assisting. Shooting fashion is a very collaborative field, which is one of the reasons why I enjoy it so much. It started mainly because I worked with friends who were all on the same boat, trying to experiment and just simply excited about be able to do our own thing. Shooting fashion it’s a great balance for me on a creative level. I don’t see myself or have interest in being a fine art photographer. I studied photography at a commercial level, which is basically about creating throw away images that are exciting for the moment and then we move on to the next idea.

2. You assisted Steven Meisel and Richard Avedon, two of the greatest photographers of the last 50 years. How have they helped inform your aesthetic for your own photography?

I certainly wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing had it not been for my experiences working for Richard Avedon and Steven Meisel. My experiences is surely what makes me who I am and it has greatly influenced my approach on things. It’s very common for most assistants to follow the styles of the photographer they’ve worked for. I think what’s challenging is disconnecting yourself from what you’re familiar with and trying to find your own views and perspective on things. It’s not that hard if you’re conscious of it, but it’s challenging to figure things out your own way and find your own voice. After I left Richard Avedon, I didn’t have the desires to shoot fashion against a white or gray background. Richard Avedon was very much about character studies and his grand poses when it came to fashion. He’s probably influenced more photographers than any other photographers. But also because of that, I didn’t want to be doing what every body else was doing and what has already been done numerous times. I suppose knowing how to do something very well is also a reason not to do it. Steven Meisel, on the other hand, experimented all the time. We always played with different lights and techniques to come up with new ways to make things look different. Though he didn’t have a very particular photographic style, there is a very strong aesthetic to his work. Mainly because Steven understands and loves fashion more than any other fashion photographer out there. It wasn’t just the clothes he was aware of, but he was obsessed with every single detail that makes a picture a great fashion picture. I don’t think I walked away with that amount of obsession for fashion after working with Steven, but I’ve definitely become more keen of the finer details. As for my own aesthetics? I feel that pressure of people wanting to know exactly what I want to say or do. Everybody does one thing and does it well and I feel like I’ve still yet to find that one thing I do well. I think finding your own aesthetics takes time and at the moment I’m still very much experimenting and finding my own voice.

3. What was working for Avedon like? Are there any particular words of wisdom that you could share?

I was still in college at the time, and my professor had recommended me for the 4th assistant position. It was the dream job and I was the lucky one who got to leave school early to New York to go and mop the floors, scrub the toilets and do all those exciting things. I moved up the ranks and became his 1st assistant/studio manager in 2 years. I was 24 at the time and it was a quite a responsibility for me. I ended up working there for 4 years and it was one of most enduring and enriching experiences I’ve had. It was very much a traditional studio where the film and printing was done in house and you worked with an old traditional 8×10 camera and not only were the assistants responsible for all the photographic duties, but we were also involved with archiving, exhibitions, book projects as well as other numerous things that were going on at the same time. The actually photography process was only a small part of it all. There were a lot of assistants that came and went while I worked there as it was demanding job with very little pay. I think it can be difficult to dedicate that much time an energy to a demanding job that paid very little, but people can forget that a great experience is invaluable. I truly felt very fortunate to have worked there.

4. What was working for Meisel like? As I understand it his shoots are just well-oiled machines.

I left Richard Avedon thinking that I would finally start doing my own work. I had gotten a studio in Chelsea with friend of mine of who was leaving Irving Penn at the same and we were both excited to finally be pursuing our own work. A couple of weeks before my last day at Avedon’s, I was offered the job to take over Steven’s first assistant, who was also leaving. It was a tough decision but I took the job because Steven was doing some of the biggest campaigns and editorials at the time and I felt I still had a lot to learn and I wanted to experience it. Coming from a traditional grand photo studio to Steven’s grand sets was still quite a throwback. It’s very common now for a lot of photographers to have a production the size of a small movie sets these days, but back then he was one of the few shooters that could command quite a large production. I came from an traditional environment, where I climbed up the ranks and learned the process through trials and tribulations, to all of a sudden being thrown in a whirlwind of large campaigns on my first day of work at Steven’s. It was intimidating and humbling at the same time. Fortunately the crew was already quite a well-oiled machine. Unlike other studios, there wasn’t a hierarchy of assistants, most of the freelancers had more experienced than I did and therefore it was very much about teamwork rather than me calling all the shots. It was exciting because Steven gave us the freedom to experiment and come up with new ways of doing things and encouraged any new ideas. He was never stuck on just one thing and the challenge of it made it fun and interesting. Steven is a man of few words and my relationship with him was always strictly professional, yet he always had the utmost respect for all us, which accounts to one of the many reasons why working there was so good and why his whole staff has been with him for so long. I felt I had one of the best photo assisting jobs.

5. What was the best and worst thing about being a photo assistant?

These days, you don’t have to assist to become a photographer… if you have great connections. But for many, assisting really is a great way to gain invaluable experience and having a good time while doing it. I think the biggest misconception about assisting is that people think once you learn all the technical skills there is to know about how to light and how to put together a shoot, that you can just go and do it on your own. Being a photographer takes a lot more than having great ideas or knowing how to light and how to compose and direct a model. A lot of assistants forget the bigger picture when they assist, and the bigger picture is about meeting people and establishing and nurturing relationships and it’s also about sharpening your people skills as well as your lighting skill. You truly need a very strong support group when you start on your own. The more people you have by your side, the easier it will be to make the transition. And by saying that, I don’t mean that you need to kiss ass to all the art director and fashion editors that you come across. In my experiences, the people that end up helping you or giving you opportunities aren’t necessarily the obvious people of big positions, but rather the ones you least expect. I guess my point is that being a photo assistant exposes you to many things, not just the technical ins and out of a photo shoot, so it’s also truly important to establish great relationships with all the people you come in contact with. I feel that in of itself is one of the greatest and most import thing about assisting. The worst part about being a photo assistant? People think that it’s dangerous if you assist too long and you shouldn’t get stuck being an assistant. Yet there are so many more photographers out there struggling as well. There’s nothing wrong about being a professionalphoto assistant. I have other friends that enjoy it and they make a better living doing it than most photographers.

6. Since you’ve gone off on your own (congratulations!) what have been the ups and downs?

So far there as been a lot more ups than downs. I was lucky to have come from great studios and it’s definitely open up doors for me. But it’s also a misconception that because of where I came from, that I have a red carpet laid out of me. There was no red carpet and I surely didn’t get any calls from Vogue or Bazaar asking me to shoot for them. I was shooting for these european indie magazines for about a year while still assisting. It was sometimes tough to manage both a full time job and doing my own work but I couldn’t set out on my own without a portfolio. After I left Steven I immediately went set out to London to show my book around. London was exciting because it was such unknown territory and I didn’t have many friends there. Fortunately I was able to get a couple of great meetings and out of my trip I had landed a couple of amazing commissions. 1 for i-D and another for GQ Style. I returned to London two more times to shoot there. It was exciting but because I have no connections in London, I had to pay a lot out of pocket. The important thing was that any editorials I landed, I really needed to give 100% and invest as much as I could because your beginning stages of one’s career is so important.

The downs? It’s only been 10 months, but it’s amazing how fast you can spend money when you’re not earning it. I had a rough budget of how much I thought I was going to spend in the first year. I think I went through it in the first 8 month. If there is an downside to setting off on your own, it’s the tremendous amount of money you need to finance your editorials. I don’t have an agency that can front some of the costs, so it’s basically 100% self funded. The other difficult part is the amount of production involved when you’re on your own. I’m a one man shop so I produce all the shoots as well as do all the retouching as there is often no budget for that. I spend most of my time putting a shoot together, doing the casting, booking all the crew, negotiating deals and working with the rental houses. Then afterwards it takes me 3 or 4 days to do the retouching. That means I can only shoot about 3 or 4 jobs a month and I’ve found myself much more busier than my previous full time job. But not that complaining, I’m enjoying it… just wish I had more time or maybe try to get an intern.

7. Beyond the fairly obvious, what type of magazines are you looking to shoot for and have you already been shooting for?

Some of my earlier breaks has been shooting for i-D. I started out doing little stories here and there and I then went to London to shoot 2 bigger stories for them, which was pretty exciting. V magazine have also been very supportive and I’ve shot 3 stories for them and it’s hopefully just a start. I’m really excited about them because they’ve been very supportive about my ideas and excited about what I’ve done so far. GQ Style in London is also another exciting one for me. I just started doing men’s and they’ve already had me do 2 stories. I did a street fashion story for The New York Sunday Times magazine back in August which surprisingly gave me more press than I had expected. Other commissions have been for Nylon and Teen Vogue.

I’ve also start shooting for some of the French magazines as well. I just recently did a story for Mixte and for L’Officiel and I’m shooting my second story for L’Officiel next week. All of that has been keeping me busy. I still haven’t really pursued magazines here in New York. I went to London and knocked on the doors of the trendy glossies like Pop, Another, Dazed, i-D, 10, Arena Homme Plus, GQ Style but I have yet to really pursue any of the bigger magazines in New York. Mainly because I’ve just been busy shooting with the assignments that’s landed on my lap. I’m quite happy shooting for European magazines at the moment. It still gives me room to experiment and make mistakes.

8. Where do you look for ideas and stories when pitching magazines? Can you mention a recent story you took to a magazine and made happen?

Ideas come in at the most unexpected times and places. Sometimes I struggle of ideas when a proposal is due and others times I get excited by something I come across on Youtube or on Myspace or some random book. I’m not the kind of person with a million ideas in my head and coming up with story ideas is sometimes a struggle, but I never shoot without an idea or story laid out. It’s important for me and everybody working on the shoot to get an idea of what we’re doing. Sometimes the idea is just a base to start and we end up going in a different direction but it’s important to start somewhere. These days magazines and editors like to know exactly what you will be shooting and it’s often hard to show them exactly what you will be doing before you’ve done it. But if you do your homework and your research and really lay it out for them, it’s easier to win support.

There a story that’s out now that I just recently did that I was excited about. V asked me to come up with a proposal for a fashion story. I had done a fun and quirky portrait story for them in the past and they wanted something similar. Lately I’ve been obsessed with Italo Disco and the whole New Wave thing that I’ve been buying all these old Italo Disco records of my favorite tracks and I noticed how cool and tacky the album covers were. I put a proposal together and sent them pics of my favorite albums and pictures of the fashion and the style of that era. I actually spent a lot time putting it all together. They loved the idea and I was just simply excited to be doing something that was so up my alley. I enlisted the help of my friend at a motion graphics house to help with the graphic treatment. Everything from the hair to make-up to styling just all came together on this one and we were all pretty thrilled with the results, including everyone at the magazine. Check it out, it’s in this month’s V!

9. As you will presumably, eventually want an agent, can you talk about what you are looking for in an agent, and your experiences
meeting them?

Agents…something that I’ve been avoiding but will soon have to face. Of course I’d like to have an agent, preferably someone that is supportive of younger shooters. But finding the right agency has been quite challenging. When I set out on my own in March, I had so many agents knocking on my door that I thought for sure I would have an agent before summer. I had met with some of the top agencies both in New York and London. Some were interested and I’ve gotten several offers but a lot of the bigger agencies were weary of taking on someone so new. What I realized was that I didn’t have much to show for. I had a handful of tears in my book and most of it were looking like half decent tests, so I knew I had to prove myself first. So I set aside the whole agency thing and set out to London to find work. Since then, I’ve been pretty busy shooting a lot of editorials that I’ve still yet to revisit agencies. Fortunately, a lot has a happened in 10 months and my book is looking much different than it was back then. I was also able to land a big advertising job for Hogan a month ago. Fortunately, it really changes the dynamics once you’re a photographer than can earn an some income. But really, finding the right agency is like finding the right girlfriend. You want them to like you as much as you like them and there’s got to be that right chemistry and you don’t want to be sleeping around while finding that right match either.

10. What do you think of the fashion photography scene in New York vs a London or Paris?

Everything is true about everything you’ve ever heard about London vs New York. I went to London because I knew there would be better opportunities there. It’s true that the magazines there are a lot more open to younger talents. It definitely feeds off of the younger energy and if you’re driven, you can do a lot. I’m amazed by what people can do with such little money as well. Having worked on big productions, it’s quite humbling not to be able to have all those amenities you’re used to and you sometimes get spoiled. But working abroad is both a motivating and humbling experience. There’s definitely a rawer energy there and people are constantly wanting to do things and money isn’t necessarily a factor of what can or can’t be done as it usually is in NY.

London also has this incredible creative platform because they have all the trendy magazines that everyone looks at and want to be a part of. New York doesn’t have that outlet because most of the magazines are based on profit and therefore have to answer to advertisers and have to conform to some certain standards in order to sell. That’s my impression, though I’m not sure what the reason is really, but it’s definitely a different market that’s more commercially driven. The good thing about NY is that it’s where the money and advertising is. That’s why you see a lot of Brits come to New York after they’ve established a name for themselves. The prestige of New York are the big ad agencies and the big commercial magazines like W, Vogue, T magazine, but that is really an elitist world. Paris is quite a mystery to me. Though I’ve been fortunate to shoot for Mixte and L’Officiel, I feel Paris is more of a grown up fashion market and a much tighter knit community. Something I’ll pursue when I grow into my shoes.

11. You also have a reputation around town as a pretty amazing party DJ, aka, Kid Laptop. Have you or will you ever try to meld the two
worlds? Maybe a DJ fashion story?

Hahah… That’s a good thought, but it never crossed my mind. I guess it’s good to know I’m good at something if I don’t succeed at being a
photographer.