[foodnfoto]

To anyone living in the NY metro area-I need an assistant to work with me during food styling photo shoots. You must understand, however, that this is a freelance position being paid a day rate that varies depending on the client.
Here are some requirements for consideration:
You must be a self starter and display considerable initiative.

Organizational ability is very important!

You must think visually about the food we are preparing and have a good sense of design.

Advanced baking and chocolate skills are a must.

You must be willing to do a lot of schlepping of equipment and supplies.

An ability to mentally break a recipe down into its parts is essential as often dishes are only partially prepped.

Extreme tidyness and promptness is essential-NO EXCEPTIONS!

There are many other attributes that make for a good assistant which I can detail in subsequent conversations.

Folks who engage in food snobbery or elitist ideas should not consider this as a career option as our clients are usually consumer service magazines, large commercial food manufacturers and fast food companies.

If you are interested, please PM me or send me an email at:
buttermilkpie@excite.com

[foodnfoto]

OK, did I seem a lttle too cranky on this post? The truth of the matter is that I have just come off a job where my assistant was useless at best. He stood there and watched as I unloaded all the equipment onto the dollies without lifting a finger.
While I parked my car, he did take the dollies up to the studio, but didn't unpack anything and left refrigerated food in the coolers. He complained about the "quality" of the recipes-my god! this is an advertising magazine for a big box store in middle america, what do you expect?
Meanwhile, he yammered on and on with the other crew members, casually stirring some sauce while letting the dishes pile up in the sink. AAARGH!
I could go on and on, but I think you can get the gist.

Food styling is a unique kind of boutique career. It's a lot of fun, but hard work and sometimes the days are long. But for those transitioning away from food service it can be just the right thing. You work with professional, creative people-photographers, prop and makeup stylists, art directors, and food editors and sometimes you get to meet celebrities. 99.5% of the people are really wonderful. Most of the time, you have weekends off and almost every holiday. (Live TV is different in that regard.)

I need someone who is willing to learn, take direction, be very helpful and show some initiative. The pay can for assistants can be good (150-350/day, sometimes more.) There are drawbacks and it's hard to get your foot in the door, but here's an opportunity for someone who wants to try it.
Seriously, you really do need to know how to bake and bake well.

[Steve A]

Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat often.

You think it's bad there?? It's bad everywhere.

Where I work they look at the spray hose at the dish pit like it dropped from outer space. "Sure," I tell them, "you've really got some sanitized crap there!"

Argh, C'est la vie. Too bad I don't live in NY an longer, I might have applied.

Ciao,