Photography Studio Assistant

Seeking someone to help me manage and complete tasks in my photography business. Need someone well rounded who can handle a range of tasks from emails and administrative work, documenting meeting notes, helping with lead follow up, session preparation notes for me before a shoot, prepping online galleries, monitoring progress of jobs out to editor or retoucher, notifying clients of orders on their way, helping me format and draft wedding day timelines from previous notes, scheduling calls with vendors or prospective clients, helping pull images from shoots for social media, uploading images from recent shoots to the blog, using AI tools to help draft captions and articles, updates to email and quote templates as needed, culling photos after a shoot, and just generally being a “right hand person” for me.

BEFORE READING FURTHER....MUST BE AVAILABLE AFTERNOONS IN EST TIME ZONE and some weekend availability (for support on wedding days)

Variety of tasks include:

• Monitoring, managing, and filing incoming communication (email, text, etc)
• Monitoring project checklists to ensure steps don't get overlooked
• Sending reminders for important tasks
• Recording expenses, call notes, and other documentation.
• Prepping and sending files to appropriate tea ---------- mbers (ie, convert Word to PDF ; downloading images and sending them to the retoucher, etc)
• Help review completed requests to ensure what the client asked for is what was completed.
• Adding events and meetings to calendar
• Confirming appointments
• Sending notes before meetings/shoots/events
• Occasional relevant research (weather for travel plans, industry news, etc)
• Sending Thank You's, gifts, etc.
• Sending orders to vendors after approval by the client
• sending images to vendors after each shoot
• uploading photos into slideshow and blogging software (training provided but familiarity with Squarespace is a bonus)


CRITICAL DETAILS:
- this is a client-facing role via email, text, phone, and Zoom, so friendly, professional English communication is essential in a distraction-free environment

- as our products/deliverable are visual and creative in nature, the person in this role must have some creative eye or a knack for spotting very minor aesthetic details...whether it's catching that the formatting of a quote that is going out is inconsistent from one paragraph to the next, or whether it's an image coming back from the retoucher in which the sand texture appears to have a repeated pattern, or whether it's catching the fact that the blue of the sky in 3 out of the 10 photos is a little darker...all of those things are critical in this role.....bonus points if you can fix them yourself to save time

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE WOULD HAVE:
- some familiarity with the vocabulary and typical procedures of a photo studio, but willing to train the right person
- is comfortable using and learning online software as needed for a particular task
- some experience using Adobe creative software is a plus (Lightroom, Photoshop) as some tasks will require opening and saving files in those systems

*** CLARIFICATION: THIS IS NOT AN EDITING OR RETOUCHING ROLE ; I ALREADY HAVE THOSE PEOPLE *** BUT FAMILIARITY WITH THE SYSTEMS AND FILE TYPES WILL HELP IMMENSELY

You will help with CULLING photos, then send the files off to the editor.

A BIG part of the job is sending reminders both to me, my other assistant, and my retoucher...so I need someone with EXCELLENT organizational skills who doesn't mind following up on projects multiple times until completed.


TIME OF DAY / AVAILABILITY TO BE ONLINE

I'm in EST time zone so need someone whose availability/schedule allows you to be online consistently from approximately 1pm to 5 or 6pm, and at least some availability on Saturdays for when I have weddings and need last minute support, or to help with weekend projects. I'm flexible and we can discuss, but overall that is the need.


IDEAL TRAITS

• Someone who can follow specific instructions when given, but can also deduce best estimated guesses based on similar situations as well, or go out and find answers to simple questions if it's not specifically outlined.
• Warm, friendly and personable demeanor
• Has the knack for thinking "one step ahead" of others and who others describe as being "always on top of things".


TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

- Must understand and be able/willing to use Dropbox, and install it locally on your computer as the use of live/shared folders is integral to our operation.
- Computer system must have ample storage as many tasks involve saving and moving large files ; we use a sync'd DropBox folder so that updates on both ends happen in real time.
- Ideally will be a Mac/iPhone user for continuity/training/software compatibility purposes.
- Must either have or be willing to install Lightroom and Photoshop.

TECH STACK (Familiarity with these systems - or one ssimilar to them - is ideal)
- Outlook (and ability to switch between multiple accounts)
- Google Calendar
- Word / Excel / PowerPoint
- Tave Studio Manager is our CRM (though heads up we may be looking to transition to HighLevel in the near future; if you have familiarity with GHL= bonus points)
- Later (social repository and scheduling)
- ClickUp (project management and team collaboration + project based time tracking)
- Squarespace (websites and blogs; this is also where we host our custom proposals going out to wedding clients)
- Zoom (for client meetings)
- HoppyCopy (for help drafting social captions; repurposing long form content)
- ChatGPT (for general input, smoothing out wording, brainstorming, etc)
- SmartSlides (for creating slideshows)
- ShootProof (for gallery hosting and sending images to clients ; also receives our orders)


Ideal candidate is the kind of person who does not need to wait to be told what to do, they are proactive and take initiative, think ahead about the possible obligations and can anticipate needs before they’re asked for them.

My biggest struggle is having enough mental bandwidth for everything I have to do and remember…a VA who be basically an extra set of eyes and brain power to alleviate some of the mental load of running a business is what I need. If you’re the sort of person who prefers to be told when to do the next step so that you don’t mess up or take the wrong action by a ---------- , that would not be my ideal candidate. Rather, I would prefer someone once they know the workflow can see that step one has been completed, but next week while we are waiting on step two, step three will be needed, and will go ahead and take care of step three so that once step two is done , we can keep moving right along. I want the kind of person who is going to email me and say “I noticed X, so I went ahead and did Y.” Ie “I noticed you have a wedding next weekend and I know the wide angle lens is out for service, so I went ahead and put together a lens rental order; it’s in your shopping cart in your account here (linked for easy access), if you want to take a look really quick I’ll have that on order scheduled to arrive 2 days before the event”. Or “ie, I saw that you sent the album design to the client, so while we are waiting on them to approve it, I went ahead and uploaded the spreads to the printer queue. You can see that here…once the approval comes in I can get it off to print or if the client has changes I’ll take care of those in the software and then re/export and re/upload the changes before sending”

Basically someone who can help DO the work with me that needs to get done but who can also help THINK and PLAN to alleviate the need for me to remember everything all at once.

In summary, I'm looking for a long-term committed professional-yet-friendly relationship with someone who can take the weight of doing, remembering, and attending to every task, who can think ahead for me to reduce the mental load, and who can allow me to step away from my computer without fear that something will get overlooked or fall through the cracks.

Thank you and I look forward to speaking with you soon.