Digi-Tech Q&A with Jeffrey Robins
This Q&A series is all about shining a spotlight on people in the industry. The goal is to learn about them and share their insights with you. There are many talented people in various markets around the world, and hopefully this series will help you get to know them better.
Q: Who are you, where are you based and what type of jobs do you work?
My name is Jeffrey Robins, I live in Long Beach, CA and I work on a lot of fashion and advertising jobs, oftentimes with musicians and celebrities in Los Angeles and all over the US.
Q: How did you become a Digital-Tech and how long have you done it?
It was a natural transition after working as a photo assistant for about 5 years. I used my student loans from grad school to invest in a new laptop and some other equipment, and they've slowly been helping me pay back my loans for the past 2 years.
Q: What do you like most about your work; what do you like least?
My favorite thing about what I do has to be the community of people I get to work with on set. I'm very fortunate to be surrounded with wonderful photographers, producers, assistants and other Digitechs. I also just love photography and get so excited to make beautiful images and help face new challenges together as a team. My least favorite thing has to be the lack of resources available for up and coming DigiTechs and assistants. Things have gotten significantly better in the past few years though thanks to people like Faini, but I still think it's very difficult to get your foot in the door to learn things; super expensive as well. Major shout out to people like Alexey at AG Digital and Carlos at LVNA Digital who have been generous to me and helped me get started! Cultivating a community of wise photo veterans is a valuable asset and I would recommend that everyone try to do this.
Q: What do you feel is important to learn for anyone starting out or what do you wish you knew when starting?
There are countless practical things that you can only learn from doing, so I won't go into that stuff specifically, but while you're still learning and growing I believe that one of the most important pieces of advice I could give to anyone starting out in this business is that you need to fail forwards. When you're new you are guaranteed to mess some things up, so do your best to avoid it, but when it happens take accountability, learn from it and then move on. There's nothing to gain from dwelling on a mistake after you've learned a lesson from it.
Q: What’s one item in your kit you can recommend to everyone?
My fold up wagon has been one of the best additions to my kit that I've made. I use it almost every day that I'm on set, and everyone I work with is grateful to use it as well.
Q: What piece of equipment would you like to never see on set again?
LACIE
Q: If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?
Respect for prep! I would love to see more consistent prep days for jobs, at one time in the past this felt like more of a given but the past few years getting a prep day has often felt like a laughable request.
Q: What was your best day on set?
Working on a car commercial on a wild mustang preserve with 70 horses running all around us at sunset. Incredible memory.
Q: How do you explain what you do for work to family/strangers?
I am a one man IT Department.
Jeffrey Robins
@Jewishsoundingname
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