"Dick and Dirk, My time with Avedon" by Dirk Kikstra Sept 2004. the phone rings, upon answering, all I hear on the other end is a fumbling line and then a clearing of the throat. "Dirk, Dick, Is everything ready for D.C.?" "Yes Dick, no problems" "Great" "How is it going in Texas?" "Wonderful, I really think this project is coming together, can't wait to be in D.C.", "OK, see you soon" "Bye" "Bye". That's it, the last conversation I had with Dick. Short but sweet, kind of like most of the words we spoke. Dick was in Texas working on a project for the New Yorker, that would become Democracy, the next day he was admitted into the hospital and within a week he would be gone. My relationship with Dick started a few years before I had even meet him. He was Richard Avedon to me then. In 1994, I was at school studying to become a photographer (a car photographer to be exact). American Photo came out with a special issue dedicated in big letters to AVEDON, with a picture of a man covered in bees and a women in front of elephants. Little did I even dream that in five years from studying that issue with its lighting diagrams, peeks into his equipment room and stories about his famous pictures, that I too would be walking every day past a huge print of Dovema and the Elephants to my desk, my desk as assistant to Richard Avedon. The road to that desk was fairly surreal, I guess like most whom ended up working for Dick. After completing school in Santa Barbara, I headed up to San Francisco. Starting my first job, in a still life studio, which extended my technical base that I had learned at university. People, had always been my biggest fear, I based my whole school curriculum around not having to take portraiture class. Once comfortable with a person it was OK, but going up and asking a stranger a question, much less asking to take a picture was death to me. Some how my time in San Francisco change all that, I wanted to conquer my fear, I wanted to become a fashion photographer. With that in mind I knew I had to move to the fashion photo capital of the world New York City. After a year or so of assisting various advertising and fashion photographers, a friend from school, told me of a freelance position working for Patrick Demarchelier. The man who was shooting everything from Harper's Bazaar to princess Diana. I thought I had made it. Working for Patrick was wonderful, he was doing up to three sittings a day and there was always a lot of energy in the studio, he was at the height of his career. The same friend who got me in the door at Patricks, I forgot to mention previously, was Richard Avedons assistant. A few months into my Demarchelier adventure he calls again. "Can you stop freelancing for Patrick and take a full-time position as second assistant here at the `Avedon Studio?" I had to think for a few seconds "Yes!". The Avedon studio has run on a hierarchy system for as long as anyone can remember. Assistants are selected from top schools as interns, then if there is a full time position, it is filled by the best intern. One starts as a fourth assistant, then moves up to a third, who hands film (8x10) on set and is in charge of equipment checks and dark room supplies. As the top moves on, so do the other positions, once you get to second assistant you are on camera, focusing, cropping and following Dicks framing requests, also as second you are printing all the black and white prints that come out of the studio. One does the printing so that when he is promoted to first (studio manager) assistant he has a full understanding of how Dick wants things lite. We all learned from each other and mostly from the handed down system. So me coming in as a second assistant and becoming first with in a year and a half was quit rare and exciting. I knew a few inside things before my first meeting (interview) with Dick, one, he himself is rather short, so does not always like tall people. The staff had warned Dick of my height and sold me as a "Gentle Viking". Dick also runs his studio like a Samurai, he will cut your hand off for little mistakes, but is forgiving on big blunders and would say "You only get better when things go wrong!" I had never been so nervous to meet someone, after all he was the man that shaped modern fashion photography and had conquered both commerce and art. My nerves were tested even more on the first day of photographing, "Oh God, I hope it's all in focus" was all I could think about until the film rolled out of the dark room. The next day as Dick walked into the studio, my joy came out, by picking him up (later I heard from witnesses his feet where dangling off the ground) and screaming "It's great and in focus!". I had the luck to come into the studio at a wonderful time, we were shooting major campaigns (Dior, Hermes, Oscar del la Renta), printing books (Made in France, Portraits) and we were working on a major retrospective of his work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was wonderful watching him direct and delegate through all that work. He spent everyday working and thinking about his craft. The funny thing is, with all the time spent together, on trips or around the lunch table or at sittings he rarely spoke about "photography", He spoke often and passionately about literature or the theater (his big love) or politics, but photography came up sparsely and really only to convey a feeling he wanted to get in an image on instructions before a sitting. Dick had many sides to him, the crazy, demanding artist that would hit you if you were not loading film fast enough or kick an art director out for asking a stupid question (Is there going to be detail in the black?) but also the compassionate human that called me about a hundred time while my wife was in labor with our first child. I think that that is why is was so good, yes he had talent and yes was at the right place at the right time, and most certainly yes he had amazing drive, but most of all it was his perfect balance between demanding artist and compassionate human. For all that I count my self incredibly luck to have spent almost five years with him. I often still think of him, "What would Dick do?", when I'm working on a fashion story or photographing a cover, or portraying a famous person. I'm still to a certain point that shy student in California, but now i have the confidence that Dick gave me.