Secretarial: I Work For

Nick Haymes Is Assistant To Photographer Juergen Teller

I WAS about to study photography at college when a stylist told me that I would learn the techniques three times as fast if I went to work in a studio.

It was while I was working at Click studios that I got to know Juergen Teller, and when his assistant left I asked him for a job. My technical ability was pretty diabolical so I guess he employed me because we hit it off.

My first big job for him was the Eternity campaign and it was a nightmare because I knew so little. I sweated my way through the 11-hour plane journey, clutching the cameras and manuals and learning how to load a camera in under 15 seconds.

Juergen has a very distinct personal style, and I quickly learnt to read his mind and anticipate his needs.

My first few months included fashion shoots for Calvin Klein, Katharine Hamnett and Hugo Boss and, two years on, Juergen still wows me with the way he can push a fashion campaign to its limits. It's frustrating when a company asks for a clean-cut wholesome image and ignores his own idea of beauty.

I can be with Juergen from seven in the morning to 11 at night, seven days a week, which causes a lot of grief with my girlfriend who claims he's my first love. It is rather like being married to him.

Although we have a laugh together, I still have to be the most organised person on the job. I've got to make sure that we've got the right equipment and I'm the one who wakes everyone up at five in the morning.

Juergen's photography has become more personal since his baby was born. All I seem to do now is cut out pictures of his girlfriend, who's a stylist with the team, and their baby. I've even gone baby shopping for him. He's a good Dad.

Juergen tends to work with models he knows, so there's always a rapport; for example, he used Kate Moss from the start of her career. We form a tightly knit group.

We are always very grateful about travelling to beautiful places - if that wonderment went the work would be pointless. We were with Donatella Versace the other day and, although it was just part of the job, we were still amazed to be there.

Juergen always treats me like an equal and makes sure I am at the dinner table with him, not hidden away like a serf. I would never work for anyone else. It's a real apprenticeship - and he encourages me to take my own pictures. This month I had my photographs printed in Dazed and Confused.

If I didn't want to push my own career, I might as well go back to my old job of planting geraniums.