I was beginning my photo career after college and assisting a photographer in Boston when this was taken.

His name was Peter and he pretty much gave me free run of his studio and even sent me out one day to do a whole photo shoot in his place! It was incredible to be given so much trust by a professional photographer.

He once told me, "you're a better photographer than me, but I have more clients than you!" He had these cushy jobs for a travel agency in Boston where he would be paid to go on cruises and photograph people in the tropics enjoying their vacations. It really humbles you to be an assistant. But you learn so much about what to do, and especially you can see things you would not do. Peter took this photo of me, and I think it's a very good photo of me at 25. I would move to Seattle the next year and become my own photographer.