Opo, the photographer's assistant

Here's a question: what makes a good photographer's assistant?

Well, I actually don't really know the answer to that but let me give you my humble opinion: not a baby opossum!

Once upon a time in Torrance CA, I, an aspiring photographer, arrived home from my "real" job (you know, the one that actually makes money). After setting my stuff down and firing up my computer to work excessively on my pictures, as I always do to the dismay of my girlfriend; my phone rang. "Who might that be?" I asked, out loud. Well, thankfully those great little devices now have caller identification so my question was easily answered. It was my landlord who was worried about some sound he was hearing from underneath his car and wanted assistance in figuring out what it was. "SSHHHH... SSHHHH" it sounded like. I valiantly grabbed my favorite flashlight and ran down the stairs for the rescue mission. After an intense search (about 12 seconds, lifting a corner of the tarp covering the car), we found the threatening monster.

The monster: baby opossum

It was a 4 inch long defenseless baby opossum calling for his mom. The poor dude (I don't know what gender it was but I'll call him a dude) was shaking from the cold night and was missing his mother's cosy and warm pouch. He had probably fallen off her back or tummy as she was working her way to the next trashcan and was left behind. The mom was nowhere to be found, and we did look for a while. After some time, I decided to bring him into the warmth of my dwelling and figure out how to save the little guy. Left to fend for himself out in the brisk night of the Torrance wild he would've died from cold or a dangerous feline predators. "Opo" (yep, I just called an opossum, Opo... you only have so much imagination in a day) had no concept of danger, self-defense and couldn't move effectively.

I grabbed a box and had him climb in it. Not knowing what the heck I was doing, I made Opo a 5 star dinner (bread crumbs and a little bit of water) and proceeded in my opossum care online research.

Fun fact Did you know that opossums are the only marsupials in North America?

Well it turns out that you can't feed baby opossums with just bread and water, you have to warm up some milk and feed it to them with some sort of eye dropper or baby bottle. If you can believe it, I, a 28 year old childless male with adequately hydrated eyes, do not have either. You also have to keep baby opossums pretty warm so I wrapped little Opo in a towel and put him next to the heater for the night.

As any mischievous baby would do, he crawled out of the towel, peed in the box, made it out of his now soiled home and started screaming "sshhhh... sshhhh" waking me up in the middle of the night. "Sorry dude, I like you and all but you're going back in a box and I'm closing it for the rest of the night".

The next morning, we both woke up rested and ready for a new day. The plan was to my new friend at an animal rehabilitation center but before that, I had to test his skills as a photographer's assistant. Well, it turns out he has extensive knowledge of old Leica film cameras, especially my Leica M3! I mean, check him out, he's all over that thing.

Opo framing the shot

Opo adjusting the shutter speed

Opo about to press the shutter release

Unfortunately, his outrageous benefit requests for the position were out of my budget quota... I don't cover meals, even when it's just warm milk; so we had to part ways. Later that morning, we said our goodbyes at the shelter where I hope he will have a prosperous career as a Leica specialist. Heck, he'll probably end up more popular than I am; and I will be able to proudly say: "yep... I, was a part of his success."

To Opo, the Opotographer.

Opo self portrait