As we do every month, we’re going to check in with one of the winners of Profoto‘s Assistant Contest. It’s been a nice opportunity so far to check in with different photographers who are new to us, and this interview was no different.

Aaron Cobb is a clever Canadian, and is fairly new to the photo scene. He has an interesting perspective as someone just starting– he’s really a poster boy for learning your lighting from a pro and then moving out on your own.

See what he has to say for himself.

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Tell me a little about your background. How did you start shooting?

I first got interested in photography when I came back from a trip to South Africa. The photos I took with my point-and-shoot 35mm film camera didn’t cut it. I bought a Contax 35mm film camera shortly thereafter, and started to consume everything I could about photography. I quickly made the jump to digital, since everything was going in that direction anyway.

I enrolled in a few night classes at Ryerson University in Toronto and got a quick introduction to the basics of certain principals such as aperture, shutter speed, Photoshop, etc. From there I started freelance assisting, and got the opportunity to work as a full-time first assistant to one of Canada’s top ad shooters. I basically got thrown into the fire.

I learned so much over the eight months that I was there, that I consider that my education. After that I freelance assisted for many photographers in Toronto, and some from the U.S. and U.K. who were in town for jobs. For the past year I have been concentrating on shooting some creatives, and getting my website up and running. Recently I have shot a few editorials (one was with WWE wrestler Trish Stratus which was fun), and one ad campaign for the Ontario Medical Association which was great to work on. It involved studio portraits of nine Ontario doctors.

What’s your favorite body of work (or the work you feel most defines you)?

My favorite body of work is probably of Sun City in Arizona.

Sun City was great to photograph because it was such a unique city. The houses were built in the 1960s and have retained much of their charm over the past 50 years.

Although the SWAT team images I took were fun because we got to hang out with the SWAT guys, and they let us fire off a few rounds after the shoot was over.

Why I needed the Pro-8Air for this shot:

At the Toronto SWAT Team headquarters I fired about twelve exposures to the officer’s 29 rounds in four seconds. My Pro-8a was able to keep up. I just used one pack with two heads, and it kept up fine. I also used a Profoto Beauty Dish and 7-inch reflector. I needed a pack with a very quick recycle time and a really short flash duration. I am very pleased with the results and love the new 8A packs.

Share one photo of yours that you particularly love.

One of the photos I particularly love is of Marcie and Rosemary from my Sun City creative. They are two of the volunteers that work at the Sun City Area Historical Society which is located in the first model home built in Sun City in 1960. They gave us the tour, and then let me photograph them in the model home.

Share one photo of someone else’s that you are particularly excited about.

Another image that I am jazzed about is by fellow photographer Andy Vanderkaay. We were down in Aruba in January shooting the Eastern part of the island that has been left desolate after the oil refinery was shut down. There are expatriate houses that were literally walked away from. Beach restaurants and bars were also left to decay. These buildings are basically mini time capsules. The beach club that we photographed had stubby beer bottles that were still on the wooden bar!

What’s next for you, in 2011 and beyond?

Currently I am planning a few creatives so I can beef up my portfolio. One shoot is going to be shot in a trailer park, which should be really fun. Another creative involves photographing Canadian comedian Colin Mochrie in a bear suit in a diner in downtown Toronto.

Lastly, I am hoping to get to Carson City, Nevada before the summer is over to photograph the only place in America where brothels are legal. It should have a lot of interesting people and places to photograph.

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See more about Profoto’s Pro-8.

See more about Profoto!

See more of Aaron’s work.

Read more about Aaron.

Read more about Aaron and the Profoto contest.

woo! now take a nap.