The long-time assistants of legendary fashion image-maker Helmut Newton, photographers Mark Arbeit, George Holz and Just Loomis, pay tribute to their mentor in this excerpt from new short Three Boys from Pasadena. Boldly approaching Newton in 1979 after getting a tip that he would be dropping into a Pasadena boutique, the three young art students and aspiring photographers were taken on as his assistants. It was the beginning a professional and personal relationship that would last up until Newton's death in 2004. “He loved to ride in my old, beat-up ’69 Dodge Dart—pulling up to the valet at the Beverly Hills Hotel with all the fancy cars there,” recalls Holz. “He thought it was such a cool and camp thing to do.” Mixing archive footage with Arbeit, Holz and Loomis's recollections of working with the provocative lensman, Three Boys from Pasadena accompanies an exhibition at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Originally hung at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin in 2009, the show features memorabilia and Polaroids documenting the trio's years working with Newton alongside a retrospective of their subsequent photographic careers—including personal projects and commercial works for the likes of French Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and The New York Times.

Three Boys from Pasadena is at the Williamson Gallery of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, until 26 August.

Dedicated to June and Helmut
Directed and Edited by Joey Carey
Produced by Mark Arbeit, George Holz, Just Loomis
Archival footage by Just Loomis
Music by Julia Haltigan
Music Supervision by Concord Music Group