Hi Ya Jeff, It's both a rant and a whine. The SF bay area has been hit really hard with the downturn in the market, the drop in ad business as well as editorial gigs, and direct marketing pieces have gutted several of my friends and competitors. Many ended up selling their gear, closing or drastically cutting back to stay alive. I have prospered this last year, (without being a bottom feeder) and have even had the cash to buy some new gear. I have also had to keep a full time job outside photography to keep a home over mine and my wife's head. 04 looks like it will improve, with the increase in calls I am getting and the fact that some of my old clients, are working again at new jobs. The Silicon Valley has been depressed for over 3 years now and growth is slow. To boot we actually had photographers from other markets come here to try and set up jobs. I keep my ear close to the ground in the local fashion, business and food markets. The outside photographers were contacting local ad agencies at a rate 3x from before. From what I understand many thought they would be bigger fish in a smaller pond.. Usually LA and NY shooters stay (generally) within their markets, ours was considered small by comparison. Amateurs have eroded that market even further. This is a very tech savvy area since most of the fun stuff is invented right here. Apple, Adobe just to name a few. In 99 my client list was over 30 companies, it is a third of that now and only a hand full have projects in the hopper, with more shooters trying to get those gigs. In order for my business to survive I have had to make deep cuts in profit margins, increase give aways and lower some prices to compete. I know the capabilities of the other local shooters, they are second to none, but the clients w/ paying gigs have smaller budgets, and demand lower prices. And not a few gigs are going to in-house folks w/ digital cameras, closing pros out entirely. I am optimistic about the coming year, but I will not help non pros take gigs no matter how small. Les Baldwin Happy New Year
