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Thread: Conde Nast closes Gourmet and more.....

  1. #1
    Kirk Gittings's Avatar
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    Conde Nast closes Gourmet and more.....

    Conde Nast

    Feeling down this morning in a serious cash flow crunch.

    Commercial photographers and artists-where we are at......?

    The market for stock and assignment photography is shrinking rapidly. I have had to cut fees to assignment magazine clients and more and more stock clients are looking for virtual freebees. With some magazines that have been my bread and butter, I don't mind cutting fees (many as much as a 1/3 cut).....if they stay in business it is an investment in future business, but it is disheartening after thirty one years in this business, at almost 60 years of age, to have to revert to an income level of 15+ years ago. That 1/3 cut is all profit as expenses have not gone down-virtually halving my real income from these sources for the same amount of work.

    Fortunately, the architectural market (after a serious first half slump) has rebounded well in the third quarter, largely making up for the first half slump, but payment is very slow. Diversifying, I have won some public art commissions but the paperwork is so slow I may not be still kicking before I see a dime from them.

    My son's business (who is the head web guy for a large national ad agency) is booming and they are hiring for next year, while my daughter-in-law's custom wedding accessory business (75 outlets nationwide) is just starting to feel the pinch this quarter after expanded sales in the first two quarters. The magazines she advertises in have all cut their page rate with the exception of Martha Stuart Weddings which has raised theirs.

    What is happening with you guys?
    Last edited by Kirk Gittings; 9-Oct-2009 at 11:58.
    Thanks,
    Kirk

    at age 73:
    "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep"

  2. #2

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    Re: Conde Nast closes Gourmet and more.....

    Kirk

    My business has been in the toilet for three years. I'm seven years behind you in age, and have no idea if I can survive this crunch. To supplement the income gap I've been teaching at a local college, and working on a Master of Liberal Arts degree because I can get it free as long as I teach. Unfortunately it doesn't teach me how to code for the web, not that I've even had the brain power to do that type of work.

    My wife works for the Wash Post and they are asking her to take a buyout. Her job gives us health benefits.

    I'm emotionally ill.
    When I grow up, I want to be a photographer.

    http://www.walterpcalahan.com/Photography/index.html

  3. #3
    Kirk Gittings's Avatar
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    Re: Conde Nast closes Gourmet and more.....

    Walter, I don't yet have the need to try and reinvent myself, and I admire your effort. Losing the health benefits right now would indeed be scary. We get them through my wife's work which is facing big budget cuts. Just to be prepared we checked on the cost of a Cobra and it was allot more than our mortgage hence a cobra would be a huge effort if my wife loses her job.

    Business wise, based on predictions by the national American Institute of Architects, I'm expecting next year to be worse than this year. I'm lucky to have as clients some of the only firms in the state who are booming, and that may save me somewhat next year.
    Thanks,
    Kirk

    at age 73:
    "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep"

  4. #4
    Abuser of God's Sunlight
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    Re: Conde Nast closes Gourmet and more.....

    I've made most of my money for the past 15 years doing graphics work for print. I'm starting to wonder if my days are numbered. I've avoided learning how to code, because it always looked like hell, but now maybe it's a good idea.

    A bit daunting, because writing "code" today typically means learning so many applications and languages and scripts, and it seems like at least a couple of generations of kids have come out of the womb already knowing this stuff!

  5. #5
    Dave Karp
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    Re: Conde Nast closes Gourmet and more.....

    Are you members of any professional associations that offer group coverage? If not, check out the various photo associations and see if any of them offer decent group coverage. That might make it possible to find decent affordable coverage.

    I have been there on the COBRA thing. I was on COBRA years ago, because I could not get another insurer to cover me. It was expensive. Something showed up on a test that is out of the ordinary, and some insurance company employee decided that it indicated that I might get some kind of disease someday. My Dad has the same results from his blood tests (he is now 80, and looks better and is healthier than a lot of 60 year olds). My doctor said this was nonsense. To clear this up, I eventually had to go to a specialist at UCLA who tested me and then opined to the insurance company that there was no causal connection known to medical science between my tests results and any diseases that I might face in the future. In the meantime, my COBRA ran out, and for months I was on one of those catastrophic health policies. Eventually I had the privilege of buying an expensive policy as a self-employed person. My heart goes out to you guys.

  6. #6

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    Re: Conde Nast closes Gourmet and more.....

    Gourmet was one of our major goals, and we were pretty shocked when it went. Romulo Yanes is a huge influence to myself- I hope he starts to shoot for other mags!

    Me and my stylist have only been in the food photography business for 2 years now, and to be honest it is a struggle. We, like Kirk, took a huge hit the first quarter, then around May things exploded and we've had lots of work. We've seen 4 of our clients fold since Dec '08.. Who knows where things will go in our market? The only thing you can do is keep your fingers crossed and try to produce better work than others.

  7. #7

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    Re: Conde Nast closes Gourmet and more.....

    I fear the grand age of magazines might never return. The Web is overloaded with content, and it's all free.

  8. #8

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    Re: Conde Nast closes Gourmet and more.....

    I was sitting around the other night with three editorial photographers who have had great careers for decades and the consensus was that the editorial market is forever changed and not for the better. What it comes down to is that you can't sell photos to nonexistent clients. The clients that are still around are often using inexperienced, lower salaried employees who just don't know how to buy photography anyway.

    You just have to find some way to hang in there. Use your time to get better at what you do I guess. That's what I do.

    Good luck to all.

  9. #9
    bdkphoto
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    Re: Conde Nast closes Gourmet and more.....

    This is clearly the worst editorial environment I've ever seen. I was shooting a small job for Architectural Digest at the Conde Nast building just 2 days before they closed Gourmet et al, and the atmosphere was full of dread. Many of the senior staff has been laid off, or early retired, and 25% cuts across the board.

    Back when I started out (in DC, Walter Callahan should remember) we had a nice long list of magazine that you could actually make a living doing editorial. Remember Regardies, Mid Atlantic Country, New Dominion, Museum and Arts, etc.....

    The current NYC market is pretty grim for editorial, and the architectural market is not much better. Major layoffs at all the firms and no budgets to shoot. It will be really tough for a while. I'm teaching at ICP, but it wont make up the difference in lost work anytime soon.

    Bruce

  10. #10
    -Rob bigcameraworkshops.com Robert Skeoch's Avatar
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    Re: Conde Nast closes Gourmet and more.....

    I've found it difficult to make much money shooting any longer but overall have filled the gap by working for Sony, teaching one day a week at college and grabbing a couple shifts a week as evening photo editor at the local daily. I also have the mail-order business with weird photo supplies but that will never produce an income.

    My shooting has dropped off but not because of this slowdown. Since I make my living as a sports photographer, it never really recovered after the NHL strike a few years back.

    For a number of reasons, but partly because sources use digital now, which means every client can get access to the original so fewer shots are needed. When magazines only used slide there was a greater demand because images were tied up in transit, waiting on desks or in production. If you think of a sports book, they held onto dozens of originals for months or a year while the book was put together. Yes it did tie up your images but it meant the next client had to hire you to shoot fresh images since those were out of the loop.

    Overall the value of the single image, or stock image has tumbled, but this is not because of the slowdown but is a reflection of the "Supply and demand" regarding stock.

    The other day the art director at Sony asked me to look at a few cityscapes shot as panorama's. The stock agency was asking $8000 for the usage. I'm not saying they're not worth it, but he looked elsewhere and found something in the $10 range at the Istockphoto.

    It's not his fault that someone started a business model that sells $10 images, or photographers who are happy to get published and make 50% of that.

    Anyway enough gloom and doom.... overall I'm very busy, had a great year last year and a super year so far this year... but I've really changed what I do and what I'm offering. I made more money this year writing advanced photo classes for colleges than I did selling sports photos. I don't shoot images for Sony at all, but field test their cameras and give talks and seminars for them. Different work but it has been busy.

    As far a Health Care issues go... I live in Canada, so I'm covered.

    -Rob

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