The disappearing mid-level job market and the plight of workers.

[sags]

Good for you CJOttawa for looking ahead to your future.

That is exactly what I did when I became an autoworker line slave 30 years ago.

Retired and enjoying a decent.......if not extravagant pension now, unlike my buddies who didn't want to work in that setting.

[hystat]

Find another job? Man! Why didn't we think of that! She'll just go down to the job store and get a new job!

I get it, the poor are lazy and aren't interested in working.

That may be your reality, but it isn't ours.
Do some reading on southern Ontario between Windsor and London. It isn't a hotbed of activity, that's for sure. Double-digit unemployment across all sectors, depressed wages and terrible prospects across the board.

She has training and some of the equipment to handle weddings, but it's a lot harder than just deciding to be a wedding photographer. In fact the digital revolution in photography has severely over-saturated the market for photographers. A full half of the people she works with are wedding photographers. It isn't money you can count on.

I don't expect any sympathy or understanding I'm only stating it isn't as cut and dry as it has been made out to be.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but if you look in the Kijiji wanted ads for photography, there is some sort of gap in what's avail vs. what's needed in photography... tons of ads looking for photogs like this sort of thing:
http://ontario.kijiji.ca/c-services-...AdIdZ380609217

[crazyjackcsa]

Despite the fact it's an hour away, my wife did indeed "apply" for that. And due to the distance, didn't get the gig.

Not to be a jerk, but there are 9 pages of photographers looking for work / photography equipment for sale on kijiji Windsor as well.

My wife is a trained photographer did the schooling and has experience in nearly all styles.

She's done the wedding show circuit, the freelance magazine work, some sport shots, portrait, group and a little nature work too.

Too bad there isn't a need for that anymore.

The local newspaper has exactly zero dedicated photographers on staff, that's down from 3 just 8 years ago.

All magazine/newspaper work is freelance now, or done in-house by the writers. Most of the sports work is done by the school photography companies as well.

There aren't a whole lot of photographers that can make a go of it full time. It's part-time "nice to have" money that can't be relied on.

But now I just sound like I'm b!tching and moaning.

[Jim9guitars]

There aren't a whole lot of photographers that can make a go of it full time. It's part-time "nice to have" money that can't be relied on.

Along with my day job I have always dabbled in music, most recently I played classical guitar at weddings, and like photographers, have realized a sharp decline in the availability of paying gigs in the past 7 or 8 years. I got out of the business about two years ago due to repetetive strain injury and some degree of burn-out. Some of the reasons for the decline were "do-it-all" DJ's that offer the whole package, ceremony music, dinner music and the dance music for the reception. I'm not knocking DJ's, they do a great job and it's a free market out there, another reason is of course, money. People have been scaling back what they will pay for live music, or anything, at weddings these days. As the wedding bookings became farther and few between, and were coming up for less money, it became a strain on both my body and my brain to keep my repertoire up. Going back to the 80's, along with my high-paying day job I played guitar in a local rock band in the greater Victoria BC area and we were able to book 65 paying dates a year, mostly at bars, with a few weddings and corporate gigs along the way. Each member of the band took home close to $100.00 each for each gig. The last band I played in was just over 10 years ago and we had to pack it in because there were so few bars that had live bands, and most of them only offered free beer for the night, no money. You could say I too am just bitching and moaning, but really I'm not, just telling it like it is, just like crazyjackcsa.

[CJOttawa]

...There aren't a whole lot of photographers that can make a go of it full time. It's part-time "nice to have" money that can't be relied on...

I worked as a photographer for a few years and I agree it's become difficult to make it work.

A friend of mine is a photographer but he's diversified. He teaches photography workshops, has a gallery, a blog - basically, he fills the lean times in with other stuff that supports the photo work. (being a chef on the side wouldn't work - no "self-promotion" of the business)

Here's his blog: http://www.harrynowell.com/

Just a thought.