# How are you coping?



## jayphotoworks (Apr 24, 2020)

How has the pandemic affected you or your business so far? All of the creative pros I know are shut down and many of them work the type of events that will be the last to have its restrictions lifted (weddings, trade events, sports, etc.) If there is a 2nd and 3rd wave and governments implement an on and off approach to social distancing, this industry will be devastated. At least a few of my acquaintances are considering a career change at this point depending on how things evolve from here. It's anecdotal right now, but most are not planning system upgrades or purchases this year and possibly next year. Some have expressed to their commercial landlords that they will be paying 20-50% of their normal rent for the next 3 months and hedging the risk of eviction with the fact that the landlord rather get something than $0 with no possibility of finding a new tenant during this crisis.

But even aside from working pros, how many enthusiasts have lost their jobs or suffered pay cuts as a result of covid-19? I'm mostly a weekend warrior and my primary profession is in an essential sector and largely unaffected by this downturn (fortunately), but with that being said, in terms of my photo/video work, many of my current clients this year have postponed or cancelled their events/planned works and the team I shoot with on larger productions are all shut down meaning things went from 100 to 0 overnight. Obviously those who weather this storm will end up with less competition when the dust clears, but those that fail still have families to feed and rent/mortgages to pay..

I feel for those affected right now and wondering how everyone else is coping? Even if you are not a working pro, has your GAS been affected by this at all given that you may not have as many places to shoot this year or perhaps even next year when the fall/winter cycle brings new unknowns...

FWIW: My cameras and bodies have been sitting on the shelf since end of Feb and my last works was for a client operating a large health spa/entertainment facility. Hopefully they and the ad agency that hired us will still be around to get paid as a facility like that won't get to re-open at least until late summer or worse at this point. Maybe during this time Sony can actually release a non april fools touch menu update instead of going radio silence unlike Canon who has gone gangbusters on their new R5.


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## koenkooi (Apr 24, 2020)

Most of what I shoot are my kids and macro in by garden, so that has been affected with day care being shutdown, lots more pictures of my kids. 

Starting in May I had planned to attend 2 photo workshops per month for nature photography. The idea was to buy the EF100-400 II or RF100-500 and depending on the availability during summer, the R5.
There's a slim chance the workshops will go through, it's 8 people max + instructor outside, so the instructor won't be out of work. 

Without the workshops I won't buy the lens and if the R5 arrives too late for insect macro season, I won't buy that either this year.


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## Deleted member 381342 (Apr 24, 2020)

I am working full time from home and had to take a small cut to my monthly salary but also got a 3x salary bonus in this months pay. Since my day to day incoming is as a programmer I am very stable, though have lost a few product shots and at least two weddings this year. Really I'll be coming out of this with very little negatives other than missing some wildlife shots due to being grounded. For folks that earn their bread and butter on photography and don't have it as a side job and/or hobby, I hope you are able to get though the apocalypse.


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## jayphotoworks (Jun 1, 2020)

Another month has gone by and from the grapevine a lot of the associates I collaborate with are really feeling this. Studios and the like have been able to re-open, but all on-location activities are still shutdown. Apparently, we are still having groups of people congregating at parks, etc. without practicing social distancing and that includes some of our city officials as well  and our case counts are relatively stagnant at hundreds a day. It looks as if we'll get out of the first wave here, just about the time the second wave hits.

I've taken some walks at popular wedding grounds and parks recently and they are now packed with people, but the grounds haven't really been maintained. I guess there are no couples taking photos/videos either for what will look like the balance of the year.

I'm hoping the R5 and A7SIII get bumped further in the year so I can stave off some GAS although I'm sure not a lot of people or companies are exactly in a buying mood this year. 

Hoping everyone else is hanging in there!


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## neuroanatomist (Jun 4, 2020)

jayphotoworks said:


> I'm hoping the R5 and A7SIII get bumped further in the year so I can stave off some GAS although I'm sure not a lot of people or companies are exactly in a buying mood this year.


Unfortunately, I’m not seeing anything tempting for me from Canon. I did just pick up a new 16” MacBook Pro (received but not yet unboxed) to replace my personal 17” MBP from 2011. I have a work-provided 15” MBP, and I’ve finally admitted to myself that a new 17” model from Apple isn’t going to happen.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jun 4, 2020)

I did purchase a RF 35mm refurb when they were on sale, its a good lens on my R. My 5D MK IV is not getting any use, its been sitting for most of 6 months, and the events I usually photograph are shut down. I'm seriously thinking of selling it. Its in great shape and has a fairly low number of shutter actuations. I think the reason my R gets a lot of casual use is its size, a R5 is going to be larger, so I wonder if that would affect my usage. There seem to be a lot of features on it that might make photography easier, I hope it has focus stacking.


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