As the saying goes "We're Living in Uncertain Times", and never has it been so true when dealing with any form of creative arts that require public interaction for their success. Whether that be down to a play or recital requiring an audience, artists requiring sitting models or indeed us photographers requiring bookings whether private or commercial. I have to say that my bookings have literally fallen off a cliff this year. Thus far we're able to handle the situation but with numbers around the globe spiking the uncertainty for the future naturally grows. I guess my experience can be pretty extreme given the majority of my clients stem from Military personnel based here in Okinawa. Once their orders contract their ability to socialize then it impacts me directly. Numerous reschedules and cancellations have been navigated in the past few months.

Away from my standard sunset imagery where colors and vibrancy are the key this shot from Bali of an incoming storm kinds sums up the business forecast.

It's a situation that's impacted even more when for no reason a once highly respected sponsor simply ceases all communications. Far from their potentially struggling with the current global issues given that their social footprint if anything is expanding kinda leaves a sour aftertaste. I respect more those who are able to wear their hearts on their sleeves, talk direct and simply tell it how it is. This reaction exacerbates a sense of frustration given there is no palpable reason for this behavior. Such is life I guess, chalk that one down to experience, make a mental note of it and file it away in the annals of life.

As photographers we're also keyed into the constant circle of gear upgrades. Remaining 'relevant' in the format wars is unfortunately one of the necessary evils of this game. Given your workload that could mean one, or multiple, camera upgrades on a yearly basis. Fortunately for me my workload allows me to not require an annual camera upgrade but more like every two years. This is borne of the weight of shutter actuations on cameras and moving them on, selling them, while they still have appeal to the buying public. My Canon EOS5DSr has a suggested shutter life of 150,000 actuations. It currently stands at around 86,000 so a little over half way. Trying to shift that in the current climate where everyone is holding onto their hard earned pennies, and with complete understanding on that, it means that it is very much a buyers market. We're forced into bartering for prices that we would not normally entertain simply due to the scarcity of the base commodity that is cash!

Solutions? I've always been of the mind that something online is the way to go. With massive workforces now being forced to work from home I think a lot of companies are seeing the benefit of this as a solution to their corporate needs. So it's just a matter of finding how best to adapt that to my specific needs at this time. Could it be one to one lessons via a video communications medium such as Zoom? Sponsored Blog Posts? Or could it be as drastic as seeking another avenue of employment away from imaging? These are all options currently on my table. Which one I select will obviously depend on what happens globally in the coming months.

I'd love to stay within the creative arts alas that decision, at this time, is something that is completely being dictated by 'Ma Nature'. She can be a hard taskmaster at times.

"Life isn't about waiting for the storms to pass... it's about learning to dance in the rain".

Vivian Greene