Full time photographers and the Coronavirus

Hi all just checking in on everyone, hope everyone is okay and well in these rough times.
I was just wondering how it's impacting everyone's business right now?
All my shoots have been cancelled going forward, this is going to be a tough few months.

Not a full-timer but, the few jobs I had scheduled has canceled as well. The weddings are probably going to be canceled as well since they are early summer ones and we may not be through this by then.

sirquack wrote in post #19029258
Not a full-timer but, the few jobs I had scheduled has canceled as well. The weddings are probably going to be canceled as well since they are early summer ones and we may not be through this by then.

Yeah its going to be rough out there for a while unfortunately. Id love this to be done in a month, but i just dont see it.

As much as possible, work with clients to make those postponements rather than cancellations.

I deal mainly with swimmers, whether in swim meet fashion or private sessions, and seniors.

All swim meets registered with USA Swimming have been cancelled through the end of April, as have most practices. On that front, I lost one swim meet in that period and 4 private sessions. However, already in May, my largest meet of the year has been cancelled and Special Olympics has been cancelled. The former is a HUGE loss for me. There's 2 more meets in May, though I believe those will ultimately be cancelled.

As for the rest of the summer, I don't really know what it holds. I have meets almost every weekend from June to July, summer league meets and a ton of parents wanting private sessions.

Definitely going to hurt. For how long is the question.

RDKirk wrote in post #19030069
As much as possible, work with clients to make those postponements rather than cancellations.

100%

huntersdad wrote in post #19030117
Definitely going to hurt. For how long is the question.

This is so true. Good luck man!

I'm a full-time photographer in the San Francisco area, and about half of my income is from event photography. Much of it is for tech companies like Google, Yahoo, PayPal, etc. and for large conventions held in the area. At the end of February I was booked solid from the second week of March to the end of April. Every single project and event was cancelled.

I think of all types of work, event photography with large gatherings of people will be one of the last to come back to life. For now I'm looking at re-tooling my offerings - perhaps focusing more on headshots and non-profit advertising, as well as video. I'm OK in the short term, but my biggest concern is having another recession once the virus clears and losing much more work long term.

The other way of looking at it is all these weddings and other occasions are backing up profusely, and venues will be booked solid once it is permitted to have large gatherings again!

Gotta hand it to you, you really dug that one out of nowhere. Not feeling better short term, but produced a twinkle like a star in the distance.

I've been doing this for twenty-five years and we're always the ones bearing the brunt of the recessions, natural disaster or whatever. As a freelancer, I think that we're the invisible sector when it comes to any kind of assistance, I just ran my information through the SBA and Unemployment Office and am eligible for $0. I moved from the Atlanta area to Nashville and was hit by a tornado and this virus a week later. I'll remember that when I'm paying my Self-Employment tax rate and casting my vote in November. If eligible, how far will a $1200. Stimulus check go for you? Bailout? That's for Boeing, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers and the like.

tcphoto1 wrote in post #19038851
I've been doing this for twenty-five years and we're always the ones bearing the brunt of the recessions, natural disaster or whatever. As a freelancer, I think that we're the invisible sector when it comes to any kind of assistance, I just ran my information through the SBA and Unemployment Office and am eligible for $0. I moved from the Atlanta area to Nashville and was hit by a tornado and this virus a week later. I'll remember that when I'm paying my Self-Employment tax rate and casting my vote in November. If eligible, how far will a $1200. Stimulus check go for you? Bailout? That's for Boeing, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers and the like.

The fundamental problem is that Self-Employment Tax covers retirement, not income discontuation. Employess and emplyers pay an addtional Tax to cover them for unemployment.
Workers who do work for companies as a Contract employee are similarly not covered during periods of unemployment (nor are the in the statistics of the unemployed, since they can collect no benefits)

In Ca, what an employer pays to the State includes

• Personal Income Tax (PIT) are withheld from employees’ wages.
  
• Unemployment Insurance (UI) and
  
• Employment Training Tax (ETT) and
  
• State Disability Insurance (SDI) and are employer contributions.
  

All work until end of June have been cancelled not postponed. A few of my corporate contacts have "disappeared" (likely laid off). I see a number of photographers offering free product photography service during this time, which is only making things worse.

I'm over 60 and do portraits in my home studio or on location in the clients' homes.

I'm not sure how or when I'll be able to restart. I am looking at having to wear a mask and gloves in public until there is a vaccine I can take...that's more than a year away.

tcphoto1 wrote in post #19038851
I've been doing this for twenty-five years and we're always the ones bearing the brunt of the recessions, natural disaster or whatever. As a freelancer, I think that we're the invisible sector when it comes to any kind of assistance, I just ran my information through the SBA and Unemployment Office and am eligible for $0. I moved from the Atlanta area to Nashville and was hit by a tornado and this virus a week later. I'll remember that when I'm paying my Self-Employment tax rate and casting my vote in November. If eligible, how far will a $1200. Stimulus check go for you? Bailout? That's for Boeing, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers and the like.

Sorry to hear. What was the reason you didn't qualify if you don't mind me asking.

No explanation given, it’s not like they’re actually trying to help.