At the beginning of summer, when I had first whole-heartedly stepped into photojournalism and the print world, I believed that the still/print industry was, and possibly still is fundamentally changing - both due to technological advances and market forces - and that still photographers needed to embrace new ideologies and technologies.
A lot has happened in the past 6 months - most notably the economy (and on a more positive note, game changing technological advances such DSLRs that shoot 1080p video.) My outlook for the print industry is now quite dire - in many ways this economic downturn may lead to an incredible series of layoffs and failures in the upcoming year that our industry has never seen before. What I assumed would happen over the next 3-5 years - may happen in the next year or two - precipitated by this economic downturn that we’re experiencing.
Newspapers and magazines are facing the absolute perfect storm - which is by definition, a contradiction in terms - a perfect storm, of course, is a devastating one. The old world print media relies on advertising, and readers. The problem is that as we all know, both subscribers and advertisers are seeing a very, very sharp decline. This is why you’re seeing incredibly cut backs in budgets, and massive layoffs. Publications are cutting the fat - and more often than not - into the bone - and guaranteeing their extinction in the long.
The really interesting thing however, is how many people in the industry are adapting to the changes of a system and culture that they have been apart of for so long. Still photographers are about to be in a new paradigm soon, as the multimedia bandwagon quickly starts to pick up speed. Soundslides and Final Cut Pro are some programs that Visual Journalists have to learn in addition to Photoshop to survive in this ever-changing industry. The truth is - our way of doing things - not only the way we gather our content, but also the way we package, deliver and the way we expect to be paid for that work - is being shattered by a variety of internal and external forces that simply aren’t going to go away. Our industry is not dying - it’s evolving - and there’s no reason to run around in a panic… many of us will survive…and yet, many of us will be forced to work in an entirely different field.
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