The state of the industry

It's totally unclear what's going on with all aspects of the industry, but from the stand point of an assistant working mostly in the commercial advertising still life/product side, the state of the industry is poor.  With the current economic situation it seems thats many companies that are normally advertising are cutting back.  This means that there are fewer jobs for photographers and fewer jobs for assistants.  

Two photographers that i work for regularly are barely getting any new work.  These are pretty big name photographers too.  Another photographer said that she has had in rapid increase in the number of phone calls from assistants looking for work.  Other assistants that i know are reporting that they are working half as much as they did last year and i can attest to the same.

Oddly enough, it seems that people/lifestyle photographers seem unaffected by the slow.  Some photographers are exploding with new business.  Maybe this is isolated.

It does seem to be picking up little bit in comparison to earlier this year.  Normally i would be busy finishing up christmas jobs.  Maybe these are the types of jobs that others are reporting getting.

In short, this has been a rough year for photography and assisting equally.  If you have some stories about your assisting year post them here.  Lets all commiserate together.