I always said that when I retire I want to get a job of operating an elevator and the only decision to make is up or down. Now they have all been made self service so my plans had to change. Don't want to sound negative but one must wonder if things in the photography industry have changed enough that an average person with a good camera can take the photos well enough to meet market requirements. Additionally, when professionals rule, they can price them a little higher and make themselves less desirable (not in quality but in price). The world is changing all them time and every profession needs to adjust to maintain market share.

Astute observation!

Great observation, you are right on target!

In 1993, the World Wide Web was born. Thus began the explosive development of Internet photo and video sharing, and Internet photo and video sharing sites.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was an explosion of digital cameras into the marketplace. The 4x6 print market dried up in less than five years, as people abandoned 35mm cameras for digital cameras.

In 2007, the modern smartphone revolution began, with the iPhone. Android phones soon followed. Over the next decade, imaging quality would improve so much that well over 90% of all imaging done today is done with smartphones, and shared over the Internet on FaceBook, Shutterfly, Instagram, etc. Much of what's left is digital imaging that lands on the Internet as well. Few consumers want images they can't post, can't share. Film is a hobby oddity and artist's medium. Printing? What's printing? Who wants to grind up trees anymore, much less make paper or transport it?

Photography has been both digitized and democratized! While democratization doesn't mean there's a level playing field of TALENT, it does mean that the value proposition has changed drastically.

Professionals find it harder and harder to find clients who pay by the PRINT. Clients who are willing to pay want to pay for the SERVICE. But unless they need something REALLY good, most will say, "'Scuse me while I whip dis (iPhone) out!" (with apologies to Mel Brooks)

Commercial clients will pay for "use rights." But finding average people who want to pay for prints they can't scan, or images they can't share freely (non-commercially) is difficult!

There is still room at the very high end of the market for highly talented professionals who can serve those of both means and discriminating taste. But the low end of the market is rotten.

Back in the early to mid-2000s, the handwriting was on the wall. I worked for Herff Jones' Photography Division, a professional photo finisher and school portrait company. We had four large photo labs (Logan, UT, Burnsville, MN, Lewiston, MN, and Charlotte, NC). One by one, we had to close three of them, due to competition, efficiency improvements from the implementation of digital imaging processes, and a loss of sales. Then the recession hit. Moms, or "Debby Digitals" as the PMAI and Kodak researchers called them, were buying digital cameras and then smartphones by the millions. Suddenly, a $20 bag of various size prints had NO appeal to them. All they, or the schools wanted, was a digital image file!

In 2011, Herff Jones sold our division to Lifetouch. In 2015, Lifetouch closed the Charlotte lab. Recently, Shutterfly bought Lifetouch. Consolidation after consolidation in that industry should tell you something about the demand curve for professional photography!