Take this with a pinch of salt
but I have it from two different (and unrelated) sources that the bottom of this mess (in the US, at least; the others should follow suit) should be over and done with by May.
We'll see...
Well, to quote a famous slogan from a salt company ... "when it rains, it pours."
I personally do not think we will even see the bottom by May, and I'm planing accordingly.
Side note to Ben, the oddity of my wedding business is that it is already more than triple that of last year (which admittedly was a bit dismal), and I'm sure to book more yet for 2009 based on the amount of inquiries in the hopper right now. It's a strange mix of 50/50 high-end, full package and "Churn & Burn". Frankly, I'd be happy with a majority of Churn & Burn since it's quick, clean and I can do multiples back-to-back. Handling or making albums and prints has never been profitable enough for me compared to shooting and batching a wedding to DVDs. If I chose to do 5 hours for about 2K and minimal processing I could be booked both days of every weekend plus some Fridays until 2011. However, to be honest, I don't want THAT much wedding work.
What has fallen off for me is the commercial work ... I'm doing some accessories stuff for GM, but all the stuff I did for my ad agency evaporated when it went belly up December 31st.