Market Report: Houston

Houston, the fourth largest city in the U.S., is bustling with commerce. It serves as a base for the nation's oil and gas industry, is home to world class research hospitals, has a major (and expanding) shipping port, and a robust real estate market. But despite all of that, Houston photographers are uneasy. Annual report jobs from oil and gas companies, which used to keep Houston photographers busy with round-the-world assignments, have all but dried up.

"The Internet is a large part of that. Annual reports are not the primary way investors get information anymore," asserts Jeff Heger, who now makes half his income shooting video rather than still photography for a long-time energy client.

Several Houston ad agencies have closed their doors recently. And while local design firms continue to produce plenty of business-to-business advertising, they often buy stock rather than assign work, according to several photographers. The result is stasis in the photo community, with few newcomers and fewer assistants than before striking out on their own.

"It's a smaller industry than it used to be," says commercial shooter Terry Vine, who has been in Houston for 25 years. Conditions have forced photographers to expand their skills, diversify their client bases, and market beyond Houston.

"I don't think there are too many specialists here in Houston," says photographer Justin Calhoun. "You have to do a little bit of everything to keep busy."

A Houston native, Calhoun went out on his own three years ago after assisting Jack Thompson and Arthur Meyerson. "I know people who have really struggled," he says. "People who were assistants when I was have ended up doing other things." Calhoun says steady work on his portfolio, some pro bono work, and his persistent knocking on doors of designers have finally paid off with a variety of corporate jobs.

"My most unusual job to date was photographing cemeteries for the Diocese of Houston-Galveston" for ads selling cemetery plots, he says. "I've had a great year, but I don't expect that to continue, so I'm working on a marketing campaign to reach beyond Houston."

The city's most successful photographers have been doing that for some time. "I have determined who the best people are to work for in Texas, and targeted those people," says Houston native Pam Francis, who shoots advertising and editorial work for national clients, in addition to going after local jobs.

Vine, meanwhile, has shifted his focus from corporate to lifestyle work to broaden his market, and is building up a new base of upscale real estate development clients with properties not only in Houston, but Mexico and the Caribbean. (He also shoots stock, which he distributes through Getty.)

Besides being a tough market for photographers, Houston has its quirks. Personal relationships count for more there than in other places, so clients tend to stick with the same photographer for years on end.

"Houston has always been about long-term contacts?it's the old school, old boy network," says Heger. Camaraderie among Houston photographers, meanwhile, is almost non-existent, and competition for jobs keeps prices down. Advertising day rates typically range from about $1,500 to $3,000, with occasional $5,000 jobs, according to photographers.

What keeps photographers in town despite the hardships are family ties in some cases, but also the city's modest cost of living, temperate climate and easy access to the rest of the country. "You move to Houston for either love or work. It's a running joke," says Thompson, who moved from New York City ten years ago and senses he's on the verge of jumping to the next level professionally by landing major national ad jobs.

"I stay here because the cost of living is decent, and there's no state income tax. Do I move to New York and have to double what I make and live in a smaller place, without amenities, or move to California where I'll be in a crazy tax bracket?" He's thinking about it, but says, "The punk rocker in me wants to hang out in Houston, and just work a little harder."



HOUSTON: Demographics and local print ad spending



Population: 1,941,000

Median age: 32.3 years (U.S. = 36.4)

Median household income: $36,894 (U.S=$46,242)

Median family income: $40,172 (U.S.=$55,832)

Per capita income: $22,534 (U.S.=$25,035)

Median value, single-family owner-occupied homes: $112,800 (U.S.=$167,500)

Local newspaper ad spending, January 1-October 31, 2006: $329,769,165

Local newspaper ad spending, January 1-October 31, 2005: $348,869,531

Outdoor ad spending, January 1-October 31, 2006: $76,952,625

Outdoor ad spending, January 1-October 31, 2005: $72,376,148



Source: Demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2005 American Community Survey. Ad spending data from Nielsen Media