Moving?

A couple months ago I visited New York City. It was my first time in New York since about 1984. I would have been 12 at the time. I was surprised by how much I liked the city. I guess the image of New York I had in my mind had no basis in reality. I found myself liking New York so much that I wondered what it would be like to move there.

Moving when you have a real job is usually not a big deal. Either you get moved to a new office by your company or you move for a new job. But when you work for yourself it's a bit more tricky. It's as if you would be starting over from scratch.

Quite often for editorial work, with both new and old clients, I get called on because they need a photographer in the Bay Area or Los Angeles. With editorial work I rarely get called to travel outside California. I'd love to travel more for editorial work, but so far that hasn't been the case (That isn't true of commercial work... for commercial work I've traveled all over the US and Europe)

I'm not suggesting I have some great name recognition as a "San Francisco Photographer" or potential clients instantly think of me when they have a shoot in the Bay Area (I hope they do). It seems that most of my new clients tend to call when they have a shoot in the area and find me on sites like Workbook, Blackbook, Photoserve, or they have been receiving my promo pieces and finally have a project for me. So, does this mean getting new clients after a move is as easy as updating my location information in the places I promote myself and sending a move notice to my current clients? Will my existing clients start sending me on shoots close to my new location just as they would at my old location?

So how do you do it... how do you pick up and move and start over as a photographer? Especially when you're in my position: someone relatively new to photography (about 4 years now) who is constantly seeing an increase in work, types of clients, size of jobs, and actually discovers people do already know who and where I am when I contact them. Is this constant progress due to a response to my work and my promotional efforts? Or, is it because of where I live? Will I loose that if I move or will it continue in my new city?

I'm not suggesting I'm moving any time soon... or ever for that matter. But it has been on my mind and New York would be first on the list (in the U.S. anyway).

And I know you come here not only for your photography related information, but also political commentary, so... Don't forget to vote tomorrow!