Outsourcing: It's Not Just for Big Business Nymore

And it is going to impact designers, web firms, illustrators, reps, writers, programmers, and, I imagine, photographers... especially the already pressed midline shooter who does the product and catalog shots.

Outsourcing Your Life - WSJ.com: "He logged on to Guru, which he'd learned about from computer programmer friends who had used it for work. Within a week, 80 bids had come in from countries like Lebanon, Ukraine and Malaysia. To narrow the field, he had 10 finalists send him sample drawings depicting a young girl. He rejected the illustrators who didn't follow instructions and sent pictures of animals instead, and he bypassed an Indian firm that seemed big and impersonal, offering him a 'project manager' to oversee a staff of artists.

The woman he finally hired lives in the Philippines. He says her drawings, styled after Japanese anime, were more cheerful than other entries, and he was impressed by her polished portfolio. She offered to do 25 drawings for $300 -- what some others wanted for a single illustration. 'I was kind of amazed at how easy it was,' says the 36-year-old sales and marketing consultant. He says his mother was 'overwhelmed' when she saw the finished product."