Moving on from Rejection

I purposely put this photo "Delicate Morning Glory" as the header of this hub because I want to tell you a story.

The beginning of this year (2011) I set a pretty strong goal for myself and that is to focus a lot on my photography and to really promote it-because I want to have my photography published. In order to have that happen, you have to do a lot of promoting. Along with the promotion, there WILL also be rejections. Okay, let me repeat that, there WILL also be rejections!

I understand not everyone will like or see what we see in our artwork, regardless of what form it is. I have never thought that because I understand each of us see through different eyes, especially when you are looking through the lens of a camera.

A photographer will shoot hundreds of photos and may only keep a hand full of them. I have several folders on my computer that I still have not had time to go through and I am only an amateur. But still, there are those times when a picture stands out and it grabs you and you think, this is pretty good for a beginner! That was the reaction that I had when I first seen the picture I called "Delicate Morning Glory".

Trying to move forward with my new set goal, I went through a couple of my folders and pulled out some pictures that I thought were pretty good or some of my best photos-Delicate Morning Glory being one of them. So I set out to start my promotion and found a "Stock Photography" site. Stock photography is sold at sites that has a supply of photos that are licensed for specific uses. It is used to fulfill the needs of assignments instead of hiring a photographer. The process is purchased and delivered online.

I submitted ten pictures, and waited a few days to hear back from them. When I heard back from them every picture was denied! I sat there for a moment in shock really. Every picture denied? Not one of them was accepted. My very first thought was, ENOUGH! I QUIT! Come on I am human, and I have my moments too.

I felt like I had two little voices sitting on my shoulders, one said, go ahead and quit, you are wasting your time, you are not going to go anywhere with your photography! The other voice said, learn from this experience and move forward! Remember all of the positive feedback you have received from these photos and move forward!

Then I remembered a site I joined back in 2009 and remember getting really mad at them because out of thirty pictures I submitted, they only accepted four! So I decided to go back to this site and submit the same pictures that were just previously denied.  In away, like a second opinion. 

I think that needs to be my new motto for this year. I have walked away from so many different things all of my life because of rejection. Rejection is a tricky little thing that will hold you prisoner if you allow it to, just like F.E.A.R.

So after submitting my photos again to the second place, I tried to wait patiently, so I went through more of my photos getting ready to submit some more. If this site accepted four of my first batch, than I have one foot in the door right? By the time I received the rejections and the acceptance of the new photos I submitted to this site, I had sent about three different batches in. I knew SOME of the photos had to be accepted because for goodness sake, we are talking like submitting forty four photos.

Well, this is what happened, out of the forty four photos, twenty have been accepted! Out of that twenty photos, some that were rejected from the first site were accepted into this site. So what about the twenty four rejected picture? I learned from them! When I read the reasons why they were rejected, I did a web search as an example, some of my pictures were rejected because of composition. So I did a web search looking for sites that talked about photography composition and learned a lot of things! Needless to say, I cannot wait to go out shooting again because of the new things I have learned.  I am having problems with the lighting still, as far as not really understanding what they are talking about. But I will research that and hopefully figure it out also.  

If you are really passionate about something, I feel you will do everything in your power to make it happen.  You have to be willing to learn from the rejections.  It does not matter if it has to do with artwork, photography or life in general.  It is so important to believe in you and your abilities.  

I am still not sure how to react to constructive criticism-I know that it is something each and every person experiences.  When it comes to photography, what I see through that lens may be something completely different to another person.  When I write poetry it is the same thing, writing, art and photography are all so personal to me.  But I do know that somehow the rejections of my photography has fluid a fire within to make me want to do better, to learn more and to do whatever I can do to improve it.

In closing, DO NOT EVER let rejection stop you from pursuing something you are very passionate about. Do what you can to improve your skills, and know that whatever your project is, you will always be able to do YOUR best.