So today, I had a bit of a humbling experience. I recently applied to become a submitter for a high quality Stock Photo website. Part of their submission process is that I need to submit 10 photos, 7 of which must be accepted. They can reject for almost any reason, but they explain very briefly why a given photo is rejected. I was expecting to have a few rejected. And, to be honest, I was expecting that I wouldn’t get accepted this time around.

None of my photos were accepted.

I never considered myself an excellent photographer. I’m learning as much as anyone else. I never had very mcuh formal training, and rarely do I receive any formal critique. Why they didn’t spend much time criticizing my photos, I got enough to know what I need to work on. I know that I have to work on focusing at the appropriate area (Depth of Field probably has a major impact on this). I also know that I have to work with color correction and keeping my photos free of artifacts (dust, etc). I also, apparently, need to avoid over-sharpening my images and properly exposing my shots.

Now considering the amount of time I’ve spent developing my craft, this is somewhat disheartening to find that I have so much to improve upon. Having 10 out of 10 photos rejected, I could very easily be bitter about all this. It would be very easy for me to criticize their review process. I could say they didn’t spend enough time evaluating my photos, I could blame it all on my equipment, and so on. But I would be hurting myself and my own work if I weren’t at least honest with myself.

Lets face the facts. As I mentioned, I have very little formal training and very few formal critiques. So it’s safe to assume that improvement is necessary on my part. I also need to accept that this company has a very lucrative business based on the quality of their submissions – they’ve got this process down to a science. They know what they want, and they know what is considered quality vs. what isn’t. I cannot even pretend to believe they don’t know what they’re doing.

That said, I have a few things I can work on improving, and I will. I owe it to myself to heed those comments and see what I can do to improve. I have another month before I can submit again. I’m thinking it will take a few more months for me to improve the way I need to. So the mature version of me will be spending a lot of time improving my works.

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