Photography and Rejection

As a photographer, how do you deal with rejection?  I'm asking because for the eighth time I've been informed that my pictures are not what they're looking for for JPG magazine.  I really like JPG magazine and its philosophy so this is something of a stumbling block for me.  I vaguely know the people who started and run JPG magazine; they invited me to submit to the first ever issue - they didn't like those pictures either.  I thought I would get a credit in JPG before moving on to more competitive markets. That was a couple of years ago.  I told you, stuck!

Quite a few of photoblogging peers have been accept in JPG. In fact, I've never heard any of my fellow photobloggers ever admit to not being accepted but then rejection isn't something you brag about.  When my photoblogging buddies get accepted for publication in JPG (or anywhere for that matter) I do cheer for them but then there's this little bitter, self-centered voice whispering in my ear, asking me why I didn't get accept; why I am not good enough. Shouldn't you just throw in the towel and try something else, say, knitting?  How many times do you need to be rejected to feel really pathetic?

Each time I get that email titled "Your submission to JPG Issue X" I try to suppress a childish optimism that moments later is dashed as I file the email away in my Rejected folder.  Why do I even keep them? Why do I even have an email folder called "Rejected"?  Do I need to relive the rejection over and over?  I couldn't tell you; I never read them again - I just collect and count them.  Perhaps I could suggest to JPG staff that their email responses to submissions contain "Rejected" or "Accepted" right in the message title to lessen the emotional impact.  Or if that's too subtle, how about "Winner!" and "LOSER! - EOM".

So is rejection a wholly bad thing?  Well rejection does help you desensitize yourself to more rejection and I am getting better at handling it.  I can now work through my rejection-funk inside 30 minutes with the aid of a double latte whereas, before, it could take a couple of day's and a bottle of Scotch. Rejection does inform you what people don't want or like.  It's not like I've run out of pictures to submit - my hard drives are packed to the gills.  But rejection is such a binary concept.  You are either accepted of rejected.  On or off.  The form letter says that they liked your work but it just wasn't quite right for the theme of the publication. It's supposed to soften the blow but you know everyone else is reading the same thing (except those who got accepted of course), even the twelve year old who got his first camera two months earlier.  

Perhaps a rejection scale would be more useful for us to gage our next submission, or to gage if we should even try to submit again.  I was thinking that the rejection form letter could be altered to included the following multiple choice line:

Unfortunately we will not be accepting your submission for this issue of our magazine

• because it was so bad it made me hurl - I'm not kidding - I was eating a Danish when I saw your submission and I up-chucked in my mouth. 
  PS - Please, for the love of all that is holy, go out and smash your camera immediately.
  
  
• as it was just too generic and forgettable.  
  PS - What's your name again?  Like I care ...
  
  
• although you did make it through the first round of the selection process.  Unfortunately only one picture editor out of five liked it so you were in the trash can with the rest of the slush pile before the second round of selection.  
  PS - there are 9 selection rounds to go through to get published.
  
  
• but you were so close; it was between you and another guy - on the last day before press we tossed a coin and you lost - sorry dude.  Better luck next time.
  PS - we still hope you will subscribe to our magazine - our next issue is our biggest ever!

PS - if you'd like to contribute to my upcoming rejection for issue 9 I have a couple of photos you can vote on: