Rejection Mania!!!

Ever get that proverbial "up against a wall" kinda feeling?
Photo: © Stan Banos

Well... been a coupla weeks or so since I last wrote on goals aspired. I've since managed to get kicked, punched and kneed in the groin not once, not twice, not thrice- but a decisive four times over! I think that qualifies as an official whupping. Four (4) more rejections in rapid order, gnashing remaining hopes and dreams asunder upon the jagged rocks of fate. 

So why do I continue to chronicle this sinking ship of photographic doom, or better yet, why do I continue to put myself out there in the non-enviable position of repeated rejection? Well, I do get asked that, and no one has yet delivered a more viable (or affordable) option- other than to quit trying, period.

Photo festivals and reviews are for trust fund babies, galleries are for... artistes, grants are mainly for serious photographers and documentarians with an already strong track record of serious minded projects and concerns (god bless 'em). That doesn't leave a long string of viable options or venues, hell, even so called "street photography" competitions cater basically to one now dominant form of that genre- the one with oddly juxtaposed bits and pieces of subject matter suddenly coalescing for that one decisive moment, preferably under hugely contrasting lighting scenarios. Mind you, have nothing against those photos, love those kind of photos- they're simply not the be all and end all; and what's with all the Alex Webb impersonators out there, seriously! But I digress...

Once again I feel the call of that salving, seductive balm, the photographic equivalent of an onanistic, opioid derivative- time to Blurb and feel like actually accomplishing something by going through all the motions of making a book no one will ever see! Hell, at least they used to have an annual competition where people could at least get their books out there into some measure of the public eye, but even that hasn't occurred in years!

Well, I think there's one, maybe two possibilities left to hear from- told ya I went all out! Meanwhile... there is one brand spanking "new" and remaining photographic frontier I've yet to explore (and was really trying to avoid), but we all must eventually stare reality square in the face- and in this case, I guess it's spelled I-N-S-T-A-G-R-A-M... next year's "goal" to inevitable superstardom (ie- last stop on the bucket list)!!!