Being Published 4/14/16

When I look back on this past year, I can’t believe how many magazines have published my work. The thought of something I took and created was good enough to be put in a magazine is baffling at times. Honestly it’s true what they say, hard work and dedication to your craft eventually pays off. In this stage of my photography career I’m at the point where I have to submit my work to publications, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It took me a while to get comfortable sending my work out there. I used to be scared of what people would think. Would they like it? Was it any good? These thoughts always haunted mind, so I kept my work to myself. Now keeping my work to myself doesn’t do me any real good. Nobody gets to see it and I can’t learn from anyone’s feedback. So, I took baby steps and joined a few photography communities, until I felt comfortable with the idea of sending pictures to different publications. I believe the tough part of this process is rejection and I’m not a fan of it at all - who is? It hurts when you put everything you have into an image and you don’t receive a return email from a company. It still happens to me today but it doesn’t affect me as much. I used to feel real shitty about it and wondered if I’m wasting my time, what do I have to offer in photography. A few things helped me get out of those slumps - I watched motivational videos on YouTube; studied other photographers’ works to figure out how they created an image I wanted to attempt; lastly, my family was there supporting me through some of those hard times. If it weren’t for them I wouldn’t be where I am in photography and also mentally probably. There’s a quote from the movie “Balboa” I like to repeat in my head now and then, “You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” I believe this to be true in life and everything we pursue in life as well.

During my 365 project as my photography became stronger, I started to get more views and followers. So what did I do once that started happening? I started knocking on doors I could until one finally opened. A small online magazine wanted to publish my photograph “Transformation.” I couldn’t believe it, all that hard work that I had done so far cracked the door open for me. Taking photos everyday and building on my technique helped open more doors to several magazines for me.

The magazines that were publishing and or featuring my work were all online. For a long time I wondered what It would be like to see a photo of mine in a print magazine. Most publications these days publish work online and rarely on print. For a publication to publish a photo in print, that’s pretty serious. That means they actually took the time to decide which pictures are worthy of spending money on to send to production, print those images on paper to put them in a book that someone will be able to keep on their coffee table, book shelf, or just to keep as a collectors item. A couple of weeks ago I finally had the honor of being published in a print magazine. The first magazine to accept my work for print took three of my pictures and that is awesome. I would like to thank the CameraPixo team for allowing me to reach one of my goals. Thank you guys!

This post is not about how many magazines I’ve been in, it’s about the steps and dedication to my craft that have helped me to reach my goals. Everybody has a different way they accomplish their goals and dreams, I just wanted to share how I achieved one of mine. Oh yea if you’re curious to see the issue I’m in you can check it out for free on the camerpixo.com website. The issue is Hot shots 08: Being Published Matters volume 2 Good night and Good luck