On Saturday I sent off a submission for the Hotshots pages of Practical Photography, which feature pictures sent in by the magazine’s readers. 3 days later, and this morning I received the dreaded rejection slip…

Now, I’m not too disheartend, as the Hotshots pages of this UK-based photography magazine feature less than 5 stunning images per month. With the power of hindsight, I was almost certainly aiming too high, but it was worth having a go. And I got more feedback than simply being rejected. The reason given was number 3 from the following list:

1. Poor camera technique. i.e. poorly exposed or out of focus
2. Technically good, but the pictorial content could be better
3. Good pictures but needs more impact
4. Great shot but sadly we can’t publish them all

So at least my 16 images of street entertainers were judged to be pretty good, and by my reckoning, number 3 is only two steps from actually being published!

I’m going to try again and submit the same photos to another UK magazine, Amateur Photography, which features the portfolios of several readers every week. I’ll let you know how I got on…