In my day job I often do workshops on Impostor Syndrome, where you don’t think you are good enough, you’re a fraud, and you are going to be found out. I recently had something happen with my photography that I will be able to use as an example in future workshops, thought I’d share it as it might have happened to some of you as well.

So when I first started doing stock photos I had a relatively decent acceptance rate, maybe 75 %, with a number of photos getting denied because of quality issues – Out of focus, poor composition, etc.  And it took me FOREVER to get into iStockphoto, trying year after year until they finally let me in…. When I was catching up on those France photos recently I was submitting lots of photos at a time and I would invariably have sets of a dozen or more photos all get accepted. My first response?  “Wow, their standards must have gone down.”  Seriously, THAT was my response. Luckily I was familiar with Impostor Syndrome, so I could stop and tell myself “Wait!  Is there maybe another reason all your photos were accepted? Is there any chance you are actually a better photographer now?”  I had to laugh. Even knowing all about Impostor Syndrome to the point of doing workshops about it, I still fall for it…  Yes, I have to admit, I have worked hard at it, taken classes in person and online, many things that I would forget about now come naturally, I am indeed a better photographer now, thank you very much…

So lesson for all of us, yes, we always have more to learn and we must remain humble, but let’s take credit for the progress we are making to become better photographers every day and not be so hard on ourselves…

Best wishes on YOUR photography adventures,

Susan