Do you actively pursue getting featured in publications?

My efforts at publication have followed somewhat of a bell curve. In the very beginning I dreamed of publication, but of course my images were crap and I knew it. But as I started to improve I saw publication as a way of validating what I was doing with a camera. It seemed to me to be the way to show I could hack it. So I began to actively pursue publication by submitting to contests. I was fortunate enough to win a few magazine contests, and that led being published here and there.

And as good as publication feels (it is really cool to see your name and photos in print!), as I came into my own as a photographer my need for that validation waned. I began to shoot more and more for myself, to fulfill my creative vision, and as a consequence I stopped aiming for those publications.