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March 2004
 
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Picture editor Bert Fox explains why two flowing bodies of water are sometimes better than a single frozen one.
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Cut It?
"Although this image has character and complexity, the one we chose for the magazine of the Iskut River flowing into the Stikine shows the same area of glacial mountains," says picture editor Bert Fox. "They both reveal the same geography, but the chosen picture of the confluence of the two rivers is more expansive and cinematic."
Or Keep It?
"This photo has good composition with a leading curve line," Fox continues. "It's not just abstract; it has a relevance to the geography. We tried to show the varying topography of the Stikine River basin, and this image speaks to the glacial cuts in the deep valleys of the lower river."
—Scott Elder
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Photograph by Sarah Leen
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STIKINE RIVER
Glacial Movement
The dark moraine running down the middle of the rippled Shakes Glacier "leads your eye in a curve, like the center line of a highway," says picture editor Bert Fox. "It makes you want to spend time with the image."
But Fox had to move the reader along the entire 400-mile length of the Stikine River, from the plateaus and canyons of its upper reaches to the glacial mountains and wetlands of the lower Stikine—and he had to convey a sense of the people and history that make the river a story unwinding through northwestern Canada.
Despite the rich texture of the photograph and the fact that it was, says Fox, "the strongest image showing glacial flow," the editors eventually decided on a different shot of glacial geography—the one on pages 104-105. "In the end this one didn't make it into the layout," Fox says, "because it didn't show the Stikine."
—Whitney Dangerfield
Check out Stikine River, the feature story for which this photo was originally taken.
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Zoom In on more images by Sarah Leen. |
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