Cover of Boy’s Life, November 2009 Issue – Image 2650

Boy’s Life assigned me to photograph a story on a boy scout troop from Ohio that traveled to Alaska to fish the Kenai River. My images ran for six pages inside and on the cover. Boy’s Life is the magazine for the Boy Scouts of America and has a circulation of over 1.2 million. Shooting a cover is tricky business. All covers are vertical, but I naturally see the world horizontally. Turning the camera vertical is awkward and unnatural. If photos were suppose to be vertical our eyes would have lined up on a vertical axis of our face instead of on the horizontal axis. Next, I like to fill my frame from edge to edge when I shoot. I cannot fill the frame when shooting a cover because the cover format of a magazine does not fit the standard 35mm capture size, and cuts off about 20 to 25 percent of the vertical length. Finally, I like to fill my interior frame with lots of stuff going on. Magazine covers need a lot of negative space so the editors can fill it with plenty of copy. I have done three assignments for Boy’s Life and have been fortunate enough to shoot two covers. Enjoy the image and thanks for visiting. Camera body: Nikon D700, Lens: Nikko 20-35M f/2.8 (polarized), Digital Capture, ISO 200-Mark Kelley