62 Nebraskaland • July 2022
THE LAST STOP
I thought this was a cover photo. I
was convinced of it.
I had captured the image in summer
2007, not yet a year on the staff at
Nebraskaland Magazine, and at that
time, I framed every cover photo I
had taken on my offi ce wall. Having
cut my teeth writing articles for
publications throughout the country,
I remained extremely proud, and a bit
surprised, any time a photo of mine
was published.
I also thought I had all the answers,
so when I was working on an American
bullfrog natural history story for the
August/September 2009 publication, I
knew what the cover photo should be.
So I took it to our longtime art
director, Tim Reigert, and expressed my
opinion. He nodded pleasantly enough
and then made a simple request: "Let
me see all the images you shot, not just
your picks."
In our world, we probably save one
out of 10 images. We repeatedly tell
each other, and are told by our bosses,
to "cull hard." But I always remember
this set of bullfrog photos from more
than 16 years ago, and if I had culled
too hard, Reigert wouldn't have had
the opportunity to see what he saw —
the possibility of this cover image.
The cover image remains one of my
favorite photographs ever, and one of
my fi rst and greatest lessons in this
industry — don't cull too hard.
By Jeff Kurrus
DON'T CULL TOO HARD
