From stranger to cover star: The story of a spontaneous street portrait in SoHo that became The Sun Magazine's October 2025 cover, plus an inside look at how photo editors actually choose cover images.
Very interesting! I've always read the photo credits in the front of the magazine, so have seen your photos in there since I started following you here.
My wife had one in The Sun a few years ago. I submitted photos last year, but none were chosen. I was sure they'd love them! But I was in competition with thousands of people. And it never occurred to me that they stay away from photos with people. Over half of my submissions had them, and only one was suitable for a cover. Except that one had too much detail on the top where the title would go, so I knew it wouldn't be chosen for a cover.
Very cool, the journey you and your subject have been on! Congrats! And the interview was an interesting dive into the bts of an editor making choices and their reasoning.
"We gravitate toward street photography that is spontaneous, that might reveal a surprising juxtaposition. There are limited places we can use recognizable faces in the magazine — the cover being one of them — since we are pairing images with personal essays, interviews, poetry, and fiction. "- a leeson for all of us publishing on substack- really useful read this week
Loved reading this! It’s so cool to see how a spontaneous street portrait can turn into something as big as a magazine cover. Congratulations! Rachel’s insights into how The Sun picks its covers were super interesting too, I had no idea how much thought goes into balancing emotion, theme, and timing. Will definitely upload ‘my cover’.
Very interesting! I've always read the photo credits in the front of the magazine, so have seen your photos in there since I started following you here.
My wife had one in The Sun a few years ago. I submitted photos last year, but none were chosen. I was sure they'd love them! But I was in competition with thousands of people. And it never occurred to me that they stay away from photos with people. Over half of my submissions had them, and only one was suitable for a cover. Except that one had too much detail on the top where the title would go, so I knew it wouldn't be chosen for a cover.
Ah that's so cool your wife had one, you're next hopefully!
Congrats on the cover, Wes! Awesome
thank you!
Very cool, the journey you and your subject have been on! Congrats! And the interview was an interesting dive into the bts of an editor making choices and their reasoning.
Thank you :) Glad you enjoyed!
Very interesting to know that the cover can be used for a specific purpose rather than just plain old marketing. Thanks for publishing this.
You're very welcome!
Informative read and wow what a great opportunity! BTW also using Excire and it does make image searches faster than ever. 👍🏼👍🏼
Love hearing all of that! Thanks Paul :)
"We gravitate toward street photography that is spontaneous, that might reveal a surprising juxtaposition. There are limited places we can use recognizable faces in the magazine — the cover being one of them — since we are pairing images with personal essays, interviews, poetry, and fiction. "- a leeson for all of us publishing on substack- really useful read this week
Glad to hear it Ellen!
Loved reading this! It’s so cool to see how a spontaneous street portrait can turn into something as big as a magazine cover. Congratulations! Rachel’s insights into how The Sun picks its covers were super interesting too, I had no idea how much thought goes into balancing emotion, theme, and timing. Will definitely upload ‘my cover’.
Excited to see yours! Thanks for the kind words!