Originally Posted by
Cliff Beittel
Arthur,
It makes sense that a Swift Fox would be too swift for the photographer. The composition, even if unintended, succeeds in expressing speed and wildness. The fox is so fast, wild, and uncontrolled it has outrun any attempt to force it into the position demanded by traditional composition. The usual placement would show the opposite, that the animal wasn't so fast that it couldn't be tracked and placed in the traditional position. Mangelsen's sales pitch for the photo picks up both on the speed of the fox and the threat it is fleeing: "The blazing fast and aptly named swift fox uses speed to cover the land it was evolved to thrive on: wide open prairies and rolling plains. It has not, however, been fast enough to outrun the threats of its lost grassland habitat . . ." Whether someone likes the composition or not is completely a matter of individual taste, but there is logic to it.