"I remember when an editor at the National Geographic promised to run about a dozen of my landscape pictures from a story on the John Muir trail as an essay, but when the group of editors got together, someone said that my pictures looked like postcards"

This quote by Galen Rowell speaks with the power of collective opinion and the problem of getting one's work published. Rowell was promised that his landscape pictures from a story on the John Muir trail would be published as an essay, however when the group of editors got together, somebody stated that his images looked like postcards. This suggests that the group of editors had a various viewpoint than the individual editor who at first promised to publish Rowell's work. This quote highlights the significance of collective opinion in the publishing process and the trouble of getting one's work published. It also speaks with the power of collective opinion and how it can shape the result of a task. Ultimately, this quote works as a pointer that even when one's work is promising, it can still be rejected if it does not satisfy the standards of the collective.