"A memory is what's left when something happens and does not completely unhappen."[1]
Editorial photographs are the proxy of the memory you would have formed if present at the moment the image was taken. They are graphical storytellers, expounding the human element in a whirlwind of events and hinting at the various perspectives and possibilities that refract.
In a brook is a story of people that crossed it. Under a rock is a story of the person that threw it. Up in a tree are stories of people that will climb it. Stories are everywhere and we try to grab them as they pass us.
The notion of now is like a bar of soap, when grasped it immediately slips away. Oh well, at least you can have a photo of the soap.
[1] Edward de Bono