photographer stripped of award
- This topic has 15 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated Jan 22, 2010 at 2:50 am by
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I’m not a photographer but find myself constantly admiring the work of others, especially some of the folks on this board.
I happened across this story of a photographer that was stripped of his wildlife photographer of the year award for using a ‘model wolf’Obviously if the guy used a model he clearly broke the rules, according to the story. I’m just wondering how you determine whether or not this is a model. Seems like they would have investigated that very closely before giving the award. I don’t know anything about this competition but I thought this was pretty interesting and wondered if anyone else had seen it or was following it.
I wonder, just wonder, if the judges looked at that image and said to themselves, “gee, dude was really lucky to be standing there in the dark with his tool set on high iso next an off camera soft box powered up, synced, and ready to go’ right by that classic & picturesque gate when big bad wolf decided to jump over, cool-e-ooo! first place fer sure..” ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Thanks for posting that Michael. Judges liked it’s ‘fairytale quality’. Well, they got that right! 😀
Good stuff.
That’s an interesting read, thanks for posting Michael. Â I am not sure there is a definitive way of identifying this wolf as a trained/captive animal from the photo alone. Â There may have been some kind of additional evidence, like a payment made to an animal handler or something along those lines.
I have seen a few images of this type before made with photo traps. Â Lighting, camera, and a motion trigger are placed at spots animals frequent, and the trap is left unmanned. Â National Geographic did a feature where photographer Steve Winter made some exceptional captures of wild snow leopards using this technique.
Viewing sequentially numbered RAW files (100 before/100 after) this image would probably tell the tale. Â If there were 10 or 15 jump sequences in there, it would be clear a trained wolf was used. Â Perhaps the photographer was unable to vindicate himself in this way.
Incidentally, Steve Winter won the Photographer of the Year Award in 2008 for an image captured in this way of a snow leopard at night.
If you want to get a sense of what was involved in making this happen, take a look at this link:
">http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/06/snow-leopards/snow-leopard-video-interactive
10 months and 30,000 shots later…
The photo was made possible through the use of a photo trap. In the last few years they are becomingly increasingly popular for making the impossible…possible. The most obvious being nocturnal animals like bats etc.
Basically you pick your spot (usually over some bait), set your gear up and leave. Your camera is triggered when your subject trips an infra red beam. Other people use them for shots that happen way to fast for human reflexes…screaming fast birds in flight etc.
Thats not the problem here, photo traps are ok, it’s that he used a “model”..aka captive animal. Its a staged shot. First time I saw it I had my doubts to it’s legitmacy. While recognising that he used a phototrap (have you ever tried to focus on something in the dead of night? let alone a leaping wolf) 🙂 was easy.
The next obvious question anyone whose spent alot of time trying to get certain species you have to ask yourself is.
How did he know where to set the trap? First thought is he “baited” the wolf in…Some people have problems with that…As long as its legal in the region I dont.
But would a wolf repeatedly take the same path? Im not a wolf expert by any means but using Coyotes which Ive spent hours chasing I give the likely hood of that …about 1 in 360. And would a wolf jump over a gate like that or go around it.
The problem is while many people might voices these and other questions ito themselves no-one wants to voice them outloud, incase your wrong.
If anyone ever questioned any of my shots …wild vs captive, baited vs not,
Yeah, here’s the original article I read:
“Watching the animals as they returned to the same spot to collect food each night, Mr Rodriguez decided on his dream shot.
He eventually captured it using a photographic trap…”
Apparently he was outed by some other Spanish photographers that recognised the Wolf as a resident of a local zoo and his undoing really came about when said photographers showed the judges a fense/gate and gnarly tree that look remarkably the same
in the zoo 🙂
Its one to question how people get photos..I do it alot, not so much in a negative way…but sometimes I see something and I go WOW was that baited? staged…etc..dont care Im curious but Id never ask or call someone out (if they claim its the real deal) because no matter what it could be the real deal.
Who would ever want to be wrong for calling someone out?
Okay, I stand corrected. That shot could have been pulled off with a wild animal & said trigger like those guys and the snow leopard. Those dudes deserves some cred.
But with the remote doohicky, and especially the obvious flash (which isn’t mentioned in the exposure info, as it should) it just doesn’t have that Frans Lanting
I too questioned the legitimacy of the shot when the award was announced last month, even more so after reading and seeing some of the evidence calling it into question.
And the real shame is.
It’s a freeking awesome photo, that took skill, preparation and most importantly *vision*. You still have to see the shot in your mind first, then put the peices of the puzzle together to get it. It’smore than capable of winning many awards and acclaim.
Just not suitable for a “nature” contest and now instead he’s kneecapped himself and probably done alot of damage
Interesting stuff. Â I love the shot regardless. Â To bad he was not honest about it.
Have you guys seen Andrew Zuckermans BIRD stuff?
DB
I have worked with a phototrap/flash/positioned camera  a fair bit lately. While I am a fan of Fran Lanting ( though even he does a lot of pre planning and tech)and the whole slogging it out approach , it takes a ton of research / planning and pre visualization to figure out how/when and where to setup a trap/flash/staionary cam. In truth it is probably more work and research if you are working towards illustrating a defined narrative than the take what you can find and make something out of it approach, which I have also taken on many occasions.
Will
Will,
I hear what you’re saying and I’m not arguing the merits of trapping & triggering vs stalking & slogging. Hell, I’m a commercial/corporate guy so ‘au natural’ doesn’t usually cut it in my biddness anyway. In fact we used the exact same triggers etc to catch high speed images of arrows going through apples for clients like Hoyt and Easton Alum.
Db
To be honest I gave up on assuming any photograph was somehow natural a long time ago. I think the whole concept that somehow photography was anything other than simply a different way of  representing a chosen point of view or subject matter through the mediation of technology is a throwback to the times when photography was trying to differentiate itself from painting/drawing etc . “photography is more real” ” photography is an accurate depiction of reality” etc etc
I think the whole issue of transparency when it comes to the image producer is a more important point.
Why people are annoyed/dissapointed etc is that they would like to believe that previously mentioned photographic “truth” and have been let down. I guess we still hang on to that “depiction of reality” thing for some reason.
Tons of examples of that … not sure what the outcome of the following actually were but.. Â
http://seabed.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/forum.tmpl?issue_id=20040701&forum_index=3&start=50
and famously
http://www.naturephoto.hu/home/index_eng.html
I’m puzzled why any photographer would see any photograph as anything other than “fake” versions of reality and like others puzzled why a photographer would want to perpetuate the myth that photography at its core is anything other than a skilled or unskilled fabrication. Not suggesting that you dont share my puzzlement but I do find the need for folks to hang on to that myth hard to sort out.
Will
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