-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
'Not a' wildlife photographer of the year? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter paul goode
- Start date
redeyedvideo
It's like water off a duck's back!
Interesting. Thanks for finding the link.
Yes, but that is mentioned in the article. It's clearly possible that the ear was damaged after the prize winning photo was taken.
The similarity in background between the prize winning shot and the captive enclosure is quite startling.
Personally it was never a shot that did a lot for me (captive animal or not) as the gate always gave it an odd "domestic" feel.
marie b
Well-known member
PaulD,
I really was careless this morning over breakfast, and in a hurry.. and thought I'd scrolled all the way down already, missing a large portion of the article. You're right about the "domestic" feel.
Whether the animal is exactly the same one or not, given the surroundings and location, it's highly likely it was a captive animal anyway.
Thanks for catching my miss!
Marie
Marcus Conway - ebirder
Well-known member
I hope that it all gets cleared up and sorted. I thought it was a wonderful shot.
Overread
Hunting birds with a canon
I did as well. I know that the use of remote photography methods is quite hotly debated by some, since some feel that its not real photography because a machin is pressing the shutter button. However I have always held the view that unless your rich enough to cover every inch of an area with cameras (which is pretty much limited to just the BBC or a random millionair
) then it still takes skill and effort to locate the camera in the right place and the trip to get a good shot. The backgrounds is the clearest part of the case I feel, whilst also if the wolf is a well photographed animal in the photography community chances are many might recognise the animal as well (I bet if someone tried to enter a shot of one of the foxes or otters from the BWC chances are they might be recognised).
However should it prove to be a genuin shot for the setup that was needed it should be possible for the photographer to show exactly where the shot was taken without any problems.
There is also another downside to this (though with respect we don't know all the details of how this possible fraud was reported) but as it is not directly mentioned in the article one has to wonder about the staff of the wofl centre as well. If it is indeed their animal in teh shot then they must have been party to at least the taking of the shot itself (for setting up the stones and the fence as well as the camera gear) and since the competition is a very publisised and high profile event it would be very odd for no member of the staff to have seen the photo. So it does bring to question their honesty as well - though so far only in as much as they are not mentioned in the article as coming forward.
This is my hope as well
paul goode
Well-known member
I hope that the image is genuine for all concerned. To go to the trouble of shooting with a
Hasselblad with a film back seems dedicated and totally at odds with the allegation of then 'altering' the truth of how the image was obtained.
Hasselblad with a film back seems dedicated and totally at odds with the allegation of then 'altering' the truth of how the image was obtained.
If it is a fraud, the photo will have been taken at least a couple of years ago, to allow for the ear damage to occur and heal.
I'd also have thought that using a film Hasselblad for remote photos (according to Paul) nowadays would be somewhat perverse, given the quality of modern kit and the delay in seeing whether you had any results that film would impose. A few years ago the choice would be less clear cut.
I'd also have thought that using a film Hasselblad for remote photos (according to Paul) nowadays would be somewhat perverse, given the quality of modern kit and the delay in seeing whether you had any results that film would impose. A few years ago the choice would be less clear cut.
Overread
Hunting birds with a canon
But if you want a large format (or medium I forget which the hassy is) shot the Hassy is one weapon to use - and the digital backs are far from cheap. Might be it was all that he had to hand. On the lfipside he also didn't have time to review - change settings and take another shot so I suspect the use of film or not didn't have much effect provided that he metered the scene well enough and set things so that flash would be the dominant light source (so that whilst the background lighting would change over time the subject based lighting would be more constant)
marie b
Well-known member
That was my thought also. Also cauliflower ear one seemed older, not just by months, and a good deal huskier -- maybe due to winter plumage :eek!: ( sorry for the birdy terminology).
Thanks to Paul for finding this interesting article.
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats...s/wpy/photo.do?category=56&group=4&photo=2554
This is the article explaining how the photo was taken.
My quiery is: will the wolf be visiting so regularly and jump over the fence all the time instead of going under? I am ignorant about wolf's life and would like to hear.
A shot not appealling to me anyway.
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats...s/wpy/photo.do?category=56&group=4&photo=2554
This is the article explaining how the photo was taken.
My quiery is: will the wolf be visiting so regularly and jump over the fence all the time instead of going under? I am ignorant about wolf's life and would like to hear.
A shot not appealling to me anyway.
Overread
Hunting birds with a canon
The wolf jumping the fence (which has dividers large enough for it to pass through without jumping) was raised in the article at the start of this thread:
"""One thing in the behaviour of the wolf makes Kojola very suspicious: "Why is the wolf jumping high over the fence? It's behaving like a trained animal. It's definitely not natural behaviour in this kind of situation where the animal obviously could sneak between the crossbars.""""
However feel that its important to understand that an animals reaction to its environment as we understand it is based on watching select groups of those animals and producing a general pattern and understanding for their behavour. Further constrains on time and resources (people as well as gear) as well as the effect of having observers in the field (disturbance) mean that we cannot simply study every indevidual of every species nor get a complete build up of them.
Thus there are always going to be localised differences in how a population act based on their environment. I am reminded of wolves swimming to hunt for waterfowl which was not an expected hunting method but was shown to be successfull by a pack. I forget where this pack was but it was shown (last year or this year I think) on the BBC in a documentary episode on that wolfpack (as well as other wildlife on the island that was the focus of the study).
Thus we come to our jumping wolf - it might be any number of reasons for this wolf to jump the fence rather than go through - it could be that locally electric fences (or barbed wire) are in use at low heights and thus all the wolves have learnt that jumping over is a better approach than to go through (where they are likley to get shocked); or it could be that this indevidual wolf once got trapped/stuck for a period of time when trying to get through a fence and thus adapted to jumping over. It might be that he just likes jumping to.
Those are a few possible answers and even with a lot of study of the wolf we might never actually know the reason for the animals actions.
Reading the article is appears the photographer used a baiting method in the pen (meat) to attract the wolf to the area. Using the method over what appears to be a longer period of time to get the wolf used to the precense of his camera gear and the firing of the flash. The jumping effect was most likley an unexpected bonus to the photographer and might simply be a feature limited to this indevidual wolf (and maybe even the area/pen in question).
"""One thing in the behaviour of the wolf makes Kojola very suspicious: "Why is the wolf jumping high over the fence? It's behaving like a trained animal. It's definitely not natural behaviour in this kind of situation where the animal obviously could sneak between the crossbars.""""
However feel that its important to understand that an animals reaction to its environment as we understand it is based on watching select groups of those animals and producing a general pattern and understanding for their behavour. Further constrains on time and resources (people as well as gear) as well as the effect of having observers in the field (disturbance) mean that we cannot simply study every indevidual of every species nor get a complete build up of them.
Thus there are always going to be localised differences in how a population act based on their environment. I am reminded of wolves swimming to hunt for waterfowl which was not an expected hunting method but was shown to be successfull by a pack. I forget where this pack was but it was shown (last year or this year I think) on the BBC in a documentary episode on that wolfpack (as well as other wildlife on the island that was the focus of the study).
Thus we come to our jumping wolf - it might be any number of reasons for this wolf to jump the fence rather than go through - it could be that locally electric fences (or barbed wire) are in use at low heights and thus all the wolves have learnt that jumping over is a better approach than to go through (where they are likley to get shocked); or it could be that this indevidual wolf once got trapped/stuck for a period of time when trying to get through a fence and thus adapted to jumping over. It might be that he just likes jumping to.
Those are a few possible answers and even with a lot of study of the wolf we might never actually know the reason for the animals actions.
Reading the article is appears the photographer used a baiting method in the pen (meat) to attract the wolf to the area. Using the method over what appears to be a longer period of time to get the wolf used to the precense of his camera gear and the firing of the flash. The jumping effect was most likley an unexpected bonus to the photographer and might simply be a feature limited to this indevidual wolf (and maybe even the area/pen in question).
Pete Mella
Getting there...
I always thought it was too good to be true... It's a shame if there was deception involved, as it's a great piece of art, even if it isn't a true wildlife shot.
