Prize-winning picture used rented wolf

[The Straight Story]

Prize-winning picture used rented wolf

LONDON, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- A London museum stripped its photographer of the year of his award Wednesday because judges now say he rented his subject from a wildlife park.

The picture by Spanish photographer Jose Luis Rodriguez was one of more than 43,000 submitted to the Natural History Museum's annual competition, The Guardian reported. It shows an Iberian wolf leaping a fence in an apparent effort to get to farm animals.

The museum removed the photograph from an exhibit of winners Wednesday, although it remains in books published by BBC wildlife. Rodriguez must return a 10,000-pound ($16,300) prize and cannot enter the competition again.

The judges were impressed by the photograph, with one calling it "a masterfully executed moment." But calls began coming in from other Spanish photographers saying they recognized the wolf, allegedly an animal named Ossian at the Canada Real wildlife park in Madrid.

Some experts also questioned the shot because a wild animal would be more likely to deal with a fence by wriggling between the bars than by jumping over it like a racehorse.

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/01/20/Prize-winning-picture-used-rented-wolf/UPI-73821264034485/

[mia]

1. Nice photo

I wonder if other prize winning photos have been "staged".

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Reminds me of the lemmings in the "True Life Adventure"

[The Wielding Truth]

3. Here is the picture and the photographer's story.

Cry wolf, no... Fly wolf
It’s amazing. You have to go and see The Storybook wolf image at the Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, open today at the Museum.

The Spanish photographer José Luis Rodríguez took several months to set up the shot of the Iberian wolf leaping through the air over a wooden gate in pursuit of its prey. ‘It was a dream shot,’ says Jose, ‘it took ages to find the ideal location, let alone a wolf that would jump a gate. When I got the shot of my dreams I couldn’t believe it. I think the Spanish can be proud to have such a beautiful animal.’


The fairytale, night-time atmosphere of the photograph was captured with a traditional analogue Hasselblad camera (Jose ditched his usual digital camera for the shot). He spent several months beforehand in preparation and hope, and set up an infrared camera trap as a trigger. Judging by the light, he thinks the image was probably taken at very early dawn. The image is one of a handful of the 95 winning photographs in the exhibition that were not taken with a digital camera.



At the packed press opening of the exhibition yesterday in the Museum’s Waterhouse Gallery, 100s of media photographers and journalists witnessed Jose’s joy at receiving the award. He spoke of his wish to dissolve the superstitions that many Spanish people have for their emblematic wolves with his photograph that shows the agile grace of the creature.