Photo Diary 2010 | Day 65

Holland Park, W11 | West London
A walk in the park.

The Wildlife Photographer-gate

Scandal shook the world of wildlife photography (!). Jose Luis Rodriguez formerly known as The Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009 was stripped of his title for (apparently) staging the image that won him the prize. They say the wolf was posing for this picture, basically.
BBC NEWS:The winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award has been disqualified after judges ruled that the featured wolf was probably a "model".

Judges had gathered evidence and sought the opinions of wolf experts in order to reach their decision. The experts compared the winning picture to pictures of Ossian, a tame wolf that lives at a zoological park near Madrid called Canada Real.

"You can see several very distinctive markings and the experts all agreed that, yes, it's the same wolf," said Mr Carwardine.

"We disqualified [Mr Rodriguez] and banned him for life from entering the competition again, so I think that sends a strong message."

Mr Carwardine added that Mr Rodruiguez had, throughout the investigation, denied "hiring" Ossian for the photograph. The disqualified photographer maintains that his subject was a wild wolf.

Jose must feel like crap. I imagine, never in a million years did he think the judges would be able to single out the one wolf he used in the image. Harsh luck mate!

It goes without saying that the photograph is amazing, but does this revelation make it less beautiful? Hmm...

- Domesticated Ape