Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009

Hi Scott. Appreciate your thoughts too. (guess I'm only voicing what many feel or are thinking, but not inclined or feel the need to say up front. no probs' there). Surely too, we can't expect the judges to spot every possible issue, not from 43000 entries when there is also a "round" process in filtering images. However, an Iberian Wolf? (sort of stands out from the crowd quite a bit). But, I do think this could have been avoided and irrespective of what the evidence finally shows or as I suspect, the face saving operation "comes up with", an awful lot of unnecessary damage has been done.

Hello you all, My name is Thomas Haney and i won the One Earth Award category this year. I just want to agree with everyone about the Eric Hosking Award, that it's a shame it hasn't been awarded. I understand the need to maintain a high standard, but there are precious few launching pads for young photographers out there and i hate to see one go unused. Next year is my last year of eligibility for it, and i want to at least SEE someone win it. This year Floris Van Bruegel had three different images place in the competition that were drawn from his Eric Hosking portfolio, so maybe they want a portfolio of ten images that would ALL place in the competition, which seems a little unrealistic to me. Anyhow, let's give it our best shot next year. Oh, and winning one of the categories hasn't really done anything for me in terms of contacts or opportunities, at least not yet. I really think the Eric Hosking is something special for us young people.
Thomas

www.thaney.com

Its just a shame that this debacle about the winning image has already dragged along for several weeks. The competition organisers will apparently make a statement in the 'New Year'. Sooner rather than later please.

I would have thought a quick phone call to the animal park outside Madrid would solve the puzzle pretty quickly. 'Did you let a photography set up and photograph your wolf or not ?' That and, as someone has already suggested, ask the photographer to name the farmer and go visit him.

This really needs to be resolved as soon as possible - after all they will shortly be asking for 2010 WPOTY entries.

Hi Phil. Good to see you here. Here's me being a bit cynical, but I'm expecting a fudge job. As you said, it would appear pretty straightforward in getting to the bottom of the matter, if they really want to; but I suspect the delay is coming from the 'organizers" need to save face and as mentioned, I expect a "fudge job" from them. (They are after all, 200% responsible for this debacle. Most wildlife photographers spend huge amounts of their time on biology and I am frankly amazed that either not one of the judges flagged up a "jumping wolf" behavior issue or that as per my earlier posts, there is an over riding policy). So can they really come out and say if proven, they will re-award a new Grand Winner and reprint the books or are we going to get a bland statement that arrives at "no conclusive 100% evidence that this is a captive wolf"? One day I'd like a surprise in some basic honesty.

Just happened to be browsing the 2010 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year website's contest rules and am wondering if any portion of Rule 8 is any different from past years?

Rule 8.
Subjects and Ethics.
Only pictures of wild animals and plants and landscapes are eligible subjects. Images of domestic animals (cats, dogs, farm animals, etc) and cultivated plants (species or hybrids grown in a cultivated setting) do not count as wildlife. Pictures of captive animals (animals that do not live a free and wild existence) or involving baiting using live bait are not eligible, and any other baiting must be declared. Pictures of animal models or any other animals being exploited for profit may not be entered. Images of animals being restrained in any way are only accepted in the One Earth and Wildlife Photojournalism categories when illustrating an issue. The competition asks photographers to put the welfare of animals first and to safeguard their environment and that they do not do anything to injure or distress animals or destroy the environment in their attempt to get the shot. If the Owners or the Judges suspect that a picture was taken using cruel or unethical practices, the entry will be disqualified.

OntPhoto wrote:. . . wondering if any portion of Rule 8 is any different from past years?

It is. As the e-mailed announcement of the 2010 contest says, "A few other things have changed . . . we no longer allow captive animals, for example." In the past, there was a preference for wild animals, but captive animals needed to be declared as such. Haven't checked, but I believe the prohibition of live bait is new too.

They are releasing the conclusion of the wolf-thing in near future... couple of days from now or so...

I think Cliff is right about live bait but I don't remember ever reading anything about bating in older rules. This could be there escape from last year "we didn't specify anything about bating in the past but will in the future" just a guess.

I'm quite certain live baiting wasn't allowed last year, and was a reason why I didn't enter a few Snowy Owl images in my portfolio to the magically disappearing Eric Hosking award...

Cliff Beittel wrote:

OntPhoto wrote:. . . wondering if any portion of Rule 8 is any different from past years?

It is. As the e-mailed announcement of the 2010 contest says, "A few other things have changed . . . we no longer allow captive animals, for example." In the past, there was a preference for wild animals, but captive animals needed to be declared as such. Haven't checked, but I believe the prohibition of live bait is new too.

Thanks. I have never entered the contest but did see the email in my inbox a day or two ago (I must have signed up for a newsletter awhile back).

fr0z wrote:They are releasing the conclusion of the wolf-thing in near future... couple of days from now or so...

Hey, that's pretty good. I think you were right on with the announcement date. I'm not going to ask how you knew

A related article written by Andy Rouse.

"This year's winner of the Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, Jose Luis Rodriguez, stands accused of being a fraud, taking an image in captivity and then reporting it to be wild. He denies the accusation."

Full article here:
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/ne ... 94027.html

Apparently the photographer has also received a lifetime ban from entering the contest.
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/ne ... 94056.html

An interview with Mark Cawardine, the head judge for the contest. Provides some insight into the controversy.
http://www.photoradar.com/news/story/wi ... ls-allowed

OntPhoto wrote:Just happened to be browsing the 2010 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year website's contest rules and am wondering if any portion of Rule 8 is any different from past years?

Rule 8.
Subjects and Ethics.
Only pictures of wild animals and plants and landscapes are eligible subjects. Images of domestic animals (cats, dogs, farm animals, etc) and cultivated plants (species or hybrids grown in a cultivated setting) do not count as wildlife. Pictures of captive animals (animals that do not live a free and wild existence) or involving baiting using live bait are not eligible, and any other baiting must be declared. Pictures of animal models or any other animals being exploited for profit may not be entered. Images of animals being restrained in any way are only accepted in the One Earth and Wildlife Photojournalism categories when illustrating an issue. The competition asks photographers to put the welfare of animals first and to safeguard their environment and that they do not do anything to injure or distress animals or destroy the environment in their attempt to get the shot. If the Owners or the Judges suspect that a picture was taken using cruel or unethical practices, the entry will be disqualified.

For this rule if I set up a post in a field and placed some raw meat onto it and waited for birds of prey to get interested in it (tried it in the past and seemed to work and got some new ideas now ) would this form of baiting be allowed?

MattBlitz wrote: For this rule if I set up a post in a field and placed some raw meat onto it and waited for birds of prey to get interested in it (tried it in the past and seemed to work and got some new ideas now ) would this form of baiting be allowed?

Seems clear to me. Your bait is dead. You would have to declare it to be within the new rule:

OntPhoto wrote: baiting using live bait are not eligible, and any other baiting must be declared.

Just wanted to check Thanks

Another article on the disqualification and lifetime ban.

The winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award has been disqualified after judges ruled that the featured wolf was probably a "model".
The 2009 winning image, dubbed the storybook wolf, was taken by photographer Jose Luis Rodriguez.
Mr Rodriguez strongly denied that the wolf was a trained animal, according to a statement from the organisers.
His photograph was chosen out of more than 43,000 competition entries in October 2009.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8470962.stm

Hey Folks

Don't be too hard on the judges - such things can be hard to figure, I'm sure. Now, if he'd submitted the 2nd photo on THIS page, questions should've been asked:

Scroll to the 2nd version.

Cheers

Carl

walkinman wrote:. . . Now, if he'd submitted the 2nd photo on THIS page, questions should've been asked . . .

Carl,

Great find, and something we can both agree on. But I bet that triple-wolf and moon image on a T-shirt or framed on black velvet would be a big seller.