nature photography - The Art of the Prank

May 2, 2018December 15, 2023

Taxidermied Anteater Fools Photography Contest Judges

Well, it was alive at some point…

Wildlife photo competition disqualifies ‘stuffed anteater’ image
by Jonathan Amos
BBC Science Correspondent
27 April 2018

A winning entry in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition has been disqualified for featuring a taxidermy specimen.

The image, known as The Night Raider, shows an anteater moving towards a termite mound in a Brazilian reserve.

Mr Cabral said flashes and a long exposure were needed to capture the scene

London’s Natural History Museum, which runs the competition, says the use of stuffed animals breaches its rules.

The photographer, Marcio Cabral, denies he faked the scene and claims there is a witness who was with him on the day.

Other photographers and tourists were in the park at the same time and therefore “it would be very unlikely anyone wouldn’t see a stuffed animal being transported and placed carefully in this position”, he told BBC News.

But Roz Kidman Cox, the chair of judges for Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPY), was stern in her criticism.

“This disqualification should remind entrants that any transgression of the rules and spirit of the competition will eventually be found out,” she said.

The taxidermy specimen is held at a visitors’ centre at an entrance to the park

The Night Raider picture won the Animals In Their Environment category in the 2017 WPY awards. It was taken in Emas National Park. Continue reading “Taxidermied Anteater Fools Photography Contest Judges”

October 12, 2013December 15, 2023

Fake Nature Footage

From Joe King:

Nature scenes filmed in ‘controlled conditions’, BBC admits after cameraman says small animal footage was ‘faked’
by Liam O’Brien
Independent.co.uk
October 8, 2013

Doug Allen said the infamous Frozen Planet polar bear incident wasn’t the only specially-arranged shot on a BBC wildlife show

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Scenes involving small mammals on the BBC’s flagship nature programmes were faked, according to a cameraman who worked on Blue Planet, Planet Earth and Frozen Planet.

Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, Doug Allen claimed that filming animals “smaller than a baby rabbit” necessitates a specially set stage.

Following the claim, The BBC said animals were sometimes filmed in “controlled conditions” to accommodate the careful consideration of “animal welfare, health and safety, practical factors and the biological accuracy of the story”.

The corporation said such scenes were “recreated to be as close to the natural setting as possible”.

The biggest controversy surrounding faked footage came in 2011, when it emerged that Frozen Planet’s scenes of a polar bear and her newborn cubs were actually filmed in a zoo.

Sir David Attenborough defended the scenes at the time, saying that flagging up the fact that some parts of the programme were filmed in a controlled environment would “ruin” the atmosphere. Continue reading “Fake Nature Footage”

September 2, 2013December 15, 2023

Unnatural Nature

Pseudo-nature Photographers translated a Chinese article that analyzes the ethics of a certain form of macro nature photography, a large amount of which emanates from Indonesia. The original author is not known, however the content is riveting. Here’s a sampling of photos from the article.

frogsumbrellas

frogs1

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More photos here and here.