Storm Brewing

Well it looks like there is a big storm brewing over the Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Seems that there are questions over the legitimacy of the winning entry, a wolf jumping a gate in Spain. Andy Rouse commented on his Blog www.andyrouse.co.uk and the Finnish press have reported on it

Report

Wow, this will be interesting...

The newspaper link seems to have gone down, the mystery deepens! Anyway the newspaper showed numerous photos of the wolf and the site where the photo might have been taken. It doesn't look good for the photographer, a Spanish photographer, complaints had been made by other Spanish photographers anxious to expose any wrongdoing.
Here is the photo

So we have AW putting the moon where it doesn't belong and someone allegedly using a captive wolf jumping a fence and calling it wild. If I see a picture of a cow jumping over the moon, I'm gonna be really upset! I feel there is a limit to what anyone should do just to market an image or win a competition and it seems that some photographers just don't get the message. Just my 2 cents worth.

Interesting, though I have to admit, I don't think those 2 Wolves looks anything alike

Bill, thanks for this information. Interesting case. Nice image if made as stated.

Bill Brennan

Don't forget about the guy who stole Scott Bacon's images and entered them in OP's online contest. That was rich.

But I thought pretty much what John De Bord does, that there are a few superficial similarities between the wolves pictured, but my impression was that they were different animals. But jumping a fence instead of just scurrying through it? Yeah, right. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out.

I keep looking at the rock formations in the comparison photo and it sure looks different to me. In the artists photo, the rocks have a fair amount of lichen on them and don't appear to have been re-arranged. There are similarities but also some pretty significant differences in the wolf too, especially the right ear. I would hope that it's genuine because it is truly a great shot.

Very interesting when I first saw the photo awhile back I was wondering why the wolf was jumping the fence but stranger things have happened. The only way this will ever be proved not to be actual (not saying it isn't) will be if there was an accomplice who comes forth or a self confession.

I dunno, that tree in the bg sure looks identical, as do some of the stones. Looks pretty convincing to me.

Crazy... what a fine line between prestige and embarrassment! I hope the photo is legit.