Thirty years ago (hard to believe), I spent a summer performing stream research at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL), which is within the DOE's Savannah River Plant (SRP; nuclear reservation) in South Carolina, sort of across the river from Augusta, GA. The previous summer, Marlin Perkins and the Mutual of Omaha gang had been there to tape a piece on the work of SREL. There are several stories that the staff there told me about the visit.
1. There's a wide variety of ecological research that's performed at SREL, but Wild Kingdom basically focused on the charismatic (and, not so charismatic) megafauna. Botanists, for example, didn't really have a whole lot of camera time, if any.
2. There's a scene in the show that shows the lab director walking through a scrub pine forest with Marlin Perkins. "Out of nowhere," in the middle of the day (good lighting!) a bobcat comes running through the forest and then shinnies up a tree. When the lab director was asked if that really happened, his response was "Yes, right after we let it out of its cage."
3. And, here's my least favorite anecdote. There's a cooling pond at the SRP for one or more of the reactors that was (is?) inhabited by alligators. These alligators had radio-tracking collars attached to them, sort of as buoys, so that they could be tracked, etc. I believe that there were about ten alligators there at the time. Wild Kingdom thought that it would be interesting to show these alligators, so they attempted to catch one to show on TV. In the process of attempting to catch one, they killed (drowned) three alligators. In the end, I believe that they were able to use some type of alligator footage to "show" an alligator, maybe one resting on shore, and then they attached this radio-collar buoy to a human swimmer, who then slithered underwater through the weeds in the shallows, so that the cameras could get shots of the buoy moving through water/weeds. Viewers were never told that the buoy that they saw on the show wasn't actually attached to an alligator, even though that's what was clearly implied.
I loved Wild Kingdom when I was a kid - watching it at my grandparents' home on Sunday evenings was one of our favorite pastimes in the 60's. But, after hearing these stories from the SREL staff, that's when I learned a lesson about media. (I also learned a GREAT lesson about racism that summer, but that's another story for another time...)
I've seen this article before, and his points are excellent. It's fine that NANPA and others no longer accept advertising from game farms, but what about the photographers who lead photo workshops to these farms and similar venues.
Along the same lines, an acquaintance of mine, known for his "wild" horse photos, recently confessed to me that many of his images were not wild at all. Sigh....
Posted by Todd Caudle on April 16, 2010 at 3:23 PM
Kudos to NANPA for a positive first step. Let's hope the dissemination of articles like this will be the start of a movement to discourage photographers from using these game farms. Then they can wither on the vine, like they should.
Posted by Dan Walters on April 16, 2010 at 7:56 PM
Wow, great article. I always know a lot of these shots, especially bob cats, lynx, mtn lions and their young, taken in perfect light with clean backgrounds had to be captive. It it sad that a lot of these professional photographers make most of their living by shooting these captive animals, and people like me who get out every weekend and nights after work to look for subjects to shoot. Still, I would rather do it the way I am doing it!
I would like to make the following comments in defensive of those wildlife photographers including myself who do capture difficult to find wildlife in their natural environments. Game farms have been around since the 1940's and many of your wildlife photographers and movie producers used them. When I first started out shooting wildlife I attended a session with a well known photographer at a ranch that had several trained species. I have used some of the images I took but have always disclosed the fact that they were captive. This type of shooting was not for me and I stopped using this resource.
However not all great wildlife shots are filmed in captivity.. I have images of wolves, bobcats, bears etc that were taken in the wild and am proud of them. I was brought up on the Canadian border and spent most of my time as a youth in the outdoors. The skills I learned enabled me to get up close and personal to many of these animals. I've had otters swimming around me and diving through my waders. Beaver hitting my boots with branches as I've stood out in ponds etc. I've had Bobcats coming within ten feet of my gear, Wolves watching me within spiitting distance, Swans introducing their young along the banks of the river. Moose calves wanting to play etc etc etc. The list of experiences go on and on. So everytime you see a "great" wildlife image don't assume they were taken in captivity as there are many great photographers out there working hard to capture wildlife in its natural environment.
Posted by Chuck Peacock on April 17, 2010 at 12:18 PM
No, you can't assume that all great wildlife shots are captive animals...but it would be a good bet.
Dan wrote:
"Still, I would rather do it the way I am doing it"
Boy I hear that. I really dislike shooting at a zoo or other captive animals. I guess if you're putting food on the table with wildlife photography I could see the attraction. But in that case I'm really glad I'm not a professional wildlife photographer. Not my cup o tea.
Posted by Arthur Lund on April 17, 2010 at 8:40 PM
We castigate these photographers for using "fake" wild animals, but on the other hand we
can hardly wait to use "content aware" Photohsop CS5 to fake our own pictures.
Posted by John De Bord on April 18, 2010 at 9:42 AM
This is just disgusting, honestly.
"Minnesota Wildlife Connection sold its black bear, Cubby, for $4,650 to country music crooner Troy Gentry, who then illegally "hunted" and killed him in his pen"
This is honestly an eye opening article for many, myself included. Sure, I know about game farms and such, but to think that a company like Disney would allow this? I am not only disgusted but downright sick to my stomach to hear this.
John
Posted by Kurt Bowman on April 19, 2010 at 10:40 AM
Paul,
Thanks for posting this. I wish I wouldn't have missed it the first pass through. I am fine with people taking photos of captive animals as long as that is there cup of tea and as long as they disclose them as "captive animals". However, I still prefer to photograph wild animals personally. There is something special about finding them and watching them in there natural habitat. About taking that moment and displaying it for someone else to experiecne that wasn't there to witness it. About making them want to go out and experience it. I just love the outdoors and wildlife and it just doesn't seem right to "phonie" it up.
With that said, I still have an issue with how many of these animals are inhumanely treated at these animal farms and how the shoot comes before the animals well being. I think until that can change, they should shut down these places. They make me sick.
Discussion
10 repliesI have heard that many of the great wildlife shots were captive animals. It is a shame!
Thirty years ago (hard to believe), I spent a summer performing stream research at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL), which is within the DOE's Savannah River Plant (SRP; nuclear reservation) in South Carolina, sort of across the river from Augusta, GA. The previous summer, Marlin Perkins and the Mutual of Omaha gang had been there to tape a piece on the work of SREL. There are several stories that the staff there told me about the visit.
1. There's a wide variety of ecological research that's performed at SREL, but Wild Kingdom basically focused on the charismatic (and, not so charismatic) megafauna. Botanists, for example, didn't really have a whole lot of camera time, if any.
2. There's a scene in the show that shows the lab director walking through a scrub pine forest with Marlin Perkins. "Out of nowhere," in the middle of the day (good lighting!) a bobcat comes running through the forest and then shinnies up a tree. When the lab director was asked if that really happened, his response was "Yes, right after we let it out of its cage."
3. And, here's my least favorite anecdote. There's a cooling pond at the SRP for one or more of the reactors that was (is?) inhabited by alligators. These alligators had radio-tracking collars attached to them, sort of as buoys, so that they could be tracked, etc. I believe that there were about ten alligators there at the time. Wild Kingdom thought that it would be interesting to show these alligators, so they attempted to catch one to show on TV. In the process of attempting to catch one, they killed (drowned) three alligators. In the end, I believe that they were able to use some type of alligator footage to "show" an alligator, maybe one resting on shore, and then they attached this radio-collar buoy to a human swimmer, who then slithered underwater through the weeds in the shallows, so that the cameras could get shots of the buoy moving through water/weeds. Viewers were never told that the buoy that they saw on the show wasn't actually attached to an alligator, even though that's what was clearly implied.
I loved Wild Kingdom when I was a kid - watching it at my grandparents' home on Sunday evenings was one of our favorite pastimes in the 60's. But, after hearing these stories from the SREL staff, that's when I learned a lesson about media. (I also learned a GREAT lesson about racism that summer, but that's another story for another time...)
Tim!
Along the same lines, an acquaintance of mine, known for his "wild" horse photos, recently confessed to me that many of his images were not wild at all. Sigh....
However not all great wildlife shots are filmed in captivity.. I have images of wolves, bobcats, bears etc that were taken in the wild and am proud of them. I was brought up on the Canadian border and spent most of my time as a youth in the outdoors. The skills I learned enabled me to get up close and personal to many of these animals. I've had otters swimming around me and diving through my waders. Beaver hitting my boots with branches as I've stood out in ponds etc. I've had Bobcats coming within ten feet of my gear, Wolves watching me within spiitting distance, Swans introducing their young along the banks of the river. Moose calves wanting to play etc etc etc. The list of experiences go on and on. So everytime you see a "great" wildlife image don't assume they were taken in captivity as there are many great photographers out there working hard to capture wildlife in its natural environment.
Dan wrote:
"Still, I would rather do it the way I am doing it"
Boy I hear that. I really dislike shooting at a zoo or other captive animals. I guess if you're putting food on the table with wildlife photography I could see the attraction. But in that case I'm really glad I'm not a professional wildlife photographer. Not my cup o tea.
can hardly wait to use "content aware" Photohsop CS5 to fake our own pictures.
"Minnesota Wildlife Connection sold its black bear, Cubby, for $4,650 to country music crooner Troy Gentry, who then illegally "hunted" and killed him in his pen"
This is honestly an eye opening article for many, myself included. Sure, I know about game farms and such, but to think that a company like Disney would allow this? I am not only disgusted but downright sick to my stomach to hear this.
John
Thanks for posting this. I wish I wouldn't have missed it the first pass through. I am fine with people taking photos of captive animals as long as that is there cup of tea and as long as they disclose them as "captive animals". However, I still prefer to photograph wild animals personally. There is something special about finding them and watching them in there natural habitat. About taking that moment and displaying it for someone else to experiecne that wasn't there to witness it. About making them want to go out and experience it. I just love the outdoors and wildlife and it just doesn't seem right to "phonie" it up.
With that said, I still have an issue with how many of these animals are inhumanely treated at these animal farms and how the shoot comes before the animals well being. I think until that can change, they should shut down these places. They make me sick.