The Jefferson Agrarian

According to an article in Suomen Luonto (Nature of Finland) magazine, a photograph by a Spanish nature photographer which was represented to be of a wild Iberian wolf might in fact be a picture of a tame captive wolf named Ossian, taken not in open conditions, but at the Cañada Real Center Zoological Park near Madrid.

For once, the controversy isn’t over whether the photograph was digitally altered, but it brings forth the same issues of truth in photography. Photography has always been awarded a special status for truthfully recording the world. But that doesn’t mean all photographs tell the truth all the time. Often, it is not easy to identify a point where truth is lost and the picture enters the realm of fiction. It is possible that audience tastes and our sense of an image’s credibility are shifting as well: do we still draw sharp lines between news photographs and the other pictures we see in newspapers and magazines?

Apparently the picture was submitted as being of a wild wolf.

Owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine, the annual nature photography competition is the most prestigious of its kind and this year is proudly sponsored by Veolia Environnement. José Luis Rodriguez of Madrid won the Overall Winner category in the 2009 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Why is this big news? Well, the BBC contest rules clearly state that “images of captive animals must be declared. The judges will take preference to images taken in free and wild conditions.” According to the Natural History Museum’s website, “José Luis started by placing meat in the corral. Once he knew a male wolf was visiting regularly, jumping the gate, he began to introduce the bits of equipment needed to set up a camera trap. At first, the wolf didn’t like the flash triggered by the trip beam, but after a few weeks he took no notice of the light or the clicks of the hidden digital camera. Now that the wolf was happy and the camera positioning was right, it was time to take the final picture with a medium-format camera. When the first transparencies arrived back from the lab, José Luis was overjoyed to find he finally had the picture he had dreamt of.”

PhotoNerd Info: Hasselblad 503CW with a 6×6 Fujichrome backing + Planar 80mm lens; 1/30 sec at f11; ISO 50; purpose-made Ficap infrared camera trap. Analog!