Yesterday I went see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at London’s Natural History Museum. I didn’t take my own camera, but you can see a gallery of the spectacular photographs here.
I lost track of time as I wandered entranced past the images: a red kite hovering, river dolphins playing, and white hares boxing. I gazed into the eyes of a jaguar and a very cold fox. There were special junior photographer categories: this subtly amazing image won the ten years and under category. I’d love to be such a gifted photographer now, let alone as a child!
One image was conspicuous by its absence. The space where the overall winner had hung was replaced by a statement that the photograph Storybook Wolf had been disqualified because the photographer had allegedly used an animal model. The picture was posed.
I knew about this drama before I went, but I kept coming back to this enigmatic wall space. I realised something. Humans are animals, and we behave in many of the same ways: we kill to eat (at least carnivores do) and to protect, we mate, we fight, we care for our young, we often live in groups, we grow old and die.
But can you imagine an animal thinking I really want to win this prestigious photographic prize, I think I’ll hire a human to pose for me and pretend I tracked them down in the city street at night and caught them in their natural habitat?
Why do we distort our urge to create or observe what is beautiful? When does our calling to do great work become corrupted? How can we live with more integrity?
What do you think?
Image at the top of this post by Tim Parkinson
Elsewhere:
Blisschick is being challenging again at Radical Gratitude, quoting Meister Eckhart and Anthony de Mello, and asking us to be thankful even for the bad stuff. And Towanda quotes Henri Nouwen calling us to bring our pain home or risk not knowing our own truth. This seems to me linked to Blisschick’s post. Eckhart, de Mello and Nouwen, what a powerful trinity.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I like your question. Integrity, transparency, the courage to face myself… to be as I am — befriending my wounds as Nouwen says (as quoted on Towanda’s)… to give my ‘enemies’ [inner and outer] the space to show their beautiful selves… For all this, I used to love Anouilh’s Antigone when I was 15. I realize I still do.
Thank you also for bringing beauty into this day.
what a grand old building full of character, especially when lit just so
it must be a joy to have easy access to such rich input
i miss that here
a calling to do great work is corrupted when the most basic need of life is to keep a roof over our heads, food in the pantry and clothes on our back
doing the great work gets crowded out by the fact of life which says at some point money must be earned, awards won or other tangibles acquired that help pay the bills
great work usually costs us
not rewards us
It happens to scientists who distort or falsify their work to present a desired outcome. It could be money;it could be fame that brings someone to do that. Whether it is an artist or a scientist, one has to love the truth above all else.
My usual practice is to read your post & comments to date, then mull them over for a day or so, sometimes longer, before stumbling toward a response. I’m doing the same with this one. I always feel like my comments are works-in-progress, attempts to answer difficult but important questions.
This morning, a phrase and a poem come to mind:
- Truth AND Beauty (that is, truth is an essential component of beauty)
- “The Truth” by Tim Diugos. The poem doesn’t answer your questions but a few days ago I found it serendipitously. The first three lines struck a chord with me & have stayed in my head — with my words, I, too try to tell the truth. And the entire poem is a perfect example of truth and beauty…”the colors of the lawn were washed out by the winter not the light…I’ve never seen it, but I know it’s there.”
Thank you for another thoughtful post, Tess. I’m going to save it as a reminder to live with more integrity.
@Claire: such a gift it is when we can sometimes see our enemies as beautiful.
@Kel: a bit bleak, but lots of truth. I suspect great work does cost us – and reward us?
@Barbara: indeed, and difficult, isn’t it?
@Elaine: I love your approach to commenting, and I think we are all works in progress. The poem is beautiful, I particularly like “like a priest with calico fur”.
Oh Gawd!!!…I went to the exhibition and thought that the wolf winner looked like a film set…and so my ‘instict’ was correct!
This is the 3rd year I’ve been. My favourates including the Raven in Snow, the Fox on the ice and the close up of Hare.
Last year the winner’s photo of the elephant was awesome…so back to the fruad…I still get shocked at people who I know or thought I knew not just a lie to others but themselves. What enjoyment do they get? I know it is hard to be honest when caught up in the critic/shame/blame/victim cycle but to take that one step further and consciously go out and plot.
So who is the new winner?
Elizabeth – well done you and your instincts!! I’m glad to talk to someone else who’s been. It’s my first year and I’ll definitely go again. They had a retrospective slideshow including the elephant and it was amazing.
What I forgot to say in my post is quite apart from the other issues I don’t know how someone would have the nerve to do this, knowing they might get found out.
Doesn’t seem to be a new overall winner, no-one else has been “elevated”, just the individual category winners.
Being so blown away by truly honest photography work, I am not unhappy that the photographer’s work was rejected. What a lot of work to stage the photo – a shallow win it seems would have come to haunt the photographer even if he had never been exposed! Too bad………the other photos, really breathtaking!
indeed, the wolf does look somewhat staged. how odacious!
@SS: yes, a shallow win indeed. The photographer in question is still insisting that the photo is genuine and he is the victim of a vendetta, but all the evidence seems against him.
@Roxanne: absolutely!
Integrity in photography is an interesting issue and is a good analogue for our life choices. I don’t condone blatant dishonesty but we need to remember that we are always selecting, framing, editing in our effort to ‘tell the story’ or capture the ‘decisive moment’. Ultimately, like the wolf image, the photograph says more about who we are are as photographer than anything that is ‘out there’…. Good post, Tess!
I very much like what Steve says about our life choices, our selecting, framing, editing… I know I do. The interesting part, of course, is that revisiting my life history I reframe, select out and in, and edit my past until it makes more sense, hurts less, is absorbed, etc. etc.
Which is why it is interesting when some event obliges me to see my life unedited…
Thanks, Steve. Your comment was a big Piiiiinnnnnggg moment for me
Thanks Claire! To be honest, I think the idea of ‘unedited’ is quite a challenge – the unedited version might be a ‘truth’ – but still only one truth… (imho
agh… right again!
Steve and Claire, thanks for this continuation. This is absolutely right, of course, we do frame all our experiences, often unconsciously, we can’t help it. I did struggle slightly in my original post with how simple to keep it (framing the post!). For example some photographers went to great lengths to capture their shots. Waiting in hides for days, leaving out food to tempt animals into view(finder). Although some were lucky shots, some were the result of intensive preparation. What is natural? To what extent do we alter an animal’s natural habitat and behaviour just by being there, even when hidden? There’s no easy answer and it’s all around motive and degree, I think.
coming late to the party here, however, because i live with an amazing (and very integrous) photographer i had to comment. YUK is my bodily reaction. i feel it in my gut in response to this act of deceit and often feel it in response when my instincts (as elizabeth mentioned) tell me something is wrong – particularly when dealing with humans! no, i can’t imagine the natural world plotting and planning to create something “false.”
on a slightly different note – i’ve never imagined animal “models” either. wonder how much they charge per hour?
Lucy says : “I feel it in my gut in response to this..” Probably the best judge of ‘truth’ imho
)
Yes, gut judgement is good. Usually.
Now Lucy, I know what’s going through your mind and I think you’ll need to check first with Aslan if he’d be willing!!