This blog is written as part of my current Discourse class at UEL. Over the next few weeks I will be writing on topics such as Modernism, Feminism and Capitalism within Photography. I will also be writing about other topics related to photography, including several biographies of photographers who have influenced and changed the way we see photography today.
To start off I will use this space to write briefly about the recent disqualification of the winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest.
In October 2009 the judges of the competition panel chose Jose Luis Rodriguez's picture "The Storybook Wolf" from over 43,000 entries to be the winning image. It was only several months later and after exhibitions had displayed the winner and merchandise was sold, that Jose was stripped of his winning title.
Several investigations were conducted and the judges ultimately came to the conclusion, that he had "hired" a tamed wolf from a zoological park in Madrid. According to Mark Carwardine this was the first time in 46 years that there was no winner. The picture was removed from the exhibition and the photographer was banned from entering the competition ever again.
Although The Storybook Wolf is a well executed photograph, there is no question that the photographer clearly failed to follow the competition rules and as such it is more than deserved for his title to be removed.
