Focus on wildlife photography ethics - Times of India

KOLKATA: Is it acceptable to manipulate nature for the sake of a good photograph? Should a tiger be lured with a bait to capture a stunning frame? The questions were raised at a riveting lecture on "Ethics of Nature Photography" and a discussion on the "Leave Me Alone" campaign to save tigers organized by Sanctuary Asia and Save the Tiger in association with the Wildlife Wing of West Bengal government, SHER, ACT and The Times of India on Friday. Ethics was indeed being sacrificed by wildlife photographers that posed a threat to conservation, felt conservationists and wildlife experts. Digital photography and software tools have made it easier to cheat and lured photographers into unethical behaviour, felt noted conservationist and wildlife writer Bittu Sahgal. Delivering the lecture on ethical photography, he said a photographer's job was to record what was happening, unobtrusively and after having made sure that he hasn't manipulated his subjects in any way, said Sahgal. "Ethics is determined by social conditioning. It's not a thin, straight line and there is always an allurement to break ethical norms. But it could be detrimental to conservation. An irresponsible photographer will do as much harm to nature and animals as a poacher. In the past, we have seen calves being tied as baits to click tigers. Nest photography has often resulted in the death of chicks and it sadly continues. We should guard against such practices," he said. It was necessary to use long lens and maintain a good distance to click animals, Sahgal reminded lensmen who attended the meet. "Moving in close is unethical behaviour for it could cause an animal to panic. The photographer should make himself invisible to the animals even if that means having to sacrifice a good photograph," he said. Pointing to a picture of a tiger lolling under a tree with a herd of elephants barely a hundred feet away, Sahgal said the amazing picture couldn't have been taken from a short distance. "The tiger would have run away and the herd might have dispersed. It could even have led to the death of an animal," he said, adding that the safety of animals should be like a religion to a wildlife photographer. "At Corbett National Park, lodges would be l uring animals with meat to let tourists click pictures. A lady got killed in the process. My appeal to all lensmen would be to understand animal behaviour without trying to manipulate it," said Sahgal. It was also important, the conservationist felt, to focus on small animals rather than trying to film just tigers and leopards. "It helps to save them for a frog, a weasle or a beetle is as important for bio-diversity as the bigger animals," he argued. Sahgal also made a fervent plea not to ignore ethics once a photographer has clicked a good photograph. "There are passionate, hard-working photographers who spend months in the forests and hills for a picture. They toil hard and do a great service to conservation by taking a photograph like the one of a charging snow leopard clicked by Dhritiman Mukherjee. Many followed him to the hills and used baits to click the snow leopard. It was dangerous for it could have lured the animal into villages and resulted in deaths, " he said. Chief wildlife warden N C Bahuguna, additional principal chief conservator of forests Pradeep Vyas, wildlife writer Shilanjan Bhattacharya, WWF Sunderbans chapter head Anurag Danda and conservationist Raj Basu took part in a panel discussion on saving tigers. via Science - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGRvCcP9p38tFQanEYchlk5q8AdRw&url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Focus-on-wildlife-photography-ethics/articleshow/21562686.cms

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