Hi folks ,
by knowing this would be not a "nice" image , i thought some time about it to post this.
But finally i made the decision to share this with you , i think it is a unusual nature document . This happened at Donna Nook in England in winter 2010.
The big seal bull was unhappy and unsuccessful amongst his relatives , could not get any female and got kicked out by other even bigger males and it was peak mating season . I do not know if this was an act of frustration or anger about being not successful, he just went for this little Harbor Seal .
Some people have been around and tried to save the harbor seal , but this guy was so aggressive he defended the little one against the humans.
So some photographers including started to photograph that , others went away and were arguing with us who photographed the action that was going on right or wrong ? I felt and still feel it was ok to do so . WDYT?
I had to use short lens and went quite close due to other people blocking the view .
CANON EOS 1D MK III
EF 24 - 105 IS L at 105 mm
Handheld
F 8 ; Iso 400 ; 1/160 sec
Processed in PhotoNinja and PS CC ; cropped for comp
Hi andreas, from the technical standpoint, I think this is a very nice behavior shot. The light was beautiful and the low point of view is great. You handled the exposure well. From the artistic point of view, the protruding male genital isn't good. Poor little habor seal. Loi
Unusual image and lovely lighting. I am with you on this one I think I would have photographed the scene because of it's sense of uniqueness, having said that it does provide something of a dilemma when deciding where to post it. Personally I think in dedicated forums such as this it is fine, though I think not suited to non specialised fora. Did the harbour seal mange to escape unharmed?
Hi Andreas, I can understand your dilemma, but you were capturing nature in it's rawest form. I personally don't have a problem with it, as you captured animal behaviour in their natural habitat.
The image was captured in beautiful light, with very good detail, DOF and low angle. I am wondering if more detail could have been extracted from the darker areas on the seals.
Well captured!
Thanks Loi, Jonathan and Thinus for watching a sharing your thoughts.
Thinus - for me there is enough detail in the darker areas visible , it was very low morning light so my thinking is, the shaded areas can be darker and less detail visible.
Jonathan - i can only tell you it lasts over the whole day , i have image taken later in the day , too.From time to time the Harbor Seal was able to escape , even into the ocean but this big guy all the time got the small back and tried to rape him again and again.Finally i decided to leave them alone and made my way along this really long beach at Donna Nook.
Hey Anderas, Yes I think you have to shoot this, I would have been right next to you, but yes it does limit where this should be displayed. The quality of light really attracted me to this shot. A nice low angle well executed. That being said, is there one in the series where the genital is not so " exposed" ?
Great angle and light, and indeed an interesting moment of natural history. I would have been right next to you. One thing is certain, we shouldn't interfere with nature in these cases, how shocking it may seem to us.
Was the harbour seal a female or male?
Do they eventually kill their victims in these cases, by sheer weight/repetition/power?
Thanks Robert ,Vishal and Morkel for your comments and thoughts and support to post this "brutal" image.
Morkel i tried to find out if that happens often or from time to time , my search on google was not very successful about this . the most i found was raping of Seals amongst the species but not with different species . I found images of a seal raping a penguin .
This Harbor Seal was just a subadult , cannot tell you the sex of it.This Harbor Seal was finally injured and really exhausted after some hours , during this time the big guy grabbed it, bit it and was lying on this poor little guy with all his weight. But after some hours i lost them in between a couple of hundred seals on that long beach.
I do not know what the big guys are doing with them , finally . When i return to Donna , i will ask the Rangers over there .
I understand your dilemma here and I think you did the right thing, although it's a bit sad to think animals have to put up with rape also. I witnessed a light plane crash once where the pilot was caught inside the aircraft and there were flames on the outside... I was unsure wether to take some photos of this or not and then choose not to... I didn't want to take a photo of a man dying I thought. He had many people around the aircraft to help him and the fire was quickly put out and he was not burnt, although had other serious injuries. I hindsight I wish I had of taken the photos...I could have deleted them later if needed...
nice IQ on this image,like the light,I don't think you did wrong taking a shot of this image,as been said it is nature in the raw,but you are limited were you could post it,with out upsetting some people.TFS.
I am commenting here really late - so sorry, I see you posted this image the day we had two photographer friends over and I did not go on the website that whole week-end. I am looking at this seal image now for the first time and a lot of thoughts run through my mind, let me share some of them with you, albeit randomly. Bear in mind that when I look at a photograph I am often more concerned with its content, presentation and aesthetic impact, rather than technical stuff. Although when I notice something regarding lighting, exposure, colour and sharpness I do mention it.
In terms of techs I have nothing to complain about - on the contrary, your PP work is excellent and the image was taken in sweet light - this contradicts somehow with the perceived cruelty of the rape and somewhat softens the impact - I like that very much. There is a certain "intent" to rape made obvious by the presence of the male genital, the viewer may choose to believe that the act of rape has just ended or is about to begin, yet it was not happening at the moment the image was taken. Your image highlights a phenomenon in terms of seal behaviour to which we have no clear answer - if I were you I would have also tried to capture this, no matter how disturbing.
I find it odd that people - and especially photographers - could be offended by images like this. Maybe "offended" is the wrong word, "upset" would be more appropriate? I personally feel deeply for the victim and wish this would not happen at all, but it is reality and the job of the photographer is to capture it, so well done Andreas! Image like this can also be valuable in terms of research, hopefully someone will look into it...
Hi Gabriela thanks for your late , but not too late comment , i do really find your words ……. mmmhh ……. not possible to say in english for me , too complicated.
I just find it good what you said about the content , thanks for that and sorry for my limitation to answer properly.
I am having no problem to show or look at "Genitals" in my or someone else's nature images , they are part of it . I was surprised that others prefer an image with a less obvious genital , but i leave it to them to feel so , and i am ok with it. I also do find this brutal behavior not pleasing to my eyes, i also do feel sorry for the little seal ……….. but as most of you said it is nature.But i felt i should document this with my cam and i think i did the right thing, honestly.
I have never seen this before or an image of this .
I have been at Donna Nook for 12 days in total , and i have seen this happening once , i have seen mating of them , it looks the same way brutal ,but the females are just bigger and can harm the bulls more…….. so it is more fair.
Sorry Andreas, in a nutshell, I was trying to say that I was glad you documented this event. You certainly did the right thing.
I also do not shy away from either animal "nudity" (to put it this way) or blood and guts-it is Nature, as you say.
And I am certain you felt sorry for the little one, yet at the same time I am glad you did not interfere. I have a few images of lions carrying an eland lamb, I think it was removed from mother's womb even before he was born - mixed feelings as I was watching but I shall never regret taking these images. Taken in harsh light by the way, and I am hoping one day you might share your thoughts with me on how to bring the best of these images.
What are we as "nature photographers"?
In my mind we are there to observe nature in all its moments-good and bad, blood and guts etc.
We should not intervene while witnessing/ photographing a scene- that is VERY unethical.
A wildlife photographer is there to freeze/capture a moment in time in Nature, irrespective of how gruesome or sensitive the details might be-if the scene is to offending to you, can walk/drive away.
My ethics tells me to capture everything that happens in front of me -good or bad- that is Nature; is it not always sweet. We must NOT intervene. My point is always---- what would happen if I was not there?
We hunt for the moment, capture it to your best capiibilities-good or bad- with the right angle,light,comp etc…..
The classic example- young Ellie stuck in mud- capture the images or report/save?
Human intervention is the reason Donna Nook was more restricted recently, photographers getting in the way of mothers and pups or interveneing where they should not. Just watch and learn and be happy you can witness. Leave only footsteps and all that.
This is a great shot, graphic with impact. Love it.
Grey Seal bull dominating Harbor Seal
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, but i leave it to them to feel so , and i am ok with it. I also do find this brutal behavior not pleasing to my eyes, i also do feel sorry for the little seal ……….. but as most of you said it is nature.But i felt i should document this with my cam and i think i did the right thing, honestly.
