Rare image & Perspective:
• The chairman of the BBC judges panel says that rarity of subject doesn’t have anything to do with winning. You have to present the subject in a new angle or perspective. He advises you to take more photos of animals near your home and create a better perspective. So from this point of view, the Snow Leopard shot should not be the winner just because of its rarity.
• Snow leopards have been photographed before. Rajesh Bedi and Naresh Bedi had tracked Snow Leopards for two years (basically two winters) and they have shot it. Not with a camera trap, but shot with their telephoto lenses and made films. Alponse Roy has filmed a Snow Leopard in day light. I would rate their efforts higher than Steve’s.
• Steve’s image shot in the night with snow fall gives a nice perspective. You don’t come across frequently. I like it. It is a good document. However, I won’t say that makes Steve a winner.
• The figures quoted in the WWF is way above the actual numbers and is inaccurate. According to Govt. of India figures, the number of wild tigers number about 1100 to 1400. This estimation is done on the basis of camera trap method. I think the number of Snow Leopards would also be around the same if not lower.
Knowledge of the Photographer about the Subject:
• He has not seen his subject. If you want to say that his knowledge of his subject is great, then I would also say by watching National Geographic or Animal Planet I have plenty of knowledge about Polar Bears ( I haven’t seen a Polar Bear in the wild).
Luck
Steve’s statement:
“After 10 months and a winter with little snow in Ladakh's Hemis High Altitude National Park, India, I was running out of hope of getting the picture I wanted. “
The bottomline is with sufficient funding, you can tie your gear in a number of places and wait. The probability of your getting a shot increases with the number of cameras that you place.
All of you would be aware, that carnivores like Tigers, Leopards etc have got a fixed territory. Snow leopards are not supposed to be so aggressive when there is an intrusion into their territory by another of their species. Snow leopards come down to lower levels of the mountains during winter. At that time they kill domestic sheep for food. And this is the best time to shoot a snow leopard.
Did he manage to find out the route used by a snow leopard? No. A couple of snaps in a camera trap doesn’t give you that. If you keep on collecting info about any live stock killed by snow leopards, then you will have some idea about its probable route. And when the snow leopard appears you wont be surprised. Again, it suggests that Steve was purely lucky.
I know that Steve Winter was taking advise from Dr. Raghu Chundawat, who has done research on Snow leopard and seen it in his eyes. However, I don’t know details of how Steve was searching. I guess at least because of their advice, Steve could place the camera traps that ultimately got him the shots. If Steve were to place the camera traps all by himself, then instead of the 10 months time it would have taken eternity without any results. You can say that Steve found out guys who could advise him. And I would give credit for that to the National Geographic Research team.
Composition:
I don't believe Steve intended to show the snow leopard with its tail facing the camera. If you can't even find a snow leopard, and you are hoping for 10 months that one day a snow leopard would walk into your camera trap and finally when one day it accidentally happens you say that it was planned to the last inch. Tough to believe.
These days a lot of remote sensing satellites are equipped with high resolution cameras. They click lots of shots. A few of those shots would be good enough to invoke awe about the amazing landscapes and can win a prize in the Wild Places category. So some one with access to those photographs can enter it into the competition. So some officer from Nasa or ISRO etc can become the Wildlife Photographer of the Year. I hope you can see the fallacy of awarding it to Steve.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi