He'd been covered by a pile of leaves, had had bugs crawling all over him and then saw his perfect shot ruined. His talent for photography was apparently absolutely matched by his talent for the use of the Polish language.
But the photographer uploaded a video on YouTube of him taking the photo, and just looking at the environment (he's in a small boat off the coast of Mexico) you can see it really did require a remarkable amount of planning. And I think it is indeed a real photograph.
https://www.birdpoty.com/rules
"With the exception of HDR, stitched panoramas, focus stacking, and in-camera multiple exposures, composited images or AI-generated images are not permitted in any category. Sky swapping or removal of objects through cloning, for example, is not permitted."
This skill is often underrated. World is moving faster than ever. Another underrated skill is quick-decision making.
I had a friend who prided himself in his (very good) nature photography and he got quite discouraged with respect to nature photography contests when so many people weren't stopped taking photos "out of the camera."
Although, having experienced a solar eclipse and the associated hysteria around protective glasses, I wonder how risky it was for his eyesight to look through a magnifying lens.
Some people connect with the history and context of a piece.
There's a reason the real Mona Lisa is worth considerably more than even the most faithful reproduction.
Just to be clear: I'm not saying that _you_ have to care about context. Nor that caring about context is good (or bad). I'm just saying that many people do care about context.
You can be sure people never actually see the original Mona Lisa, or any other heavily marketed artwork. And in terms of pricing. It's all a game.
It's amazing that you can just see something that you like and then order it.
My current camera takes 20 photos per second sustained AND comes with a pre-buffer that captures 2s of images before you press the trigger. It’s wild!
(I don’t take photos anywhere near Bresson’s but still, it helps)
Getting expressions/the way people are aligned/etc. is just so unpredictable that, even if you're in the a reasonable location to shoot and the light is generally good, high-speed shooting and maybe thousands of frames helps to beat a few rolls of film. Even pros with motor drives were relatively constrained.
As others have observed though, there's also planning and just spending the time. The favorite photo I've taken in Death Valley over many visits is a fairly standard location/view but the sky is just really unusual for the area. I suppose these days (or really at the time given enough skill and imagination), I could just have done a photo-composite.
In practice, you end up standing around and waiting a lot. Moving quickly through a city is almost guaranteed to result in missing some great shots. (Saying this from experience.)
What's your approach to finding the bobcat locations for your shot?
He and another photographer recently did a project to photograph a bird in front of erupting volcano. I’m really looking forward to seeing that one.
(pun only possible in English)
(joke only works in UK slang)