Wolf IV

What do you think about artificial pearls, to stay at the subject?

I want to thank the administrators for haing chosen for the third time, one of my photogra phs as Photograph of the Week.

As it has been discussed, it is true that personally I would have prefered a different photograph from my gallery, maybe a Higher quality or more artistic one, to receive this award, but it is obvious to me that the photograph it is not chosen for being the best photograph of the week, as it is not even the best photograph of the autor, the paramiters for choosing it are different, it is chosen to create a photographic debate, and so far this photograph has been successful.

I must say that this photo is in no means a montage or a collage, what you see is what was there.
Also I would like to make clear that this photograph was taken under controlled circurstances, what I mean is that it was taken in a zoological stablishment closet o Santillana del Mar, a small town closet to where I live, which together with the Parque de la Naturaleza de Cabárceno, is from where most of my animal photographs come from.

Once this two questions have been answered I would like to make two things clear, I am not a nature photographer specialising in animals, I am simply a photographer.
I understand and I respect those photographers that consider of the upmost importance to photograph animals that are not in captivity but still living in the wild, as this has to also consider the potentialy diffictult circunstances in which these potos are taken.
Personally, I am only interested in the results.
Through my photographs I am always trying to recréate my personal view of the scene in front of me. In the case of nature and animal photographs, I try to avoid communicating throught the photograph whether the animal is in captivity or not.
I try to show the animal in the circunstances that I would have liked to have found him: living in the wild, free and with digmity, giving him the chance to be centre stage in my photographs, my personal visión of how I imagine it, not letting anything come between the essence, the animal and me.

To those who think that in order to achieve that what I should do is travel around the world taking photographs of animals in the wild I only have one thing to say, we cannot always do what we wish for, reality doesn’t always allow us to pursue our dreams, as Money always has the last word.
Generous donations from sponsors always welcome, haha.

The story of the photograph is very simple, when I think about a wolf I think about predator, intelligence, mistrust etc. All this qualities can be resume in one concept: the wolf’s gaze. I followed its eyes with the camera for a very long time before a manage to take the winning shot. The den was full with tres, rocks, general foliage so it kept hiding from me. Imaginaros que el AF se volvía loco. But finally, when its eyes and my camera met… “click” and this is the end result. It is possibly not the best end product, I myself find elements of the photograph annoying but unfortunately those are the typical hiccups of taking photographs of an animal that lives in captivity.
Here are soem other photographs of this wolf that refelct better the concept that I am trying to create:
http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5189993
Simple, an eye that defends its territory in the foliage.

Thank you everyone for all your comments, the good ones and the bad ones.I am sure that we can generate a debate in which we will all find comments that will help us in the pursue of this our great passion.

Stealth!