[dsmithhfx]

I don't usually like staged photographs, but gosh darn it, I like this one:

David Yarrow's best photograph: a wolf on the prowl in a wild west saloon | Art and design | The Guardian

he may have been trained but ultimately a wolf is still a wolf. The challenge was how to get him to walk towards my camera. Rosie unearthed some chicken fillets and we tied them around my neck. This proved effective: the wolf moved with some excitement towards me

[Franc]

love the photo and the story behind it.

[clickclick]

Pretty neat, and having spent most of my life rolling around on the floor with German Shepherds, I got a big chuckle out of this:

"Rosie unearthed some chicken fillets and we tied them around my neck. "

[photoptimist]

To me, staged photographs are a different visual art form that is more akin to painting than straight-shooting documentary "here's what's here" photography. It's a different art form judged by different standards.

And judged by the standards of staged photography, Yarrow's image is amazing.

[mattb123]

Yes, this is a fantastic shot and although I prefer the idea of un-staged photos, the staged ones can really be amazing and great results are hard to argue against.

I know a guy who who is a master of the staged shot and has built a very successful photography career out of it, landing accounts like Nike. He's regularly using lighting and other effects to turn day into night, summer into winter, or any number of other seemingly impossible feats and making the shots really stand out. Mike Tittel is his name if you want to get inspired (or depressed).

[travelswsage]

really fun shot! -- thanks for posting.

[BigMackCam]

Fantastic shot and story. Creatively and technically, I love it.

I also realised that - aside from my technical limitations - I'll never take a shot like this, when I read the following:

"Rosie unearthed some chicken fillets and we tied them around my neck. This proved effective: the wolf moved with some excitement towards me"

David, you have life insurance, right?

[c.a.m]

A very imaginative creation, and well staged. I love it.

I'm guessing that a rabbit or a cat wouldn't have the same effect.

[BigMackCam]

I'm guessing that a rabbit or a cat wouldn't have the same effect.

I'm pretty sure if Yarrow had tied a rabbit or a cat around his neck, the wolf would still have come towards him...

... Wait, that's not what you meant, is it?

[dsmithhfx]

David, you have life insurance, right?

I assume he was wearing a kevlar choker.

the wolf would still have come towards him

Depends on the size of the cat

[clickclick]

David, you have life insurance, right?

Eak! Always figure when the mouth opened, I was just going to get one of those big sloppy kisses.

[WPRESTO]

To me, a so-called "staged shot" is one that a photographer imagined, envisioned, then assembled and created. If we discount "staged shots," there goes every photo taken in a studio (How many is that? I lost count.)

As to the taking of the image under discussion. I will not set myself in front of an unrestrained wolf, tamed or not, with chicken hanging around my neck.

[BigMackCam]

I will not set myself in front of an unrestrained wolf, tamed or not, with chicken hanging around my neck.

I'm tempted to suggest this advice be immortalised in a sticky post... It's right up there with "don't leave your lens hood attached back-to-front"...

[dsmithhfx]

a so-called "staged shot" is one that a photographer imagined, envisioned, then assembled and created. If we discount "staged shots," there goes every photo taken in a studio

What I mean by 'staged shot' is stuff done by wannabe filmmakers like Jeff Wall and Gregory Crewdson, that try (and generally fail) to set up a chronologically complex story as a still, when the obvious, better medium for that is motion pictures, except their half-baked ideas would bomb in actual theatres (as would the vast majority of so-called 'artist videos', but that's a whole other can of worms). All this only serves as a demonstration of what photography *can* do on a technical level. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.

Commercial photography doesn't concern me, because everybody accepts it as fake, and can understand the motivation. There's a hell of a lot of craft goes into it, as mattb pointed out.

Also, the wolf shot is brilliant.

[normhead]

It's an interesting image. But I definitely prefer my own....



There was no photo shoot, no trainers, no bar....just me and a few friends a highway and a wolf. I know which one I'd put on my wall.