Winning 2012 National Geographic Pro Photo Contest with Fujifilm X-Pro1 Locked

I wonder how Nat Geo found out about him removing the bag from the image in the first place. I might have missed where he tells about this.

Nat Geo are trying hard to maintain a degree of authenticity in photography which is a challenge in this age of highly advanced software. My issue with all of this is they have one rule for photography and another for film - Some of the most dramatic Nat Geo wildlife scenes filmed occurred due to unnatural circumstances - either faking a scene, preparing it to occur or "helping" it to occur.

I remember a war photographer being stripped of an award because he carried around a worn out teddy bear and a child's shoe which he carefully positioned in the foreground of a number of shots in Lebanon. He was found out because many of his images all of different locations had the exact same teddy bear and shoe strategically placed in the foreground.

The question of what consititutes a "fake" photo is hotly debated, and it should be, this is healthy for photography. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to this.

Getting back to this instance, whatever way you look at it he is obviously guttered and he now has to deal with people wondering what has he processed out or in to his images. Not a good thing to be known by if you are wanting to be taken seriously as a photographer.