Photographer Baiting Bighorn Sheep

[Michael Kadillak]

A photographer in Montana was convicted of baiting Big Horn sheep to secure an optimal photographic background that may have resulted in them being near a road and several killed in the process. I thought that this is what Photoshop was for? What a shame.

[Kerik Kouklis]

He and Fatali should get together.

[Peter York]

Yes, the first can attract the animal, the second can set it on fire to achieve natural lighting.

[cdholden]

I've seen some of Michael Fatali's work, but wasn't aware of his background.
I have a hard time reading about his NPS shenanigans and comprehending how he could come up with "Sacred Earth Images" for the name of a gallery.

[vinny]

I've seen some of Michael Fatali's work, but wasn't aware of his background.
I have a hard time reading about his NPS shenanigans and comprehending how he could come up with "Sacred Earth Images" for the name of a gallery.

Add a religious theme to see an increase in prophets

[Drew Wiley]

Maybe we should bait photograhers. Set up a mechanical bighorn like those mechanical
deer they use to catch illegal hunters. Then it would be the photographer who gets
run over. Fatali is a different subject. He didn't get along with Smokey the Bear very
well. But he is a superb darkroom technician. Anybody who thinks Photoshop is the
ticket should see his Ciba prints. He claims not to use colored filters and to wait days
on end till the ligting is right - well, it's right when he seamlessly sandwiches several
transparencies together to get remarkable scenes which are astronomically impossible.
But not all his shots are "fake" by any means. I don't care for either his marketing
etchics or tourist-based scenic content, but the dude can print.

[Michael Kadillak]

Maybe we should bait photograhers. Set up a mechanical bighorn like those mechanical
deer they use to catch illegal hunters. Then it would be the photographer who gets
run over. Fatali is a different subject. He didn't get along with Smokey the Bear very
well. But he is a superb darkroom technician. Anybody who thinks Photoshop is the
ticket should see his Ciba prints. He claims not to use colored filters and to wait days
on end till the ligting is right - well, it's right when he seamlessly sandwiches several
transparencies together to get remarkable scenes which are astronomically impossible.
But not all his shots are "fake" by any means. I don't care for either his marketing
etchics or tourist-based scenic content, but the dude can print.

I was in Ridgeway Colorado having breakfast with Michael Roberts on a recent photographic trip when we heard a group of guys a couple of tables away talking about photography. I was tempted to go over and meet them until I heard the conversation shift to discussing Fitali in a similar context. Your would think that your reputation is something that you should guard at all costs particularly in the public domain as an artist, but that does not always seem to be the case.

[Brian C. Miller]

AFAIK in Washington state it is legal to bait animals for photography. A couple of years ago there was a bill introduced about it, but the bill was defeated. Ilwaco banned feeding wild animals (link), so any banning goes city by city or county.

[Heroique]

Maybe we should bait photographers. Set up a mechanical bighorn, like those mechanical deer they use to catch illegal hunters.

I proposed this in Yellowstone to slow tourist traffic during the late-season.

The ranger didn’t even chuckle.

“I manage ‘wildlife jams’ in the summer,” he said. “I’m enjoying my respite.”

[Frank Petronio]

Any links to pictures by Mr. Baiter or the flame-lit photos by Fitali? Just curious....