Category Archives: Nature Photography

LONDON – Britain’s British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) suspended a male member of staff on Sunday (July 9) following an allegation that one of its star presenters paid a teenager thousands of pounds to pose for sexually explicit photos, beginning when they were 17 years old.

The broadcaster said it first became aware of a complaint in May, but new allegations of a different nature were made to it on Thursday, and it had informed “external authorities”.

London’s Metropolitan Police said it had received initial contact from the BBC but no formal referral or allegation had been made.

“We will require additional information before determining what further action should follow,” it said in a statement.

The BBC said it was a “complex and fast moving set of circumstances” and it was “working as quickly as possible to establish the facts in order to properly inform appropriate next steps”.

“We can also confirm a male member of staff has been suspended,” it said in a statement.

The statement said “it is important that these matters are handled fairly and with care”, without giving details on the claims.

The Sun newspaper, which first reported the allegations, cited the young person’s mother as saying the unnamed male presenter had paid the teenager more than 35,000 pounds (S$60,484) over three years for the images.

The mother told the newspaper that the teenager had used the cash to fund a crack cocaine habit.

The family complained to the broadcaster on May 19, but the presenter was not immediately taken off air, according to the Sun, which said the family had not requested payment for their story.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer held urgent talks with the broadcaster’s director general, Tim Davie, earlier on Sunday about the allegations, which she described as “deeply concerning”.

“(Davie) has assured me the BBC are investigating swiftly and sensitively,” she said on Twitter.

“Given the nature of the allegations it is important that the BBC is now given the space to conduct its investigation, establish the facts and take appropriate action.”

The BBC, which is funded by a licence fee paid by every TV watching household, said it “takes any allegations seriously” and had “robust internal processes in place to proactively deal with such allegations”.

“We have been clear that if – at any point – new information comes to light or is provided to us, this will be acted upon appropriately and actively followed up,” it said.

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The BBC has confirmed that the presenter accused of paying a teenager for explicit photos has been suspended.

It was reported yesterday (July 8) that a male presenter had allegedly paid more than £35,000 in exchange for explicit photos, with the company confirming it would investigate the matter.

The BBC has today confirmed that the unnamed presenter has been suspended in light of the allegations, with the corporation also revealing that they are co-operating with the police after “new information” emerged on Thursday (July 6).

“The BBC takes any allegations seriously and we have robust internal processes in place to proactively deal with such allegations,” they said in a statement. “This is a complex and fast moving set of circumstances and the BBC is working as quickly as possible to establish the facts in order to properly inform appropriate next steps.

“It is important that these matters are handled fairly and with care. We have been clear that if – at any point – new information comes to light or is provided to us, this will be acted upon appropriately and actively followed up,” it continued.

“The BBC first became aware of a complaint in May. New allegations were put to us on Thursday of a different nature and in addition to our own enquiries we have also been in touch with external authorities, in line with our protocols.

“We can also confirm a male member of staff has been suspended. We expect to be in a position to provide a further update in the coming days as the process continues. The BBC Board will continue to be kept up to date,” the statement concluded.

According to The Sun, who first reported the allegations, the BBC star started paying for explicit images when the young person, who is now 20, was 17. The youngster’s family said they submitted a complaint on May 19, and went to the newspaper as they became “frustrated” that the presenter remained on air.

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PORT TOWNSEND — Kerry Tremain flouts the rules of nature photography, says fellow artist and friend Ray Troll. Famous for his own rule-flouting art, Troll spoke about the photographs on view in “Outside In,” a major exhibition at Northwind Art’s Jeanette Best Gallery.

Troll singled out Tremain’s photo of a black oystercatcher, in which the viewer locks onto a single eye of the ebony-black creature.

“He got the spirit of that bird,” Troll said.

The show also features ethereal landscapes by Brian Goodman, sculptures and jewelry by Sara Mall Johani and bronze works by her late husband Tom Jay.

“‘Outside In’ is a sensory experience,” said Diane Urbani, communications manager for Northwind Art. When it opens today, it will present 23 of Tremain’s photographs from his book “Aves,” including images of white pelicans, trumpeter swans and one angelic bluebird.

Goodman’s photographs from his project, “Solace of Space,” render forests and seashores in ways that invite contemplation.

“My intent is to blur the lines between what we refer to as ‘photography’ and what we refer to as ‘art,’” he said.

“These are images of such
tranquillity,” Urbani said, “a refuge for the mind and heart.”

“Outside In” interweaves the photography and sculptures with a soundtrack of birdsong. On occasion, Tremain and Goodman went out together with their cameras, and the results are shown together in the gallery.

Jay and Johani have 11 works in the show, which is the first gallery exhibition of Jay’s sculptures since his death in 2019. He is remembered as a kind of shaman — a poet, author and sculptor of ravens, fish and other Northwest totem creatures.

Jay and Johani are well-known in the region as both artists and originators of Wild Olympic Salmon, the pioneering wildlife restoration group.

“Like Tremain and Goodman’s photographs,” Urbani said, “the sculptures evoke the spirit of an animal, and the feeling of a place.”

Said Johani in an invitation to friends: “Tom and I are pleased and honored to be invited to exhibit our sculptures along with two formidable photographers.

“Of course, Tom can’t participate in person,” she continued. “But his sculptures stand in for him admirably. It’s almost as if he were here to see his work on display, they are so very Tom.”

On Saturday, “Outside In” will be part of Port Townsend’s Art Walk, when the local galleries stay open until 8 p.m. Tremain has invited another friend — Yup’ik artist, singer and dancer Chuna McIntyre of Eek, Alaska — to sing a welcome song at Jeanette Best Gallery that evening.

“Outside In” will continue through Aug. 27; the regular hours are noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays at Jeanette Best Gallery, 701 Water St.

Both Tremain and Goodman moved to Port Townsend several years ago from California: Tremain from the Bay Area and Goodman from Los Angeles. Tremain was an editor of Mother Jones and California magazines; Goodman was a commercial and documentary photographer. The men have begun new lives here, practicing their art and learning firsthand about the nature of the Pacific Northwest.

Last year, Tremain and Goodman worked together on the “Still Here” project, of which Northwind Art was a sponsor. They built a relationship with the Chemakum people, a tribe that had been wrongly listed as extinct. They made large-scale portraits that were hung at Chimacum High School and published in a book, “Still Here: Portraits of the Chemakum,” about the tribe’s living members.

Tremain hopes the exhibit will help bring the “outside” in. As poet Mary Oliver wrote in her famous poem, “Wild Geese,” the artists want visitors to experience how “the world offers itself to your imagination … announcing your place in the family of things.”

Northwind Art presents “Outside In,” a large-scale art exhibition combining bird, wildlife, and landscape photography by Kerry Tremain and Brian Goodman with sculptures by the late Tom Jay and his widow, Sara Mall Johani.

The displayed artwork includes unconventional odes to birds, water, salmon, and forests. 

Tremain’s 23 images are featured in his book “Aves: Photographs of Birds,” while Goodman’s work includes photographs from his “Solace of Space” collection. 

Many of these works have never been shown in a gallery before.

The exhibit is at Jeanette Best Gallery (701 Water St., Port Townsend) through Aug. 27. Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. daily. 

On Aug. 5, the gallery will be open noon to 8 p.m. for Art Walk.

Almost 20 years ago, Jeffrey Jones suffered a debilitating workplace injury that left him with four steel rods in his back and in daily, excruciating pain.

He was prescribed painkilling drugs like OxyContin and Percocet, but he knew the medication wasn’t for him. It wasn’t until he started visiting Prospect Park in 2009 that Jones found true relief — in the beauty of nature and the park’s wildlife. 

“Ever since, I’ve been coming and sitting by the water, you know, I find that it gives me so much peace,” he said. “Just watching the birds be birds; sometimes I forget that I am in pain.”

Not long after that, he got his first camera so he could capture the beautiful moments he observed, in order to share his joy with others.

That turned into a serious hobby, and today, Jones can be found at Prospect Park every single morning, seven days a week, photographing the birds and wildlife of the park on his digital camera with a range of different lenses. 

“As soon as I get here, everything else goes blank, and I just focus on the miniature,” he said. “I forget everything.” 

Jones is a self-described “bushman” and an animal-lover who grew up surrounded by pet monkeys, chickens, dogs and rabbits on a farm in Barbados.

On a recent Friday, Jones took BK Reader on a walk of his typical route — a long-lens camera slung over his shoulder — pointing out the feathered, shelled and webbed-toed characters of the park he knows so well: A great blue heron, a black cormorant flying low and graceful over the lake, a small but vocal bullfrog hiding in the lily pads.

As he walked, he bumped into fellow park local Sarah Wagner, and the pair discussed how many recently-hatched swan cygnets had survived after one was found with a fishing hook in its mouth and required rescue.

“Jeffrey helps us enormously with rescues,” Wagner said. 

Jones said he worries about the human impact on the wildlife of the park and is the type to dig a hole and bury a dead bird or raccoon he finds on the path or step in if he sees people harming animals.

“I’m not just a photographer — I’m an animal lover first,” he said.

The resilience of the natural world also inspires him, he said. Two years ago, he saw a turtle get one of its feet bitten off by another turtle. Two years later, that turtle has recovered and is still living his best park life (Jones has the photographic evidence to prove it). 

Recalling the damage to his own body makes him cry. Jones said he was employed as an ironworker in 2004, when he jumped in to prevent another employee from being injured and took the impact himself.

He suffered two broken vertebrae in his lower back, a pinched nerve in his neck and two herniated discs, he said. He also had to have his right rotator cuff removed. The injury has left him unable to do hard manual work. However, he has recently been working in the movie industry on the set of “Billions.”

He is also trained in reiki — an energetic healing practice — and loves to chat with fellow parkgoers and make joyful connections, he said.

While the amateur photographer could easily build a profile for himself with his impressive daily wildlife captures, that’s not why he does it, he said.

“I don’t have a website; I don’t sell photography. That is not my purpose. The purpose really is to make people smile.”

One of his biggest goals as a photographer certainly seems to be to make his youngest daughter smile.

After one day showing her a photo of a bird pooping that had her in fits of laughter, he decided to make a photo book for his kids, entirely dedicated to birds doing their business. Jones is now on his third book in the series. 

The books are an act of love and patience, he said.

“Sometimes it takes me four days to get one bird,” he laughed. “I can show you some amazing bird poop photos.” 

By Nell Lewis, CNN

(CNN) — A windswept Arctic fox, a murmuration of birds facing a snowstorm in the Himalayas, and a man and a boy in a flooded living room are among the images recognized in this year’s Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s Environmental Photography Award.

The prize, in its third edition, hopes to deliver a conservation message and show the importance of preserving nature. “Photography is a powerful tool for giving a voice to threatened wildlife and biodiversity,” said jury president Sergio Pitamitz in a press release.

The jury, made up of seven professional photographers, chose the winning photos for each category from a total of 10,000 images, submitted by 2,300 photographers from across the world.

The award’s grand prize went to an image of a distressed elephant trying to defend itself after being struck by a freight train in the Lopé National Park in Gabon, on the west coast of central Africa. The animal’s hip was shattered beyond repair and after it died, the park director distributed the meat amongst the local community.

The photograph serves as a tragic reminder of the consequences of human-animal conflict, which is increasing due to habitat loss from human activities, such as agriculture and development. Photographer Jasper Doest from the Netherlands believes the image “has the power to inspire change.”

Pitamitz noted that this single elephant “represents his entire species in the grip of an uncertain future.”

“Doest was able to react in a split second to this sudden event, documenting his story and giving a voice to the forest elephants of Africa,” he added.

Other images show the positive elements of humans’ relationship with nature. In the “Change Makers: Reasons for Hope” category, one image shows elephants being lifted by a crane into a truck and transported from Liwonde National Park to Kasungu National Park, in Malawi, southeastern Africa. While the process looks peculiar, it’s part of a conservation initiative designed to maintain healthy habitats in the parks and establish stable and resilient elephant populations.

Another shows a fake rhino poaching scene at the Wildlife Forensics Academy in South Africa, as rangers are being taught to collect vital forensic evidence required to convict poachers in court.

The winning images are now being exhibited in Monaco on the Promenade du Lavotto, before touring internationally.

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