News Corp’s David Caird, finalist for press photographer of the year, altered a photo he took of baby gorilla Kimye at Melbourne zoo by removing straw

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

One of the finalists for the Nikon-Walkley press photographer of the year award News Corp’s David Caird has withdrawn after the judges discovered one of his images had been manipulated.

The image, which had been digitally manipulated, was of baby gorilla Kimye, taken by Caird at Melbourne zoo in March this year.

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Guardian Australia understands the photograph submitted to the Walkleys as part of a portfolio was altered using a technique – called cloning – to remove a piece of straw. Another photographer who shot the same scene noticed the piece of straw was missing and alerted Walkley award management.

The Herald Sun photographer was one of three nominees for the 2015 Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year award, along with Andrew Quilty of Oculi and fellow News Corp staffer Gary Ramage. The winner will be announced at the 60th Walkley Awards on 3 December.

Ramage has already won the Nikon-Walkley Photo of the Year for his work Ice Nation.



A month after Ramage’s win was announced, the Walkleys has withdrawn Caird’s nomination. All his photos have disappeared from the official site.

The acting chief executive of the Walkley Foundation, Louisa Graham, said in a statement Caird had voluntarily withdrawn his entry because of a minor technical breach in a single photo.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A composite showing the difference between two similar photographs of gorillas by different photographers. The top photograph, taken by David Caird of News Corp, is alleged to have been manipulated in order to remove the straw. The bottom photograph was taken by a different photographer at the same event.

“The judges praised David’s entry but acknowledged that one of the photographs inadvertently submitted as part of David’s body of work had not met all the required terms and conditions of the Walkley awards,” Graham said.

Sources said complaints were made to the Walkleys because professional photographers did not consider it a minor technical breach.

“Photojournalism has an important role to play in capturing real events as they happen in the moment,” Graham said. “News is the ‘first draft of history’, and we rely on press photographers to present accurate and unmanipulated images.

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“The terms and conditions clearly state, ‘No cloning, montaging or digital manipulation other than cropping, ‘digital spotting’, burning and dodging is permitted’, and even superficial alterations can call into question the veracity of images.

“The Nikon-Walkley Awards uphold the highest standard in Australian photo-journalism, recognising and rewarding excellence across five categories: Sports Photography, News Photography, Photo of the Year, Feature Photographic Essay and Press Photographer of the Year.”

The 2015 photo judges included the editor-in-chief of Australian Geographic, Chrissie Goldrick, the photographic editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, Mags King, the picture editor of the Herald Sun, Cameron Tandy, Fairfax photographer Nick Moir and the chair of the Walkley advisory board, Kate McClymont.

This is the second change to the nominations in as many months from the Walkleys, after citations for a Fairfax entry about fraudster Belle Gibson were amended twice after there were complaints about the claims made in the original Age citation.