Photographer Terje Helleso admitted he had faked hundreds of wildlife images using Photoshop after observers spotted a Lynx in its winter coat - in a summer photoCelebrated wildlife photographer Terje Helleso, 47, has be caught faking hundreds of photos over several years, and has been stripped of his 2010 Swedish Photographer of the Year award as a result.
The Norwegian, currently based in the small town of Mullsjo in southern Sweden, was initially called out by a hunting association official in August, who spotted a lynx in one of Helleso's summer photos wearing its winter coat.
It turned out that he had simply Photoshopped together his images using stock photography.
Terje Helleso 'at work' - the photographer was stripped of his Swedish photography awards after he admitted faking shotsHelleso has been involved in a project to document the cat, a native of Sweden under acute environmental pressure.
He denied the charges, but Swedish website Flashback.org started examining his images and turned up multiple instances of what looked to be photo-fraud.
Flashback set up a website dedicated to exposing the artist, showing clearly that stock pictures of animals had been transported from their original homes to Helleso's work.
One of Terje Helleso's images - many were simply stolen from stock photographySpeaking on Swedish radio this week, the humbled cheat explained: 'I was under pressure, mostly from myself, and I gave in to temptation.'
He added: 'Looking back, I’m surprised that I got away with it for so long, and that I managed to keep up appearances to my wife and everyone else.'
source: dailymail
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