I found an interesting post on the net in 2009 titled ' Things Photographers Can Learn From Musicians ' by a person named Guy Tal . I reproduce the post below :

'It is a long standing tradition in photography that the person who clicks the shutter button gets to claim all accolades for the resulting image, whether it is their own original concept and composition or a blatant copy of someone else’s. Chalk it up to maturity of each art form, but in music there’s a clear distinction between composer and performer, between singer and songwriter, between “lyrics by” and “performed by”. Even the greatest guitar virtuoso will give credit to Led Zeppelin when playing “Stairway To Heaven” and the most celebrated classical pianist will proudly admit to performing a score originally written by Mozart, Bach, or Beethoven.

Have you ever seen a photo credit along the lines of “image by such-and-such, original composition by someone-else“?

Are you a performer or a composer? a vocalist or a songwriter? an original or a cover?'

Now this brings me to the question - Most Wildlife Photographers ( others too but since this forum is about wildlife photography I will stick to them ) rely heavily on the expertise / knowledge of professional / non professional guides / people to help them in the field. But do any of them acknowledge their contribution ? The copyright of the photograph is always in the photographer's name. Is that ethically correct or do we need to give equal credits ( financial and otherwise ) to the person whose knowledge made the image possible in the first place ?

I call this the White Hunter / Native Guide syndrome . The former cannot operate without the latter , but the hunter hogs the all the glory leaving a few crumbs to the guide in the form of tips etc.

A related example is the BBC film on the " discovery " of high altitude Tigers in Bhutan. The Bhutan Govt, and the locals were well aware of their existence , high altitude Tigers are not new . I quote from Ullas Karanth,s Way of the Tiger - Tiger habitats can range from sea level to elevations of almost 3000 meters . Occasionally they cross some mountain passes at 4000 meters in the Eastern Himalayas.

The movie was not well received by the Govt of Bhutan it will be a very long time before we see another wildlife movie from Bhutan.

Anyway I seem to have strayed from my original point. Do we need to learn from musicians and share credits ?