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Photographer Caught Photoshopping His Photos From Stock Pictures Denies Everything Until He’ s Totally Exposed

Rokas Laurinavičius and
Mindaugas Balčiauskas
Let's get this out of the way: there's nothing wrong with a photomontage. However, when someone is digitally manipulating other people's work to pass off as their own and using it to advertise to potential clients, there's a huge problem. And it looks like Ben Sheehan, a pet and animal photographer from Auckland, New Zealand, was doing exactly that. Photo Stealers, an online "wall of shame" that exposes thieves in the industry, called out Sheehan after he started blocking those who were trying to expose him on social media. "I had multiple submissions to me after a fellow photographer had suspicions and confirmed that his recent award-winning image was a stock image," the person behind Photo Stealers told Bored Panda. "I dug in more when messaged and many of his images had elements that didn't seem right (lighting, shadows [and other things] didn't match up). After making the initial post with all of the images I had found so far, I found even more when local photographers pointed out the locations he used that did not permit dogs." More info: Instagram

Pet photographer Ben Sheehan posted quite a few stunning shots on his social media accounts where he advertises to potential customers

Image credits: Photostealers

He explicitly said that the photos are real

Image credits: Photostealers Image credits: Photostealers Photo Stealers highlighted that Sheehan's story was similar to the 2019 controversy surrounding Lisa Saad, who used others' photos without credit in composites that helped her win numerous international awards as well as become ambassadors for brands such as Ilford, Manfrotto, Epson, and Tamron. While Sheehan's dirty business hasn't gotten him that far, he too entered competitions using lies and deception.

One of his most impressive shots even made it to the 2021 International Dog Photography Awards

Image credits: Photostealers In fact, he was a finalist in the 2021 Dog Photography Awards (his entry has since been revoked), and he has won numerous prizes in GuruShots contests. Sheehan's submission to the Dog Photography Awards was created using a Getty Images photo of a waterfall in New Zealand as the template for the background. Unfortunately, stunts like this are somewhat regular. "It's not always the case but it's very common for a photographer who has used parts of images or entire images they did not create themselves to make up stories about the image in question," the founder of Photo Stealers explained. "Photographers I featured before have entire elaborate stories about how they were at the place they were not, how they captured the image they did not and/or about the subjects in said photo. I once had a photographer who stole an image of an infant post a story alongside it about how the child had passed away. The real child was very much alive." Image credits: Photostealers