Photographer captures stunning images of ‘rivers of rust’ in Canada
CNN’s Isa Soares speaks with photographer Edward Burtynsky about his exhibit on climate change, which highlights nature’s beauty and our destruction of it.
Taylor Swift’s father, Scott Swift, will not face charges for allegedly punching a photographer in Australia, New South Wales Police Force confirmed to CBS News.
The incident occurred in February when Swift was in Melbourne for her Eras Tour. The pop star and her father, then 71, were coming off a yacht at the Neutral Bay Wharf, where veteran paparazzi photographer Ben McDonald was taking photos of them, the Associated Press reported at the time.
In a statement to CBS News at the time, a representative for Taylor Swift told CBS News that “two individuals were aggressively pushing their way towards Taylor, grabbing at her security personnel, and threatening to throw a female staff member into the water.”
McDonald told police Swift assaulted him. “There were about four or five security there and at one point, one of the American security started shoving his umbrella into me and my camera and then Taylor got in her car,” McDonald then told the AP.
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“Someone else came running at me and punched me in the left side of my face. Initially, I thought it was an Australian security that was trying to be the hero of the moment in front of the Americans, but as it turned out it was her father,” McDonald added.
McDonald reported the alleged incident to police but was not seriously injured, AFP reports.
The New South Wales Police Force did not release the names of the parties involved but confirmed they were investigating a 71-year-old man who allegedly assaulted a 51-year-old man at 2:30 a.m.
McDonald later identified Scott Swift from an online picture. “In 23 years, I haven’t been assaulted and punched in the chops, particularly by the talent’s dad,” he told the AP.
Scott Swift soon left Australia, police said. Taylor Swift also left via private jet after seven sold-out stadium concerts in the country.
Fans, who dubbed the star’s dad “Papa Swift,” defended Scott in social media posts.
The police told CBS News that after investigating the incident, they decided they “will take no further action in relation to the matter.”
Before Women’s History Month ends, Lee College hosted an ‘artist talk’ session on Tuesday at its art gallery for FotoFest. This year’s FotoFest is a collaboration between Lee College and Glassell School of Art, an art studio affiliated with the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. Lee Art Director Elena Lopez-Poirot is also a Glassell instructor and organized the alliance.
The guest speakers were Houston photographers and Glassell School of Art instructors Mary Hawkins and Melody Locke.
A photographer unexpectedly captured the first-of-a-kind image of a seal spitting a jet of water at a sea eagle — a defensive behavior that was not previously known about.
Photographer and bird-watcher Clare Jacobs was delighted when she spotted a rare white-tailed eagle on the Isle of Wight in the U.K. on January 3, 2022.
Clare had trained her Nikon DSLR camera and 600mm telephoto lens on the eagle when she noticed a grey seal moving in the water underneath.
The large mammal emerged out of the waves, barked at the bird, before opening its mouth and and spitting a jet of water at the sea eagle above it.
As she took the photograph, Clare did not realize that she had just captured something that has never been reported happening from a seal to an eagle. In fact, interactions between top-level predators are basically non-existent.
Clare sent the photos to her daughter Megan Jacobs who is a paleontologist from the University of Portsmouth’s School of the Environment, Geography, and Geosciences and fellow paleontologist David Martill.
Captured on camera, the encounter showed the grey seal initially emitting barks of warning, but then resorting to an unprecedented defensive tactic: spitting a stream of water directly at the eagle.
From the photos, Megan and David realized that the seal might have spat at the eagle in an attempt to drive the bird away as a way of defending the prey that they’re both after: the fish in the water.
In a paper published last month, David and Megan reveal how Clare’s extraordinary photos shed new light on the dynamics between these two apex predators.
“Sightings of grey seals and white-tailed eagles are frequent events now on the Isle of Wight, but interactions between these two species have so far not been reported,” Megan says in a statement to University of Portsmouth News.
“This is the first record of an interaction between these two top predators and the first report of grey seals using spitting as a means of defense or deterrence against an aerial foe.
“The spitting may be a strategy to exclude white-tailed eagles from competing for prey as they’re in direct competition for fish resources.”
Clare adds: “I’m always thrilled to catch photos of the eagles. But catching such a rare and never-before-seen interaction made my year!”
According to The New York Times, the photographs makes grey seals one of the few species known to spit — joining cobras, which can shoot venom from their fangs into the eyes of would-be predators, with impressive accuracy.
Image credits: All photos by Clare Jacobs.
