That Famous Photo of the Loch Ness Monster: In 1934 and the decades that followed, this image was known as the "Surgeon's Photograph." It was viewed by many (including the Daily Mail) as indisputable proof of the existence of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. After all, just look at it. It has to be a lake dinosaur. What else could it be? ...How about a toy submarine purchased from Woolworths with a wooden head attached? Because that's what photographer Robert Kenneth Wilson eventually admitted it was.