'I'm depressed and can't sleep': how a macaque selfie ruined a photographer's career

Briton Dave Slater, who specializes in wildlife photography and has received many awards for this work, says that the fatal photo cost him the loss of all his savings and led to the end of his career. Writes about it Zvezdets.

Photo: Shutterstock

At the time the scandalous picture was taken, published more than 50 million times, photographer Dave Slater worked in a national park in northern Indonesia, just 50 miles from the equator. In the 45-degree heat, he dragged his 18 kg backpack, tripod, camera, several expensive lenses and a pack of damp cookies as food.

The last week of his one-month trip, which he planned and saved for almost seven years, was ending. During this voyage, lugging with all his cargo through the rainforest, the photographer lost more than 10 kg.

“It was really exhausting,” he says today while sitting in his house in Chepstow in Wales.

His goal was to photograph endangered species of animals and use the resulting images to draw attention to their serious situation. The Holy Grail was a very rare crested black macaque — an endangered monkey with a completely black face found on only two Indonesian islands.

“There are only a few hundred of them left, and before I saw only one photo of these monkeys,” Dave says. - I was admired by their look, hairstyles, facial expressions. It was the strongest impression of my expedition! ”

When the local guide brought Dave to the right place, the photographer was simply stunned: “It was just amazing, even surreal.” A flock of more than 20 black monkeys played with each other, Dave hid 150 meters from them and started shooting using a long lens.

On the subject: A resident of California photographed the sunset: his shot broke hundreds of Android smartphones

Gradually, he managed to gain the trust of animals and get closer to them. By the next day, curious monkeys were everywhere: digging in the hair of the photographer, rummaging in his backpack, stole his cookies and were especially interested in the camera. They seemed enchanted by the sound of shutter buzzing and tried to press the button again and again to hear it.

Then Dave tried to launch the “self-portrait” function (the word “selfie” was not used at that time yet), and the monkeys rushed to the remote start button. In the end, the amused photographer decided to let them handle it themselves. The animals eagerly pressed the button, while grinning at their reflections in the lens.

Among the hundreds of resulting images (many came out of focus), one remarkable monkey self-portrait stood out: eyes twinkle with amber, strong teeth expose a kind of smirk ...
Returning to Britain, Dave earned several thousand pounds from the sale of fresh pictures, having recouped the costs of a trip to Indonesia. And after a while that self-portrait of the monkey gained incredible popularity: it has been published worldwide more than 50 million times.

But instead of bringing financial satisfaction and well-deserved professional recognition to Dave Slater, this shot caused him a lot of worries, was worth all his savings and marked the end of his career as a photographer.

All elements of XNUMXst century farce can be found in this story, including the crazy disagreement over copyright law in a California court and the “inhumanity” of a charity that filed a lawsuit against Dave on behalf of a six-year-old male macaque, claiming he is the rightful owner of copyright to the ill-fated shot.

As a result, for the last six years, the photographer has been involved in what can be called one of the most meaningless, idiotic, costly and aggressive legal battles of all time. So who owns the copyright? Dave or the monkey?

The photographer himself never doubted: “Of course, it was my copyright! I chose the background. I adjusted the best lighting. I selected the lens and I processed all the images. All this was my work, and it required a lot of perseverance and effort. "

The problems began when California blog Techdirt and Wikipedia announced that the image belonged to a monkey and uploaded it to their websites, allowing free use of the image.
Since this was an attempt on the rights of Dave and his livelihood, he asked Techdirt and Wikipedia to stop using his photos, but was refused. Dave decided to file a lawsuit for nearly £ 18 ($ 000), while saying: "Copyright is a bit wider than pressing the shutter button."

In court, it turned out that it was impossible to explicitly give the rights to the picture to either Dave or the monkey. As a result, the only primates who managed to make money on this process were lawyers.

Two years ago, as the proceedings progressed, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) human rights organization instituted legal proceedings on behalf of the monkey, whom they named Naruto, stating that it should be declared the owner of the image. And she demanded the right to dispose of the funds due to the macaque.

PETA claimed that the monkey was unable to file its own claim “due to inaccessibility and incapacity”. Dave says that, for obvious reasons, his lawyers saw this lawsuit as a joke. Unfortunately, everything turned out to be much more serious.

In 2019, a U.S. judge ruled against PETA, stating that animals were not included in the Copyright Act. He said: "Although Congress and the president can extend the protection of the law to both animals and humans, there is no indication that this is done in the Copyright Act."

However, PETA appealed against this decision. The case has returned to court in San Francisco. Arguments include absurd propositions such as:

• Does PETA have a close relationship with Naruto to represent him in court;
• the ability to provide written copyright notice to the macaque community;
• whether Naruto was damaged due to the refusal to recognize him as the owner of the copyright to the picture.

Dave, who had to participate in online meetings because he could not afford a flight to California, felt that he was losing the feeling of reality: “A monkey sued me! I had almost two years to get used to it, but it still seems unrealistic to me ... "

Moreover, he is convinced that PETA allegedly defends the interests of some kind of the wrong macaque. “The picture is a female!”

Dave Slater is an energetic man who has always been pleased with unexpected life quirks, but six years of transatlantic legal disputes, uncertainty, disappointment, and online bullying have greatly influenced him.

“I am depressed and cannot sleep,” he says. - But the most difficult thing is the feeling of insolvency. I can’t provide for my family. ”

He has to share his mortgage in a modest house in Chepstow with his wife, and today his wife is forced to support her seven-year-old daughter only. Dave says his car has been dead weight in front of the house for two years now, because the photographer cannot afford auto repair. And all because he is forced to spend thousands and thousands of pounds on trying to protect the rights to his work.

Dave’s lawyer is confident of victory and promises to "deal" with all these unforeseen expenses.

“My daughter tells everyone that it was her dad who photographed that monkey, but today I have no opportunity to give her something. I cannot send her to the school I would like to, or even think about paying for her studies at the university when the time comes. Although the revenue from that only ill-fated shot would have been enough for this, ”says the photographer.

On the subject: 10 of spectacular tourist spots that are forbidden to photograph

The most annoying thing is that Dave stopped taking pictures: “The magic is gone. I pick up the camera from time to time to try to bring back joy, but it seems I can no longer. It was my life. I did not plan to make a lot of money - I just wanted to get a fair salary for my work. ”

Once in the world of lawyers with fabulous fees, fanatics, animal rights advocates and online trolls, he felt all his cruelty: "I am very ashamed of all these attempts to take control of my own work and still blame me for greed."

The truth is that Dave's main love is nature. He grew up in Bolton, obsessed with animals. Every birthday and Christmas he asked for books as a gift about birds or Africa. He received a master's degree in geological sciences, and also completed postgraduate studies specializing in volcanic gases.

With such qualifications, Slater could have made a fortune if he worked in oil conglomerates, but after 14 years in academia he chose photography and animals for himself.

“I wanted to follow my heart - I needed a stress-free life,” says Dave. He worked as a window cleaner and gardener to feed while he honed his skills as a photographer.

Dave has trips to the Arctic, Africa, the Philippines and Costa Rica. He has dedicated his life to animal welfare - becoming an RSPB photographer and working for The Wildlife Trusts and the Trust of Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust. But as talented as you are, the life of a freelance photographer is financially unstable.

“You take thousands of images, hoping that one or two pictures can be sold in order to pay bills and finance the next trip,” says Dave.

And then a grinning macaque appeared.

Ironically, Dave was a little disappointed when he first looked at the results of that photo shoot: “They were slightly underexposed, and the mouth turned out to be a bit out of focus.”

But one shot was successful. A few hours after uploading the image to the photographer’s website in 2011, he became interested in one of the news agencies, and the image was published in many newspapers.

Soon, appearing on social networks and blogs, he became viral. “It was a wonderful moment,” Dave says, recalling that one commentator was joking then, they say, the monkey is also due. During the year, the image brought the photographer 2500 pounds ($ 3). He hoped for a small but steady income from rights to republish. But then the picture appeared on Wikipedia (a free resource for everyone) - and hopes ran out. In 150, Dave says, his monkey selfie became the most popular image on Google, eclipsing even Kim Kardashian.

But all this ended rather sadly. Now that the case has returned to court, Dave has already learned to deal with indignation. He is forced to wait another two months for the decision, hoping that common sense will still triumph.

Having abandoned the photo, Slater retrained into a tennis coach and became a professional dog walker. When asked if he would like to never encounter that unfortunate flock of rare crested black macaques, Dave replies in surprise: “No, no! The photo helped to achieve what I was going to do - protect the monkeys. And it was worth all the effort. Without such attention, they would most likely have disappeared as a species: the locals fried and ate them. And now they are universal favorites, nicknamed the "selfie monkey."

Read also on ForumDaily:

A resident of California photographed the sunset: his shot broke hundreds of Android smartphones

People who do not exist: how digital models change our lives

13 inspiring stories of good deeds in the era of the coronavirus

The illusion of choice and fear: how technology makers manipulate us

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.