Creative, commercial photographers.

Happy snappy monkey turns photographer

July 6, 2011

A photography session turned truly primate when a cheeky monkey decided to take over the camera. Commercial photographer David Slater was visiting an Indonesian national park on the island of Sulawesi where he befriended a family of crested black macaque monkeys.

“I walked with them for about three days in a row,” Slater said. “They befriended us and showed absolutely no aggression – they were just interested in the things I was carrying.

“Despite probably never having any contact with humans before, they didn’t seem to feel threatened by our presence.”

When Slater turned his head after setting up his camera on the tripod, little did he know the monkey business going on behind him.

“They were quite mischievous, jumping all over my equipment. One hit the button. The sound got his attention and he kept pressing it. At first it scared the rest of them away but they soon came back – it was amazing to watch.

“He must have taken hundreds of pictures by the time I got my camera back.”

The resulting images feature a series of posing monkeys having the time of their life as they played around with their new toy.

While these monkeys may have discovered the art of photography, let’s just say they haven’t quite yet evolved to give commercial photographers from Leeds and across the UK a true run for their money.

Crested black macaques are a very rare and endangered species, found in Sulawesi and some of Indonesia’s neighbouring islands.