“Facebook Update.” A nature photographer came up with that perfect caption for a photo he took of a snow monkey in a Japanese hot springs doing what humans are always seen doing—using their iPhones.
The comical snow monkey image taken by Marsel van Oosten of The Netherlands at the Jigokudani Monkey Park in Japan is among 50 finalists (out of 41,000 entries) for the People’s Choice Award in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition by The Natural History Museum of London. Public online voting is open until September 5.
GrindTV Outdoor reached out to Marsel van Oosten to get the story behind the snow monkey image. The professional photographer who operates photography tours worldwide, is currently on a tour in Windhoek, Namibia, but he pointed us to the description of the snow monkey photo he gave 500px ISO.
Earlier this year, he was leading a tour to the natural hot springs of Jigokudani to photograph the famous Japanese macaques, a.k.a. snow monkeys.
Soon, tourists from a nearby resort showed up taking photos with iPads and iPhones. One tourist began moving her iPhone closer and closer to the snow monkey after each shot.
“Suddenly, the macaque grabbed the iPhone from her hands—and quickly moved away towards the middle of the hot spring!” van Oosten told 500px ISO.
The funny incident resulted in the above photo, which caught the online attention of actor Ashton Kutcher earlier this month. Van Oosten wrote on Facebook that Kutcher posted a filtered version of the snow monkey image and posted it on his Facebook page. Van Oosten told GrindTV Outdoor that Kutcher removed his watermark and replaced it with a tiny watermark that says aplusk, Kutcher’s screen name on Twitter and Instagram.
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