Well this one goes out to the male photographers so inclined to take on the feminist force that is Celeste Barber: Don’t.
The comedian and social media star took to her Instagram story on Friday to explain exactly why her most recent comparison photo – where she parodies viral photos of female models and celebrities – was pulled from the platform.
“So I’m totally fighting with that guy who reported me and all those things,” she told her followers.
“He’s calling me a leech and he’s saying that if I was on his side of the world that he’d have his lawyers take me down. And then [my husband] said ‘tell him if he was on this side of the world, that your husband would slap him silly.’ I’m getting internet threats,” she told her 2.9 million followers.
“I got into him, don’t worry.”
Listen: As a feminist, do you ‘need’ to love your body? Jessie Stephens argues why not, on Mamamia Out Loud. Post continues after audio.
During the week, Barber re-created – in her hilariously characteristic style – a photo of a naked model doing the splits across a doorway. The original photographer asked her to credit the photo, so she did. It wasn’t enough, he said.
“So he commented on the photo saying I didn’t credit him or the model, and fair enough I didn’t know who they were so then I tagged them both, but he is still pissed because I didn’t credit them properly. I think he wants a full blown f**king fanfare, like here is another man taking a photo of a woman with no clothes on.”
Barber went on to share a message exchange with the unnamed photographer in question:
“I have no problem with the model posting the image, she also have posted the original and she has an implicit permission to do so, nakedness has nothing to do with it [sic],” he wrote to her.
“I like what you do but HATE when people steal from me, and when done by someone to directly or indirectly gain financial gains (for example by drawing them to YouTube who pay money based on view numbers) I do what I can to stop the spread. Be wise onwards, but most importantly stop being a leach [sic].”
In her response, Barber was expectedly brilliant and kickarse:
"I will no longer use your 'work' and you will gain no more followers from my account. I do not earn a cent from my YouTube account. My work makes people laugh, something I feel you need to do a lot more of. Thanks for your feedback, I wish you all the success, not that you need it as men exploiting women and calling them names seems to be big business."
Since then, Barber's army of supporters has been sharing the image on their respective accounts because the comedian can't on her own.
And that's, we imagine, why you don't try to tear down a woman with a supremely sharp wit and nearly three million followers.
Top Comments
I love Celeste, I think she's awesome. However, as a photographer I do understand his frustration with having his work used without permission but I do think he took it too far. I think they're both in the wrong.
OK, he may have been rude, but I can't blame the guy for wanting to be credited correctly for his work. (I notice we're only seeing part of the conversation here, too.)