Look familiar?
This photo has been plaguing me for years. It probably could’ve gotten me rich by now. How? Well, go type “zombie” into Google and you’ll see why. At the time of this writing, my zombie photo from 2004 is the #1 image result.
And it’s linked to someone else’s website.
In fact, since I originally took the photo on Halloween of 2004, this photo has been received millions of views. It has been used on movie posters, t-shirts, album covers and coffee mugs, all without licensing the photo from me or even asking for permission. This is in addition to its numerous uses on websites, MySpace pages, Facebook groups, as a forum avatar and, quite literally, thousands of other ways.
My laptop with the original was stolen in 2005, so I’ve spent all this time watching its success grow, while being unable to license the original or gain any sort of recognition or money from it. As of last night, I have finally found a high-resolution version of it. It is now on Flickr, and will be on stock photo websites very soon.
I’m too late, mind you. Its popularity has already run its course and there’s plenty of better zombie photos on Flickr. But hey, maybe at least this way people will know that I am the person who took it.