By now, you would have heard of Daryl Aiden Yow, some of whose really pretty Instagram photos look strikingly similar to photographs by others and posted on other sites:

While Yow has not responded to the queries we directed to him yet, we note that Yow apparently did speak to local website MustShareNews over the phone with regard to the "accusations" against him that challenge the integrity of his work.

Here are three main points he made in the interview:

1) He pays for the stock photos he uses, and tags the sources of the photos in his pictures

Yow said any stock photos he used are all paid for, and that he has the "receipts to prove it".

He also said that where photos that are taken from other photographers or image-sharing site Pinterest, Yow "would duly tag them in his posts".

2) For some of the photos he purchased, credits are not required

We'll just paste what MustShareNews wrote here:

Daryl elaborated that for instances where there were no photo credits, it may have been because the Shutterstock images featured required none after purchase. Describing his work as a “composite of different layers”, he used the example of a galaxy picture. Which may have required 4-5 different layers, and thus a combination of multiple stock image purchases to achieve. And further questioned what kind of “crediting standards” would be sufficient, for such work.

But here are restrictions on the use of Shutterstock pictures, even if they've been paid for with an account — see clause (i):

3) His clients know he uses stock photos in their paid posts, and did not intend to deceive his fans

He says his clients are aware of these stock photos and purchases, and has receipts that he gives to them at the end of a job for claims.

He also claims to have "not intentionally deceived his fans", and it was "a pity that it came across otherwise".

Additionally, he says he "never claimed that the photos have been taken live at the scene depicted."

We'll just go ahead and leave these here:

Meanwhile, it may also be worth adding that MustShareNews's article initially did not carry the section it calls "Fact-Checking", and under an earlier part of its article, it added the following line:

"However, netizens have observed that he only began tagging related parties after the scandal blew up on social media."

Related stories:

Top photo adapted from post from Instagram user @darylaiden, who may or may not have purchased it from Shutterstock

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