Bill Watterson explains that he was filming video in the science department at Middlebury College in Vermont using a GoPro camera. The device was set to automatically take several photos of the octopus per second, but the octopus turned the camera around and starting shooting photos of the filmmaker and a student.

Some questioned the authenticity of the images, but Watterson released a GIF that shows the curious octopus playing with the camera and then the camera lands in a position where it captures Watterson and the student.