Friday, July 18, 2008

‘UFO’ images

tahoe_ufo.jpgFor the past couple of weeks, these images of what purports to be some kind of aircraft have been generating a lot of interest in the online UFO community. And judging from a number of personal emails I’ve received, are now spreading out into the wider world.

I’m 90% sure that these don’t even constitute photographs of a physical object and are a CGI creation, perhaps well-placed viral marketing for an upcoming video game or film (Transformers has been suggested). I suppose by even running them here I’m contributing to the virus’ spread. Ah well.

While I’m no photographic expert, something about the images just doesn’t ‘feel’ right – partly it’s a simple matter of ‘too good to be true’, partly the light reflecting off the craft’s surface is too cold for the surrounding background.

Anyway, I’ll cease my speculation and defer to someone who seems to know what they’re talking about - this statement from Mark McCandlish came to me via the physicist and raconteur Jack Sarfatti:

From Mark McCandlish: capitola_ufo.jpg

“On the “alien probe” photos, I agree; this looks like some very imaginative model and photoshop work. While I was working for General Dynamics and the special effects company Introvision back in the early 1980’s, I had occasion to work in photo retouching, matte painting, as well as create scale models that were photographed with the intention of making them look like actual, full-sized weapons systems. (Among other things). Christopher Ross, the brother of my college room mate, worked as a model builder for Industrial Light & Magic. I saw the original models for the Enterprise starship for the second Star Trek feature film as it neared completion along with its scaled “space dock”. I have seen the best people in the motion picture industry at work, have visited their studios on multiple occasions, and closely examined their model work. This is amateurish by comparison. Heck, it even uses the exact same tone of flat, gray gelcoat that model builders use in their fiberglass mockups! The uniformity of the exterior color is one clue to the fact that this is a model. There are no seams, slight variations in surface color or texture as one would expect from a thirty to sixty foot craft constructed of multiple panels to develop the surface. I believe that it is probably no larger than six to seven feet in its longest dimension. Size would have to be limited to be able to string it up with 90 pound fishing line! LOL

Another give-away is the brightly illuminated underside, while retaining a nice, perfectly exposed sky.

I have spent twenty seven years photographing military aircraft, (both from the back seat of F-15’s, F-4’s, F-16’s, and the A-7K and on the ramp) as well as painting illustrations of them, and I can tell you that a large vehicle, (as this “craft” alleges to be) would have had its ventral surface (belly) completely blacked out in shadow in order to have such a perfectly exposed sky while hovering above treetop level. Conversely, had the underside been so beautifully exposed, the much brighter level of light from the sky should have been washed out and almost white. But in order to satisfy the light exposure as shown, one COULD accomplish that by having a six foot model photographed from about six feet off the ground in broad daylight. With the secondary lightsource of the ground in such proximity, one might actually be able to balance the two lightsources: the sky and the ventral surface illuminated by reflected light from the ground.

This all says “MODEL” loud and clear to me. In support of this theory, note that there is a slight warmth to the ventral lighting suggesting a nearby reflected lightsource, such as the tan-colored, dried grass seen elsewhere in the photos. That sort of reflected light could never balance with nor overpower the lightsource of the sky from thirty to seventy feet off the ground passing over the trees.

And to have another guy jump in with an additional set of shots of a remarkably similar craft only says “conspiracy” in my book. Note the vegetation. It’s the same in both sets even though the photos are supposed to have been taken miles apart on different days. Bottom line: I SAY THEY’RE FAKE!”

So there you go!

Last month (April 2007), my wife and I were on a walk when we noticed a very large, very strange "craft" in the sky. My wife took a picture with her cell phone camera (first photo below). A few days later a friend (and neighbor) lent me his camera and came with me to take photos of this "craft". We found it and took a number of very clear photos. Picture #4 is taken from right below this thing and I must give my friend credit as I was not brave enough to get close enough to take this picture myself!

The craft is almost completely silent and moves very smoothly. It usually moves slowly until it decides to take off. Then it moves VERY quickly and is out of sight in the blink of an eye. MORE THAN ANYTHING I simply want to understand what this is and why it is here?

We found your show with Google and I have listened for a few nights now. I have decided that if anyone can help me understand what this thing is, it is you and your audience. I must admit I am deeply unsettled by this thing. I have never seen anything like this in my life... Location: I would prefer not to say for now.

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Chad wrote back to us with additional info: Thank you so much for posting my photos! I hope someone can help identify this... First of all, I see this thing VERY often. Since it first appeared, I have probably seen this thing maybe 8 different times since the first appearance. My friend and I went out the next day after I first saw it to get the photos, but it was not there. Then we tried again the next day, and we found it within like 30 minutes and followed it for a while. Most of the time I see it out of windows in my house, in the distance. but I would say almost half of the hikes I have gone on in my area, I have seen it very close. It is very easy to photograph and...many neighbors aside from my friend have also seen it.

It is almost totally silent but not quite. It makes kind of "crackling" noises. It's hard to describe them but they are only intermittent and not very loud, but you can notice them. Sometimes there is a very slight hum that sounds kind of mechanical, almost like when you are near very large power lines. But it is nothing loud like a jet engine, it is very quiet for the most part.

It moves almost like an insect. If you have ever seen a bug on a pond, it is kind of like that. It is VERY smooth and slow most of the time, but then every now and then it will rotate very quickly and go VERY fast into another direction, then stop, and repeat the process all over again. There is just something very unnatural about the way it moves.

Also, I have had maybe 4 headaches in the last week, and I am normally not the kind of person who really ever gets them. Also my wife has been tired and fatigued lately. She is about a month pregnant, and the doctor said fatigue is normal around this time, but I worry that it is a lot. Basically what I'm worried is that this "craft" has got some kind of radiation or something. Like I said, it sounds like power lines if you get close enough to it. Obviously I am worried for our health, especially with a baby on the way. I dont know if they are related, but again, this is why I really hope someone can answer these questions!

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