(Photo Copyright John Stanton 2006)
Over the past six months, while culling through approximately 40,000 photos for my first photography book, I’ve scrutinized both mutts and gems. Shots I’ve overlooked while working on a deadline, as well as favorites I’ve simply not been able to find a home for, are making the cut for “Parallax,” scheduled for release this summer.
Some photos possess their own unique points of interest, such as IMG_3485, which was shot the day before Thanksgiving, 2006, at an undisclosed industrial dumpsite.
According to the EXIF info, 3484 was shot at precisely 3:27:00 P.M.; the subject in question was photographed at 3:27:06, and the next frame at 3:27: 22. Frames 3484 and 3485 were both landscape orientation - 3485 was zoomed-in a bit more than the previous shot. 3486 was a zoomed portrait shot of the vaguely humanoid form of concrete and rebar.
There is an object in frame 3485 that does not appear in the adjacent frames. The insets in the photo above depict the object at 400% and 2000% magnification.
It appears to be a solid, ovoid or disc shaped object, of unknown configuration, composition and purpose. It doesn’t appear to be motion-blurred, as best I can tell, and seems to be too detailed, solid, stable and high-up to be merely a passing insect. The photo was taken at 1/1000th of a second.
The previous frame, 3484, was shot at a wider angle, from the same position I took 3485. There appear to be no wings, fins or aeronautical stabilizers on the object. Since only 6 seconds elapsed between exposures, I think it is fair to rule out balloons, clouds and blimps as possible explanations. Frame 3486 captured less of the sky than the previous two shots, but still, there is no such anomaly present.
What it isn’t seems to be apparent: what it is, is not. Hence the term “Unidentified.” Make of it what you will.
