. . . a bunch of camels walking in the desert!
This picture was taken directly above a bunch of camels walking in the desert in Turkey.
But wait! If it’s taken from a perspective above the camels then why do the silhouettes look like we’re viewing them edge-on? Is this like one of those scenes in 50’s B-movies where ground-level stock footage is wrongly used to simulate what you’d see from an airplane?
Nope.
Look closely.
(CHT to the readers who e-mailed!)
Author: Jimmy Akin
Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."
View all posts by Jimmy Akin
That’s cool.
“This photo sponsored by the RJ Reynold’s company and your pal who Joe Camel, who reminds you that nothing is more useful in the desert than a pack of Camels…”
This was on Snopes. It’s like an optical illusion.
shadows…
They’d better be quick. I see wormsign.
1) I’d question whether the “picture was taken directly above a bunch of camels walking in the desert…” the picture looks like it was taken from the air, but not “directly above”.
2) This looks like a false-color image. Perhaps an infrared image, taken at night.
3) The white in the picture has me stumped. At least one white spot slices through a “camel”. What would account for that, I have no idea.
4) Photoshop!
The picture is taken from above and the dark images are not the camels but their shadows. The Sun is shining from “under”the dark things. Ergo the white things are the camels. There is even two riders aparently.
Some Day,
Shadows, yes.
Still, there are two problems:
1) Some of the camels, have both white and black spots, while some only have black spots in the feet area. If the camels are the white spots, how is it that there are shadows and no camels. (And why is it there is a white “camel” that splits a shadow (look in the lower left quanrant)?
2) The angle of the camels suggest that the camels on the left are going up a hill, while the camels on the right are going downhill. With such long shadows cast by the camels, the sun must be low in the sky. Why doesn’t the hill(s) cast a shadow?
Help?
Brian,
Remember Jimmy saying this is “from a perspective above the camels”.
This should clue you in to the answers to your questions.
And why is it there is a white “camel” that splits a shadow
He is standing in another camel’s shadow.
look up optical illusions and camels…
Is this a photograph of actual camels? because when I look more closely, it seems to be a photo of a clay pot with camels painted on it using black glaze, or something like that.
I LOOKED IT UP ON GOOGLE!
Shadows. It’s a cool picture.
finally saw it! very cool.
doh! I only had to stare at it for 15 minutes before I broke down and read the comments…
DUH!
Thanks Jimmy.
I had to zoom in, but I finally saw that this is DIRECTLY over the camels, so the camels are thin slits to our eyes, since it is DIRECTLY over them.
A little fire is quickly trodden out. Digory.