Awesome Picture

[phiggins]

First thing I said when I saw it was...Holy sh..!

THIS IS A PICTURE THAT SOMEONE TOOK WHO WORKS ON AN OIL RIG. HE WAS GOING TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THE LIGHTNING AND WAS UNAWARE OF THE TORNADO UNTIL THE LIGHTNING ILLUMINATED IT.

[Talbot]

I would have needed a change of trousers if I had seen that!

[imagine2frolic]

Sometimes ignorance is bliss. This would have been one of them!

[Vasco]

Is it real or is it photoshop? I'm thinking the dark band two thirds up the derrick should be white or lighter at least.

[john540]

Reminds me of the time I was standing outside watching the lightning off in the distance and mortars or rockets started raining down.

[skatastrophy]

Original image taken by Fred Smith in 1993 of a waterspout illuminated by lightening on Lake Okeechobee, Florida. Here's an article about his famous photo.



The photo posted by the OP is a poor attempt at photoshopping.

[Cowboy Sailer]

Is it real or is it photoshop? I'm thinking the dark band two thirds up the derrick should be white or lighter at least.
__________________
Rick I
Toronto

Take it from a former derrick man that the dark band two thirds of the way up the derrick is a canvas encloser to give the derrick man some protection from the cold wind. The derrick man leans out into space and slaps a stand of pipe into the elevators as they come roaring up toward him at about 30 mph. The derricks that I worked on used three joints of about 30 feet each to make one stand. Working derricks is hard, scary, dangerous work but it paid 75 cents per hour more than working on the floor so I had to go for it. The man that took my place was hit by the traveling blocks and knocked to the drilling rig floor ninety feet below, killing him. The operator that made the error was his daddy. I still shudder to remember it. The operator was later burned to death by an oil well fire.
I survived the oil patch and kept all my fingers and toes and I am proud of it!
We kept on working during thunderstorms in the Texas plains when our derrick was the highest thing for miles in any direction.
God spoke and I became a missionary. It is a lot cleaner and safer too!

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by skatastrophy

Original image taken by Fred Smith in 1993 of a waterspout illuminated by lightening on Lake Okeechobee, Florida. Here's an article about his famous photo.



The photo posted by the OP is a poor attempt at photoshopping.

One of the problems with the internet, can't believe what you read or see.

[Boomp]

Can we get the great white shark in there too? Seriously though, a water spout w lightening. Hmmm, I'd think about quiting sailing...

[Stillraining]

LOL

Another X oil field trasher here.

We once had a twister within 3 miles of one of our rigs in Oklahoma..When I was Drilling for Alaska United Drilling...The rain was blowing 90 degrees to the ground.

I was instructed by the pusher to stop tripping pipe hook up the kelly..leave her slowly circulating and rotating and get everyone down below around the preventers till it either passed by or we had to make a run for itBelieve me..during tornado season everyone is listening to the weather watch and rarely do these things just "Sneak" up on you..I knew it was a fake as soon as I read that part about not knowing about it being there... As close as that thing looks they would have heard it.!!

Oh by the way... it passed by and we never did see it even though there was a ton of lighting but we could hear it.

FWIW...In all the years Drilling I have never seen a rig hit by lighting either...weird

And Being a Derickman was one or the best jobs I ever had..I loved it...wish I was as strong now as I was then.

[D.D.]

Also, why would there be trees growing on an oil rig??? FAKE!!!!!!!!!!!

[GordMay]

According to numerous other websites, the image is not real. It is a composite of two photographs. The image was manipulated to combine two different photos, one of an oil rig (origin unknown), the other of a nighttime waterspout illuminated by a lightning stroke over Lake Okeechobee, Florida, taken by amateur photographer Fred Smith.

Amateur photographer Fred Smith photographed the waterspout and lightning on June 15, 1991 from his backyard overlooking Lake Okeechobee, Florida. He was taking pictures of a lightning storm when he got lucky and snapped a shot (bottom) of a waterspout illuminated by a flash of lightning. The photo subsequently appeared on a calendar, and in 2001 it became available for purchase online. Soon after it began circulating via email -- usually with incorrect captions that described it as a photograph of whatever tornado had most recently been in the news.

In early 2008 an unknown hoaxer pasted an oil rig into the picture and added the "not what you want to see" caption. This version has been circulating ever since.

[dacust]

What SHOULD have clued me off (but didn't) is that an exposure short enough to show the detail in the lightning strike should have dimmed the oil derrick almost into the background (this would be the results you'd expect for an auto-exposure camera). An exposure that would show the oil derrick should have produced a severely washed out lightning image. Also, the lightning should have produced marked glare on parts of the derrick. A single exposure should not be able to produce the results shown. But I fell for it...

-dan

[stevensc]

I wouldn't be surprised if the original 1993 waterspout picture was a composit also. I have seen lots of waterspouts but never one that looked like that.
But then I am a cynic.
Steve