What is this? [unidentified object in photo from vehicle: lamp post]

Royce Malphrus

New Member
this image was taken in my truck in November, 2017. It was taken by an Apple 8 cell phone camera while crossing a bridge. We took 7 or 8 photos trying to get a good image of a sunset and found this on only one image when viewing the photos. It was not visible to our naked eyes. Please help ID.

I am a 67 y/0 psychotherapist in private practice and have been attempting to get a positive ID on this image. Previous attempts have been unsuccessful but I have gotten a few interesting responses such as "a stairway to heaven" and a portal to another dimension. I am not ready for either so I am soliciting more responses. I am in need of help in ID ing this image.

spooky.jpg
 
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It looks like a street light pole, blurred by the motion of the vehicle. The individual images of the pole are caused by the flickering of the street light. (The periodic illumination is also visible on the ground to a lesser extent.)

Can you recall which bridge this photo was taken from?
 
It appears to be a light pole, multiple images are from the LED strobing effect from your headlights or the light itself off the top of the image.

Notice similar stuttering in the image near the guardrail.
 
It appears to be a light pole, multiple images are from the LED strobing effect from your headlights
Snap! :)

And yes the strobing effect could be from the headlights, but I suspect more likely from the street light, given that the effect seems strongest at the top of the pole, nearer to the light source?
 
but I suspect more likely from the street light, given that the effect seems strongest at the top of the pole, nearer to the light source?

Double snap, I'd just edited my post to say that.

Royce, if you know the approximate location, they you could probably find the pole in Google Street View.
 
Royce, if you know the approximate location, they you could probably find the pole in Google Street View.
If @royce Malphrus still has the original image file, then the iPhone should have saved the location. In the Camera Roll on the phone, if you open the photo then tap "Details" then it should show a map of the location.

Regarding the flickering, there appear to be 4 full images (and maybe part of a fifth) of the pole. An LED lamp run off a 60Hz power supply (as used in the US) turns on and off twice for each cycle of the supply, in other words 120 times each second. That would suggest an exposure time of between 1/24 and 1/30 of a sec, which seems about right for an evening photo.
 
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If @royce MalphrusRegarding the flickering, there appear to be 4 full images (and maybe part of a fifth) of the pole. An LED lamp run off a 60Hz power supply (as used in the US) turns on and off twice for each cycle of the supply, in other words 120 times each second. That would suggest an exposure time of between 1/24 and 1/30 of a sec, which seems about right for an evening photo.

Ball-parking the distanced traveled from the size of the pole as 2 feet (approximately), so 2 feet in 1/30 of a second is 60 feet/second = about 40mph, which seems like a normal car speed.
 
The photo appears similar to the street lights shown around Ribaut Road South Carolina. They have the same 2 identity/information tags which appear brighter in the image.
 
The photo appears similar to the street lights shown around Ribaut Road South Carolina. They have the same 2 identity/information tags which appear brighter in the image.
That's quite impressive geo-sleuthing for someone in the UK! Are you tracking down the precise street light now :)
 
I think you've nailed it.

I was almost there! I was scouring the bridges around that area on Street View - a Google search of @royce Malphrus's name showed that it was likely to be in the area around Beaufort, South Carolina.


Looking at the top of the light post on Street View you can see how the shape of the curved support matches, right down to the rivet location.

upload_2018-1-11_16-13-11.png
 
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I think you've nailed it.

I was almost there! I was scouring the bridges around that area on Street View - a Google search of @royce Malphrus's name showed that it was likely to be in the area around Beaufort, South Carolina.

@Stephen Palmer nailed it. I didn't think to Google Royce.

Slightly excessive, but the tops of the posts are a reasonable match, both the streaks from the bird poop and the shadows.
8#) * 2018-01-11 08-05-42.jpg
 
So.... A guy posts a question about a strange image in a picture. He gives absolutely zero information in terms of the where-a-bouts of where this picture was taken, other than to say that it is "on a bridge". And you guys (and girls) not only figured out, with a pretty convincing argument that it is a light pole, but you find the exact light pole for reference on Google Earth??? And it was all figured out just over two hours of the original post?!

This is why I come here... To get educated.
This is why I rarely post.... To not get schooled.

Well Done!!
 
Nearly got it, had to rush off to attend to my homebrew IPA, apologies posted the same picture in "Media" by mistake at 3.27. :)
Got to have priorities :) Your pic is a different pole though:
[GALLERY=media, 86]Ribaut Road S Carolina by Stephen Palmer posted Jan 11, 2018 at 7:27 AM[/GALLERY]
 
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This is an incredible site. Thanks to everyone who assisted with this mystery. I do appreciate all the help and the great minds (and humor) that are here.

Royce
 
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