Thursday, January 24, 2008

The Story of One Photo


I took the above photo on Tuesday of last week. That plane belongs to the Navy and its mission is top secret. It hangars at Love Field, and I've asked numerous officials there about why it flies off each day from Dallas. I get the same answer every time: "That plane does not exist". Of course, they know it does, but the government wants them to act like nothing is going on. The rumor is that it is involved in drug interdiction along the Texas/Mexico border.

I posted the shot on "a.net" and it quickly began to accumulate hits (or views). Within a few hours, it had 21,000 hits and had become the hottest photo for the previous 24 hours. What was causing this was the little phrase I put in the caption, "That plane does not exist". Several websites picked up the shot and posted it. Turns out those websites are frequented by thousands of folks daily. Some of the sites are devoted to conspiracy theories and are way out there. I've also gotten numerous emails asking me if there is anything else I know about the plane.

The last time I checked, the number of hits was approaching 70,000. The great thing about this hobby is that the unexpected happens with regularity. Totally random shots can generate a little income if some magazine wants a picture exactly like it. With this shot, I had no idea any of this was coming. Now I'm wondering what will happen next.

3 comments:

Blake Perkins said...

Sorry, I hit the link 69,999 times to see if you would get excited.

I am Heather...creator of all things crafty! said...

SO Tim,did any mag's want to purchase your "shot of the non-existent" plane?

Tim Perkins said...

Not yet, Heather. Don't have any idea if they're interested. I just wonder if the airmen involved in the day-to-day operations of the plane have found out about the brouhaha.