The latest Internet Photo Hoax has suddenly surfaced this morning, and is already causing a viral movement throughout Flickr, YouTube, SmugMug and other online media-sharing devices.
Crudely titled “Man on top of mountain with mountain goats,” this photo clearly illustrates the danger of letting amateurs use Photoshop:
This photo of a “seemingly normal” Colorado resident summiting a “14er” (a mountain that is over 14,000 feet) is eerily similar to the much-circulated – and decidedly fake - “Tourist on top of World trade Center as jetliner is about to crash” photo:
Photoshopping Photos is unethical
The caption featured under the Coloradan’s photo reads: “So out of or group of five, I was the only person to make it to the top of Quandary, a “14er” near Breckenridge.”
Other people in his hiking party have already disagreed online, through various blogs and wikis.
For example, another anonymous poster (suspected of being his brother, Rod) wrote: “There’s no way he made it. All of us turned back, either because of illness, injuries and the impending storm. He says the storm headed south and missed the summit. I don’t believe it.”
Another blogger, JoMaz (John Martinez) also disagreed with the veracity of the photo: “C’mon, he has a mountain goat just behind him. Mountain goats are shy creatures that are not known to get that close to humans. Are you trying to tell me he got within five feet of one. Nonsense.”
The hiker in the photo, Wang Zen, posted this response on Valleywag, and other citizen journalism sites: “Look, I’m one of 50 people summiting that day. There were goats at the top, and that made it that much more magical. All their comments are sour grapes because they wimped out. I mean, it’s not like I had a shark jumping out of the water at me, or that fake guy on top of the world trade center with the jetliner about to hit the building. I mean, why PhotoShop a goat just behind me? That would be ridiculous!
Investigators are looking into evidence of doctoring, such as the use of the “cloning” tool and the “blend” tool. Investigator John Jingleheimersmidt, who investigated the fake Reuters photographs by Adnan Hajj remarked, “I don’t know, looks real to me.”
Meanwhile, the purported people behind the Bigfoot scandal and the Montauk Monster hullaballo have allegedly contacted WangZen to discuss an upcoming project.
UPDATE – 11:46am MST:
Breaking news from the AP indicates that Wangzen is a noted photo-manipulator. Investigators have seized his computer, and confiscated the following photo as proof of his shenanigans:
“It’s clearly a hoax. You’ll note the arrow signs on either side of his head that almost mock viewers of these photos, like he’s stating we have nothing between our ears,” says Detective Phil Collins (no relation) of Denver. “Moreover, the purported magazine – “Rocky Mountain Cyclist” – doesn’t even exist!”
Det. Collins added: “And that unzipped shirt is terribly offensive. This Wangzen guy is clearly a menace to society and should be promtply arrested!”
At the time of this writing, Wangzen is still at large, thought to have fled the state heading eastward. Who knows what future Photoshopping he will do.
