Believe it. What you are looking at here is a photograph including a REAL spindrift whirlwind (like a 'dust devil' or real tornado, this is simply a vertically oriented rotating column of wind). Mountaineers call it spin-drift, for the spin, of course, and I have witnessed this amazing phenomenon many times while climbing and adventuring in the high mountains. I was outrageously lucky to capture this here, however, because both lighting and background had to be perfect to see the rotation and depth as it spun by. In post processing used no warping and little enhancement past contrast adjustments to the whirlwind. Winds that morning gusted to over 70mph, so I had to act extremely fast as well and would have never managed it if not for a member of my party shouting 'tornado!' and me already shooting the wide angle lens in the exact line with the sun. I fired off about 3 good shots, only one of which showed the clear, circular rotation in the shadows, which proved extremely important to the success of the image. I consider it the rarest photograph of my entire career, and a once in a lifetime capture. It does not look to me of this Earth. The person was included for scale, as I felt necessary with many shots that morning. The photos I made of us are here as well. Hope you enjoy! Imagine taking a photo tour from a guy who takes you out to have such fun, right ;-) http://www.marcadamus.com/gallery/pgtemp/
