Strange image, but true

By Kelly Yates
AN AMATEUR photographer from Endeavour Hills captured a unique shot of the Upwey fire last month.
Melissa Mewett told the News she snapped the picture, which shows an image of a face in the smoke, while in Lysterfield the day after the blaze.
At first glance, the 32-year-old said she didn’t see the face in the smoke.
Ms Mewett said she was amazed at the photograph and sent it to a sceptic of paranormal photography in Canada in an effort to receive a logical explanation about the image.
“He cropped the picture and darkened the area so the face looked a lot clearer,” she said.
Sceptic Brian Stone told Ms Mewett he couldn’t help but think the image didn’t look right but had no reason or evidence to back it up.
Mr Stone said his opinion was that the face seemed to step out of the smoke in a sort of 3D way.
“As a sceptic I will go with a really lucky alignment of smoke and shadow that resulted in what looks like facial features in the smoke cloud,” Mr Stone said in an email to Ms Mewett.
Ms Mewett, who has been living in Endeavour Hills for more than 25 years, said she snapped a lucky shot.
“My personal opinion is that it’s one of our aboriginal ancestors as of the way the face looks,” she said.