SIGHTING: SILVERTON, COLORADO (UNITED STATES)

Witness Testimony

"I am now reviewing photos of a trip I took in Colorado one year ago, in August 2005. Of particular interest are frames 2, 3 and 4 (attachments).I started the day in Grand Junction, Colorado. While in the vicinity of Red Mountain Pass, on highway US550 I believe about half way between Ouray and Silverton, at (according the a map) about 11,000 feet in elevation or so, I got out of the vehicle to take some pictures of the beautiful mountain scenery. I liked the green of the trees and the red of the mountain, and I just wanted to capture that. I took the pictures generally in an easterly direction, looking at the west side of the mountain. At this location, I took 3 pictures, frames 2, 3 and 4, seconds apart. Sky conditions were cloudy, with intermittent rain in the area. I didn't "see anything" unusual at the time with the naked eye. I took my pictures, it was all routine, and then continued on the way towards Durango and ultimately to Phoenix. Later in August 2005, I noticed these abberations shortly after getting the pictures back from the developer. I thought they were strange at the time, and told my family so. My family (parents and sisters) also thought they were strange. Now I just think it's time to say something to someone. I don't know why I waited. So here goes.In the first picture, frame 2, there is situated above the mountain a dark shape in the sky, sort of like a bent cigar or a hot dog. There is no way it is an airplane. Or, it might be the leading edge of a circular object or disk, with something above the dark form, like a rounded cover or hump or something - but it is just too unclear to be sure. It's hard to say what the size of the "object" is.In the second picture, frame 3, taken moments later in the same vicinity toward the same mountain but to the right (south) of the original picture frame, there is a small bright light, fireball, orb, or egg of light.In the third picture, frame 4, all is normal. There is just a cloudy sky, nothing unusual.I use a film camera, an old Minolta SRT101. When I get film processed (Wal-Mart), I have a CD made as well so the images can be digitized and placed on my computer desktop. In frames 2 and 3, I used a standard 58 mm lens that came with the camera. For frame 4, I used a 130 mm telephoto lens. It took maybe a minute to switch out lenses. Total time to take all three pictures was in the vicinity of 2 minutes.What are these things? Are they just abberations in the image, mistakes made in the processing of the film or computer disk? I don't know, but I think it's possible. Is it possible they are not abberations, but the images faithfully represent what was apparently in the sky that day? I think it is possible. If so, then something was in the sky that day that changed shape (cigar to orb/fireball) and then disappeared. Or, they are two separate unidentified objects."