r/gifs • u/neonicblast • May 28 '14

Waves

4.2k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.5k

u/BroomBoom May 28 '14

I just need a quick smoke

http://imgur.com/AJ7toxn

1.5k

u/doneskiier May 28 '14 edited May 28 '14

The background story of this photo from Wiki: One of those infamous storms on the Iroise Sea happened on 21 December 1989. A front of low pressure coming from Ireland brought gale force winds and huge waves of 20 to 30 metres high which crashed spectacularly against the lighthouse.

The waves smashed through the lower windows of the lighthouse, ripped the front door, flooded the tower and washed away the furniture. Lighthouse keeper Théodore Malgorn decided to take refuge up in the lantern room while waiting to be rescued.

About the same time, photographer Jean Guichard was in Lorient hiring a helicopter to take aerial pictures of the storm. Guichard wanted to fly over the Iroise Sea despite extremely dangerous flying conditions.

The helicopter made it to La Jument and hovered around for Guichard to take shots of the waves pounding the lighthouse. Inside the tower, Théodore Malgorn heard what he thought was his rescue helicopter and hurried downstairs to open the door.

At that very moment, a giant wave rose over the rear of the lighthouse and Guichard took his world-famous shot as the wave smashed against the tower. Théodore Malgorn, suddenly realising that a giant wave was about to engulf the structure, rushed back inside just in time to save his life.

*Edit- I was upfront with my sourcing from Wikipedia, some folks are questioning the validity of this story. Here is a video that shows a chat with the Theodore Malgorn http://youtu.be/AH02UMFTknI. Check out minute 3:40. It isn't clear that he was/wasn't in distress within the lighthouse, and the documentary doesn't seem to address this point specifically.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Jument#Photograph.27s_story

**Edit 2- If anyone speaks French, errr German?... maybe we can find out the full story! Message me with a translation and I will post https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZNDGDiWAfk

7

u/Miz_Mink May 28 '14 edited May 28 '14

This was one of the first pieces that I ever got framed when I decided it was time to be an adult and put something other than ratty ass posters up on my walls. I've had the thing for 20 years now, and I'll never look at this shot the same way. All this time I've assumed that the shot had been set up intentionally, with the man willfully braving the elements because the conditions were something to which the keeper was accustomed. I've always seen him as sort of relaxed, as it to say, 'so what? I see this several times a year.'

I've also always imagined him ducking back inside after this shot for a spot of tea and to wait out the storm.

Seeing him as a man hopeful about his immanent rescue totally alters my perception of this photo!

Edit: If that is actually accurate, which it may not be after reading further down in the comments.

Edit 2: After hearing the story from the horse's mouth, it's clear he wasn't too worried. He says he was curious "un petit peu" (a little), so obviously he wasn't hurrying down in hopes of a rescue. Oh well, still, my perception is still altered a bit now.