High-Pressure Hijinks

My first impression when I saw this picture was that it was of Buster Keaton, but my small bit of internet research came up with nothing. The year is just about right--can anybody confirm or disconfirm that it's him???

If it is Buster Keaton, then it's probably not a composite shot. Maybe the guy is attached to a wire that's lifting him up.

The hose isn't pointed at his center of gravity, so it certainly isn't keeping him up in the air. I'd guess it was a movie stunt, too.

My guess would be a very early beta version of Photoshop.

perhaps the hose is an iron (or other metal) tube made to look like a hose?

What I see is a picture where the guy might have jumped and been aided by the pressure of the water hose. Why'll I have no idea if the picture is fake or not, it's entirely plausible considering someone with only decent jumping ability.

I assume some people are assuming he's being continually suspended like that? It's a photo, so it might be capturing a jump mid-air. This would make sense of the slightly crooked water.

Gowing with Snow's theory of a metal rod, or length of pipe. Tere could even be another length of rod under the blast of water.

Photogaphy of the time wasn't good enough to capture such an action scene without blurring, remember..

The shadows seem too accurate for cut and paste- just a fairly good jump, I think!

We are not talking about daguerreotypes. Celluloid film had been around for years. The idea of "snapshots" started around 1900.

http://www.lungov.com/wagner/c/086c.html
This camera from 1923 had up to 1/1000 shutter speed.

Yeah, I have to agree, he jumped up - that's why his legs are bent (if it was a composite, his legs would be straight). I don't think it's Buster keaton - the face isn't quite right.

...A picture could be taken of someone squatting...his legs wouldn't HAVE to be straight. But I am going with him being suspended somehow, or the hose itself being a stationary object... Although, you have to figure if it's stationary, the spray from the hose would be channeled into something, rather than just hitting the mud. Because a continuous stream (from a hose shaped fountain) would leave a decent sized hole in dirt. Not a single splash. Trush me...I've ruined plenty of my mom's gardens from a little zealous watering. It doesn't take very long at all for a strong stream of water to put a hole in the dirt.

>>What I see is a picture where the guy might have jumped and been aided by the pressure of the water hose. Why'll I have no idea if the picture is fake or not, it's entirely plausible considering someone with only decent jumping ability.<<

It looks to me like he's at least 4 or 5 feet in the air. But I think the average person is lucky if they can jump 2 or (at most) 2 1/2 feet in the air. And as Terry pointed out, the hose isn't pointed in the right direction to be giving him any vertical lift.

Maegan - Assuming they knew they were about to take the photo, isn't it plausible the hose was turned on full blast, he turns it downwards and leaps. The picture is taken within seconds without the need to continually run water (for a fake).

Alex - Considering this was a person of talent and the photo involved jumping, we'll have to assume he had some leaping ability to begin with. I have a 36" vertical leap personally, which is better than average. Lifting my feet up I can clear a platform up to my armpits. That is nearly 5 feet off the ground. The hose would have to provide very little lift to obtain the height pictured. That's part of the beauty of the photo, it makes it LOOK phenomenal. If he straightens his legs, he would look considerably closer to the ground. Show this picture to anyone with jumping ability and they will not be all that impressed, it's easily doable.

And I'd like you to consider when is the last time you were able to jump completely razor straight up into the air? The slight crookedness of the water stream only lends itself to a realistic picture of someone jumping. Watch that video of the car being lifted by firehoses, did they all need to point straight down at exactly 90 degrees?

Honestly, I think this picture could be upgraded to probably real. In fact, I could nearly imitate it with a garden hose. The stance would just be slightly different without some assist from the water pressure.

The photo is absolutely, 100%, a hoax!!! Although a wild hose can knock the crap out of a grown man, lifting one off the ground is a whole other story... I graduated from firefighting school, and one of the things they teach you, is how ONE MAN can take control of a wild one!!! We played with the 2.5" hoses and the 4" hoses. Besides, all you gotta do is look at the ground!!! There's not enough water coming out of that hose to accomplish the task the photo suggests. Number two, that hose is not large enough to produce the volume required to lift that fellow off the ground either...

I completely agree with Christopher. Right in the first place you'll notice that there is not enough water on the ground.
It is impossible that he reached such height and all one can see is just a tiny splash.

My guess is that it is real, but seriously staged. I doubt that the hose lifted the solider up like that, I think he jumped and the hose lifted only a couple of inches, if at all.