Wrong photo of Hurricane Milton leaves Brevard woman with a big mess

Nearly a month later, people are still there cleaning up the mess caused by Hurricane Miltonthat struck the west coast of Florida in early October before moving through Brevard County.

The Space Coast escaped from Milton with minimal damagebut one Rockledge photographer is still dealing with massive headaches from the storm. It all started on October 1, when Jennifer Cenker took an ominous photo of a thunderstorm approaching Merritt Island.

The photo, taken in daylight around 5 p.m., is a panoramic shot taken with her iPhone. It shows a huge dark layer cloud approaching the Indian River.

Cenker, who focuses on landscape photographyknows a meteorologist from the Orlando-based Fox affiliate and shared the photo with him. He asked if he could post it on his social media page. She agreed, filled out the proper paperwork to verify she was the photographer, and all was well.

“I thought everything was fine because people were making cool comments and learning about the weather,” Cenker said.

About a week later, Cenker was made aware of a message from a well-known national meteorologist. He shared a photo that a news station posted on the west coast of Florida. It was a photo of the storm on Merritt Island from Cenker.

The problem was that another photographer had taken the photo and the description said the scene was the eye of Hurricane Milton as it barreled through Sarasota. The national meteorologist didn’t know Cenker, but one look at the photo and he knew it wasn’t the eye of a hurricane. He wanted his followers to know the truth.

Cenker was left stunned and confused.

“I thought, wait, wait, wait, what’s going on?” she said. “I don’t understand where it started. Once it came out and it was Milton’s eye, it spread, oh my god. It was on Twitter, Instagram, Threads, I don’t even know what Threads is.

She has seen the photo in places as far away as Korea and Greece. It is described as Milton’s Eye passing over Sarasota, Siesta Key and other parts of West Florida. Within days of it being posted, it was viewed millions of times.

“I hope this teaches people: take a moment, slow down and look at what you’re sharing before you press the button,” Cenker said. “I don’t want anyone else to experience this.”

Rockledge photographer is contacting people to have the photo removed

Cenker contacted the Sarasota news station she believed originally published the photo.

She said the TV station’s news director told her they got the photo from a freelancer they often use. Apparently, the TV station staff did not examine the photo or question the photographer.

“(The news director) was apologetic and polite, but stated that the man he was using was someone they trusted and some things slip through the cracks,” said Cenker, who also contacted the credited photographer. “He was a little apologetic, saying he had just seen my photo on a viral post and decided to share it with the news station. He said the news station never asked him if he took the photo.”

Cenker has spent countless hours personally contacting people or organizations who shared the photo. She said that 90% of the time the response she gets back is not friendly.

“They’ve been rude and horrible and told me, ‘I don’t care if it’s fake, I’m not taking it down, it’s getting me a lot of hits,’” Cenker said.

She has since been granted copyright to the photo, meaning anyone who shares the photo must give her proper credit or face legal action.

Sharing the erroneous photo of the eye of Hurricane Milton shows the power of the internet

Three weeks after Milton reached Florida, and nearly a month after Cenker took the photo in question, she has had time to reflect on the impact.

She said it has been an eye-opening lesson on many fronts.

“First, I am angry that a mistake was made in posting the photo to a news source without fully vetting the photo,” Cenker said. “I am angry at the person who stole my photo and spread it as fake news, and thirdly, I am disappointed that so many people didn’t bother to check what they shared and spread it to everyone.”

Milton’s eye fell on the west coast when it was dark. Cenker’s photo was taken when it was light outside. The photo also shows the Cacao Water Tower, although some versions she has seen have taken it out of the photo.

“It’s every photographer’s dream to have a photo go viral, but my name isn’t on it and it’s not even right,” Cenker said. “Just monitor what you share people.”

Spitzer is a trending reporter. She can be reached at [email protected].