"Rising Ghost" of the Squiggly Light Rays

Photo date: January 22, 2016. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

In this series of posts I have shown an incredibly strange photographic anomaly in which light seems to rise up like drifting smoke: the effect I call the light metamorphosis.  Below we see another example of this phenomenon. We see light rays that are making two different turns as they rise up. The camera was not moving, as you can tell from the fact that the details of the cars and the windows are completely sharp, and not streaked.

Behold how the light from the sign in the middle seems to rise up like some ascending ghost making a twisty ascent.

Below is another photo taken at the same time. Now the "light ghost" in the middle seems to rise up in a different direction, to the right. Also, half of a white orb can be seen above this "light ghost," one that is not visible in the previous photo.

The photos were flash photos with an exposure time of 1/30 of a second, using normal camera settings (no "Night picture" setting). The photos have been uploaded directly from the camera without any modification.