Greg,
How was the aquarium photo generated? Spotlight's database for this photo has a content creation date of today (I just downloaded your sample). Here is what the 'mdls' command has to say about your photo:
$ mdls GMZ-006428.JPG
kMDItemAuthors = (
"Gregory M. Zenitsky"
)
kMDItemBitsPerSample = 32
kMDItemCity = "San Antonio"
kMDItemColorSpace = "RGB"
kMDItemContentCreationDate = 2012-08-27 17:27:46 -0700
kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2012-08-27 17:27:46 -0700
kMDItemContentType = "public.jpeg"
kMDItemContentTypeTree = (
"public.jpeg",
"public.image",
"public.data",
"public.item",
"public.content"
)
kMDItemContributors = (
"Gregory M. Zenitsky"
)
kMDItemCountry = "United States of America"
kMDItemDisplayName = "GMZ-006428.JPG"
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = 2012-08-27 17:27:46 -0700
kMDItemFSCreationDate = 2012-08-27 17:27:46 -0700
kMDItemFSCreatorCode = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon = 0
kMDItemFSInvisible = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden = 0
kMDItemFSIsStationery = 0
kMDItemFSLabel = 0
kMDItemFSName = "GMZ-006428.JPG"
kMDItemFSNodeCount = 0
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID = 501
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID = 501
kMDItemFSSize = 955524
kMDItemFSTypeCode = ""
kMDItemHasAlphaChannel = 0
kMDItemKeywords = (
"San Antonio"
)
kMDItemKind = "JPEG image"
kMDItemLastUsedDate = 2012-08-27 18:36:38 -0700
kMDItemOrientation = 0
kMDItemPixelCount = 1088000
kMDItemPixelHeight = 850
kMDItemPixelWidth = 1280
kMDItemProfileName = "sRGB IEC61966-2.1"
kMDItemResolutionHeightDPI = 0
kMDItemResolutionWidthDPI = 0
kMDItemStateOrProvince = "TX"
kMDItemUsedDates = (
"2012-08-27 00:00:00 -0700"
)
The important line is this one:
kMDItemContentCreationDate = 2012-08-27 17:27:46 -0700
The raw Spotlight query that is issued from PM is:
"(kMDItemContentCreationDate >= $time.today(-31)) && (kMDItemContentTypeTree = 'public.image') && (kMDItemContentType != com.apple.mail.emlx) && (kMDItemContentType != public.vcard)"
So it matches when Spotlight thinks the content creation date is today. What does 'mdls' say for that same photo on your system? You'll have to open up a Terminal window and type:
mdls /path/to/your/image/GMZ-006428.JPG
In my investigation of your image, I found that it doesn't have any EXIF data in it. Only IPTC, XMP, and ICC profile metadata chunks are in the file. So Spotlight falls back and uses the filesystem Creation Date/Time for its database. Note: the IPTC data does have an IPTC date in the file and it is May 30, 2008 but that date is not the "Capture Date".
So I'm not sure where this file has been or how it was generated but the EXIF data no longer exists and that is the primary issue responsible for this problem.
-Kirk