Everyone has an origin story.  This is mine.

In 1977, I traveled with my family to Canberra by car for school vacation.  Canberra is about 200 miles south west of Sydney, where I grew up.  Canberra is the capital of Australia and is home to things like the Supreme Court, Parliament, and the National Gallery.  My parents, my brother and I visited the sights in the crisp autumnal air.  Kicking piles of leaves.

The camera I had was nothing special, except it was mine.  No special features, focus being near, not so near and far, and aperture being, inside, cloudy or bright day.  Film was the same.  I don't have the negative anymore to find out.

We visited what is now Old Parliament House.  At the time, the new Parliament House that replaces the top of a hill was under construction.  Looking across Lake Burley Griffin, northwards to the War Memorial, I made a photograph.  Long before the days of digital, I waited for the prints to come back from the lab.  One image above all other stood out.  It is the only image I have from that trip.  It isn't really in focus.  Unless I told you, you can't tell where it was taken.  The thing that struck me was the lens flare from the sun.  Not planned.  I didn't even see it when I took the photo as the viewfinder was separate from the lens.  Magic.  A ring of rainbows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a magic when something comes through in an image that was not previously obvious.  Freezing hte moment forever, capturing time.  That's what this image is.

Despite hundreds of thousands of images, circumnavigation of the globe and nearly forty years,  this is an image I always come back to.

I have since improved my skills and equipment, although I a still a sucker for lens flare as evidenced by the blow image taken with a Holga in the hills above Burbank, but more of those adventures in a future installment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a map link to the approximate area the first was taken.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Old+Parliament+House/@-35.2925559,149.1432402,15z/data=!4m6!1m3!3m2!1s0x6b164d76cb4004ef:0x41ef86ae38d42ce6!2sAustralian+War+Memorial!3m1!1s0x0000000000000000:0x4ec7b2ac1171a085