Jan Harrison | Parhelion, Christmas Day (2019)

In photography, light is everything. The central reason I love to photograph is to capture the movement of life-in-action so that it is stilled where one may gaze at it unrushed, pondering movement's meaning. Whether it be of a gleeful child sledding down a hill or gazing into an aquarium, a photograph can capture in a flash (no pun intended) a fleeting moment potentially lost to memory-- but it can't be done without light.  Reflecting on my love of photography, I can't help but consider the double meaning that without light there is no photograph; without Christ, the light of the world, the movement of our lives is devoid of meaning. After all, it is in him that  “we live and move and have our being" Acts 17:28.

The photo seen here is a rare capture of a "sundog", formally known as a parhelion in meteorology: an atmospheric optical phenomenon usually caused by the refraction of sunlight by ice crystals in the atmosphere [Wikipedia]. When I photograph, be it an event or simply observing life around me, I pray for these moments of capture. 

With a particular intent to capture a moment worthy of the Crozet Gazette Calendar, my husband Tom and I hiked down to Lickinghole Creek behind our house. It was partially frozen and extraordinarily still. It was Christmas Day, when much movement all around is often stilled (I love that about Christmas Day). As with many days when I am photographing, I prayed God would lead me to what, how, when to snap.  When this specific light phenomenon began to occur right before my eyes, I didn't know what it was. As with any sunrise, sunset, or departing storm, it was extraordinarily beautiful but fleeting, only lasting minutes if not seconds. It was only when I researched six months later that I learned of its meaning, its rarity. 

Like the double meaning mentioned above, it was humbling to realize what God had given me.  In addition to the gift of the beautiful photograph, this physical phenomenon (shown to me briefly on Christmas Day) spoke to me symbolically of God's light. The parhelion (“sundog”) reminded me of my own vulnerable, brief, fleeting, refracted state, hoping to glorify God in my life's movements as I await the ultimate light of God's coming glory and our resurrection. 

Praise be to God for his infinite light.