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I thought I was going to have a heart attack and die halfway through a five-block sprint from my Ludington waterfront home on a circle tour to my truck to get my camera and then around Harbor View Marina to get to the spot where I visualized I needed to be to photograph one of the most vivid rainbows I had ever seen. While bent over, hyperventilating, trying to catch my breath, it occurred to me that, yes, I might have a heart attack and die if I didn’t quit running, but I definitely was going to die if I didn’t get this shot. In my mind and heart, this was an image worth dying for. I hadn’t run this hard since retiring from the Coast Guard 11 years earlier, but I needed to save myself from disappointment, so onward I ran. I was so busy running, it wasn’t until I reached my pre-selected spot on the west side of the Ludington Waterfront Sculpture Park that I looked toward the rainbow and witnessed a sight far more incredible than I could ever have imagined a few minutes earlier from the third-story deck of our condominium.

The double rainbow was even more vivid now and perfectly positioned from this vantage point. The marina and boats provided the attractive foreground I had envisioned from home without being there. For a few moments, I was so focused on the double rainbow, I didn’t even see the reflection of the main rainbow in the water. When I did, I ran closer to the water’s edge so I could include the entire rainbow reflection in my image. This was the first and only time in my life I had ever seen a rainbow and its reflection make a complete circle. I quickly made an image, thinking the rainbow would fade away any second. Then I took a deep breath and concentrated on really seeing and evaluating every aspect of the image I had built. I moved my camera position less than a foot in micro-composing the image to better align the foreground, middle-ground and background layers. A couple thumb clicks of my cable release later, and I was done. I could breathe easy now and savor for a few more minutes this exceptionally brilliant rainbow I and countless others were blessed to see on July 10, 2016.