Cary Enoch Reinstein - Abdu'l-Baha Flowers

This picture has a long history. The left side of it is a painting of 'Abdu'l-Baha that hangs in the home of the Gallagher family in Hayward, California. I took a picture of it and then decided to double-expose the beautifully backlit flowers into it. When I went on pilgrimage in 1974 I brought hundreds of small prints of this photo with me. Most of them I gave to Hand of the Cause, Mr. A.Q. Faizi. He sent them to friends all around the world. I occasionally see a copy of this image in Baha'i homes and have heard the most fanciful stories about it, none of which are true (it was the first color photo ever taken is a popular one, and other "urban myths"). In reality, as you can see, its history is very prosaic!