JACQUI LALOR and her two sisters have made an annual pilgrimage to Echo Point, Katoomba, from Sutherland Shire for almost 30 years, creating a unique family snapshot in the process.
NO one can remember who came up with the idea. However, I suspect that even if they did, they wouldn’t be brave enough to admit it.
Who was to predict that, what started out as a tongue in cheek, laugh-out-loud idea of a photo of three sisters, in front of Katoomba’s famous ones 30 years ago, would be turned into an annual bittersweet pilgrimage forever immortalised on film and, later, emblazoned on the walls of a room dedicated to our family tradition.
Each year we were put on notice of the date of the car trip to the Mountains. Soon after, debate on who was to sit in the middle back seat of the car (in our minds a punishment worse than the trip itself) could be heard erupting from our household.
More often than not (my twin sister) Steph lost the argument.
Lucky for us the concept of bribery was not beneath us and thanks to Mum, first stop would be Caltex for lollies to suck on (and probably shut us up) for at least part of the trip.
After two or more hours later, on our arrival, we would drag our feet and position ourselves in front of the “other sisters”. The original (all-too-familiar) formation was created, Ali (the oldest) in the middle and the twins either side.
Now for the painful part. Dad taking a photo.
We would, through forced smiles and gritted teeth, beg Dad to take the photos quickly or at least before the bus loads of tourists would appear to point and laugh at what we no longer saw as remotely funny.
But Dad had a different idea.
He would carefully frame each shot then taunt us by not pressing the button until he had painfully, and not without sarcasm, extracted suitable smiles from all of us. This was repeated at each vantage point.
After what seemed like a lifetime, the torture was far from over.
In the early days we would be dragged to the main shopping strip of Katoomba and hand over the 24-exposure roll of film to be developed in a whole “last a lifetime” hour — the concept I am sure is lost on the modern generation.
One year we pleaded to skip this step with dire consequences. Once we returned home the photos were deemed not good enough and we returned for the second time that year. Needless to say, no-one ever again dared mention heading home again until photos were developed and confirmed all okay.
In another year, we all bundled in the car up to the Mountains only to find that the Three Sisters had all but disappeared — in a sea of fog! We were all devastated knowing we could have just taken the photo at home in front of a cardboard cut-out and still got a better shot.
In later years we were blessed with the change of technology and embraced digital photos. Well, at least we did. The idea was somewhat lost on Dad for a few years, not quite understanding you could take as many shots as you want and he still carefully framed each shot meticulously and slowly!
Then it came to deciding which photo would represent the year, gold framed and hung in “the Mountains room”.
With girls left to make the decision it’s amazing that the arguments fell short of hair pulling and eye gouging — if only just.
More often than not Steph won the argument.
We all laugh about it and “complain” each year of the upcoming trip and probably anyone who has ever met us knows our story, but despite all our misgivings for this one day of the year, we have achieved quite a feat over 30 years and created our own visual timeline that not many families can lay claim to.
When telling people our tradition they all comment that it is quite amazing that we have been able to keep it going, especially when one sister in particular is an extensive traveller. They relay their stories of attempts to start but never continue various takes on the same concept.
Whilst we are forever reminded of our fashion faux pas, tragic hairstyles and the ill-fated year of denim on denim in 8 by 10 gloss finish, it also represents the power of family and the commitment to a 30-year tradition of coming together in what has become and will always be a special place with three special sisters.
Jacqui Lalor was two years old when her father took the first Three Sisters photo. She will make her final pilgrimage to Echo Point with her two sisters on April 25 this year.
“We all decided we wanted it to end on a round number — and I’m not sure the Mountains room would fit any more photos!” she said.
