I am late to the party, but, in my ignorance, I think the flare adds to the drama, all these shots against our star have a completely different perspective than "normal", Sun behind photos.
They are unpredictable and one can not choose how they will project, but, in my opinion, they are a welcome addition.
I lived a few years 80 miles from the Saskatchewan border and your shot made me feel the winter cold, the minus 40 days and all that accompanied them.
It is a great shot.
I concur but as a TLR camera I wasn’t privy to exactly what the taking lens saw. As i recall i may have tried to shield the lens, but it didn’t work. On the other hand the lens flare might be seen as another, albeit not popular, but just another type of artistic expression, e.g., Que Sera Sera
The sun must have been quite close to the edge of the field of view. A lens shade won't be effective. To suppress flare in such a situation requires to place a hand so that it juuust shades the taking lens without entering the field of view. Requires either an assistant or a tripod plus cable release.
This said, the pentagon flare seems to be unanimously accepted as a creative element. Vox populi.