Sunday, April 02, 2006

Up with the cows

I drove along a country road in Tennessee in the predawn hour looking for something interesting to place in the foreground for a shot of the sunrise. I spotted a field with a herd of cows scattered in the distance, stopped the car and set up near the barbed wire fence enclosing the pasture. The air was still and cold. A heavy frost coated the field. I hoped a few cows might move into place about the time the sun made its appearance.

They moved all right. Directly toward me. They came from all corners of the field. What started as three cows in the distance soon became a huddle of dozens of cows within a few feet of me. We were separated by just a few strands of wire. Just when I thought things couldn’t get more bizarre, the herd of cows parted and a large spotted cow stepped right into the center of the frame and struck a pose for the camera. I obliged, and the result is shown above.

Click on pictures to enlarge. Photographs © 2006 James Jordan.


Update: If you like bovines, you may find the cartoons of a guy named Stik to be hilarious.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love this shot, like the sun's rays, the coldness of the frost, like a window into that early morning rural scene, thanks.

BondBloke said...

Absolutely stunning photographs, cows are such curious creatures...

I love your work and since discovering your blog I visit everytime I have a chance.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful photos. Good thing that they weren't killer attack cows. :-)

Visual-Voice said...

That's one hell of an image! The color is truly wonderful.

James said...

All, thanks so much for the kind comments. The cows seemed relatively harmless, although my wife, who grew up on a farm, gave advice as I walked around the animals, so as not to disturb them (nothing worse than a mad cow, I guess).

Anonymous said...

Great shot of the cattle - found your blog via Flickr.

P.S. Love the storm shots too - stunning....

Ethel said...

Stopping by via Blog Explosion. Fantastic photo!

mbc said...

Very cool photo. I love your description of how it occurred as well.