Sunday, December 24, 2006

My 2006 faves: April

April was a great month of photography for me. A trip to south central Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains resulted in a bunch of favorite photos, both of the planned variety and happy accidents.

This cow photo is one of the latter. My wife and I drove about the predawn countryside while I looked for something – anything – to silhouette against the rising sun, which was due in just a few minutes. Spotting a few cows in a field, we pulled over. Perhaps I could capture a distant silhouette or two against the dawn sky.

As I wandered up to the electric fence that bordered the field to set up my shot, dozens of cows slowly meandered from every corner of the field and gathered around me. I took several shots of the gathering herd. Then one cow stepped through the huddle and stood to full height, blocking the sun and casting a long shadow in my direction. Perfect.

This shot has been around. It won a competition on Flickr. It was picked up by a Swedish news site to accompany a story on tainted milk. It may well live as desktop wallpaper on who knows how many computers around the world.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2006 James Jordan.

5 comments:

~pen~ said...

love this pic, james. i think it is one of my favorites of all time :)

TOMAS said...

Wonderful.
I recognize myself in a cow that blocks the sun and cast a long shadow.
Thank you for the help to free myself from the "beauty" of complaints.

Sheila said...

I love black and white cows and of course, their photos.

Anonymous said...

I can see why this one would be one of your favorites! The lighting is beautiful!

Unknown said...

This is an awesome picture!