Calving Portraits
Many years ago, when I was in art school, I often photographed with toy cameras called Diana cameras. They were made of plastic, they had cheap plastic lenses, really bad optics, light leaks, and horrendous exposure control. You had to wrap all the seams with black electrical tape, and you were lucky to get one or two usable exposures per roll of film. But the strange, unpredictable optics lent a gorgeous and emotional effect. Careful framing was difficult; the loose, gestural compositional element was freeing. The occasional, rare successful photo was, to my eye, beautiful.
It is now possible to download an app onto a cellphone that mimics this effect. Some may say call this cheating, and, at first, I did also. Now, I call it progress. I have been using Vignette on my cellphone, tweaking the filter to look the way I want. And just like the real Diana cameras, sometimes they don't turn out, but sometimes interesting things happen.
So here is my idea: I will try to photograph each calf after I tag it. Usually, within the first four to six hours after a calf is born, I tag it with an ear tag that shows the birth order and gender. A tag in the left ear indicates a bull, a tag in the right ear indicates a heifer.
As you would expect, a cow that has just given birth is very protective of her new, very vulnerable calf, so it is imperative to tag them and get away hurriedly. Some cows are meaner than others and stand over their calves ready to charge and hurt. These portraits are taken very quickly, sometimes uncomposed ( is that even a word?) with my phone camera.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 01:51AM
Reader Comments (2)
Fascinating. Strange. Evocative.
Howdy there,
I'm the Oklahoman that lives in Australia now. One hobby I have is taking pictures, and I loved many of yours, especially ones of sunrises and sunsets. I just love to witness the going and coming of each day. It is just never the same, along with daily life. Thanks so much for taking the time to share them.
Vic