Copyright Nathan Montgomery, 2008
This is the fourth shot that I plan to submit for the Vet School photo contest. I took it at about 12,000 feet, on a mountainside above the small city of Keylong in northern India. Two young brothers- neither probably older than 10 or 11- were leading this and several other cows high into the mountains for a day of grazing
Indian cows are simply beautiful animals. Their eyes, in particular, are striking. I can't help but think that we might similarly revere our cattle if they looked like the Indian variety.
A word on cropping here. This shot has only minimal cropping- the original shot was 4x6 format, and I've cropped here to 5x7. Otherwise, it's unchanged. Deciding how to crop was tricky. I cut off the cow's feet in the original photo. Some photographers would be troubled by that decision. Personally, I thought that the striking part of the animal was what I've shown here, and I thought a broader perspective de-emphasized what I hoped to emphasize. I also considered cropping the legs out entirely, but I really like the line marking the midline, projecting down the neck from the blue and yellow yarn towards the sternum. Compromises yet again.
4 comments:
She is the most beautiful cow I've ever seen!
The cows in India were really pretty. My understanding is that it is common in Indian love poetry to say that a woman's eyes are like cow eyes. Had I not seen an Indian cow, I probably would've assumed it was an insult.
My mom always tells me I have "mooly cow eyes". I am pretty sure she never meant it as an insult.
My mom used to tell me I had a bird brain. I don't think she meant it as an insult either.
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