Two Cows, Mani, Poloponnes, Greece

Cheapest scanner ok, but you could still redo the color balance with almost any photo software... ;-)

 

I like this picture, I like the way these two cows stand and stare (one slightly hiding behind the other) and the way you framed them. Simple but very clever in my opinion.

 

Two (minor) things I don't like: one is the stick in from of the first cow and the other one is the top right triangle, too bright for me.

Cows are such obliging creatures, aren't they? Walk up to any cow, anywhere in the world, and it'll just stand and stare at you, happily posing for pictures. And it'll keep on staring at you until one of you gets bored and wanders off. This is rarely the cow, since an animal designed to munch grass all day is mercifully not intelligent enough to get bored. So I don't think the photographer has captured anything remarkable here. Standing and staring is what cows do. What is nice about this picture is the contrast between their ruddy hides and the cool greens and blues of the landscape. We have a close crop of hoof to mountain top, but I see nothing especially ingenious about this. In short, this is a competent image of cows standing in a field, but it fails to convince us there is anything remotely interesting about the life of a cow. And I suspect these cows will continue to just stand and stare, long after the viewer leaves this page...

When I was a child my father used to sit around in fields painting. One time he would sit in a pasture, a herd of cows far away, just some tiny spots on the horizon. Not for long. One of the cows spotted my father and - curiously as cows are (they are VERY curious, did you know that?) - she began galloping towards him. And all the others followed. Imagine about twenty cows having a race, their tails high in the air. My Dad has grown up on the country, he stayed calm. Within seconds he was surrounded by cows that most painstakingly explored him, licking his ears and forehead, trying to eat up his sketching book and the water colors without doing him any harm (only his painting was ruined which was not the worst thing that could have happened to it :-) What I learned about that: cows are inquisitive, fast and have a profound feeling for art. I miss these aspects in this photo. Maybe next time you should bring your water colors to get some action!

this one

 

Here is a link to one from Canada.

It's very easy, Jason. Just click on 'Photo.net FAQ' below, and print off the section on hyperlinks for easy reference. Any udder questions?

Trevor's observation about the striking contrast between the colors of the cows and the coolness of the setting and background is the real grabber for me about this image. However, it only grabs me for a few seconds. On a technical level, its a perfectly good image but on a more substantive and expressive level it doesn't jolt me and make me take a lot of notice. I think Ilan's right about the patch of sky on the upper right. It needs some subduing such as can be seen with the patch of sky on the upper left.

Thanks Trevor. I raise my pint of milk to you! I've updated the links to make them moo around the photo.net field.

 

Kind regards,