photography

Calving Season

I was working on a Commercial assignment at a colleague’s studio in February and the conversation came up about work and he asked me, “What have you shot for yourself lately? ” Silence. Then I found/heard myself trying to rationalize out loud my lack of self indulgent photography, with excuses of my busy clientele schedule. It sounded lame. I knew I had to get on it. I knew I needed a new subject to point my lens at and to get me challenged, but to also just enjoy on a personal level.

An idea came to mind. I had spoken to a previous client, Keri , a Vet from Ashern, MB last year about coming out to experience calving season, but just never got around to it. My friend Kat and I decide to make a date to drive out to the town and spend a day with Keri and experience calving season this year. It ended up being one of the most fun filled days I’ll remember for years to come!

We started our day with watching Keri’s Dog enjoy “ditch fishing”. Yep- who knew the fish hang out in the ditches in the spring from the Lake? (Not this city slicker.) It was so much fun to watch her dog go bounding into and through the ditches in pursuit of the fish- The cold and ice, not hindering his joyful efforts! He ran, leaped and shook himself off and did this repeatedly. Eventually we tucked the wet dog into the back of the truck with my friend Kat (lol) and then went to Keri’s Farm to spend sometime with her horses. Keri let the horses out of the pen and they trotted around us. I don’t know if it is just me being a “city slicker” but hearing/feeling the thudding hoofs and seeing these massive animals whipping around us, put me in a slightly awed/unnerved state. I got over that quick enough to make sure I was getting some shots of these beauties.

Then it was off to the Farm to see some of the new born calves. We arrived and I stepped out of the truck into… well, lets just say the ground was very ummmm wet. I was glad for my newly purchased black shiny rubber boots, made upon deciding on the trip. Keri told me the new calves were closer to the back of the pens with their moms. Yep-that would be, right trough the biggest puddle of….. Lets just say I was EXTREMELY grateful for no holes in the new boots!! It was a risk- carrying my gear around my neck, one little slip on the muck and into the puddle and good- bye camera. It was a risk worth taking- we got to the back and I was so amazed by all the beautiful newborn calves-some as recent as 1/2 hour old. I got some looks from the moms in the pen, but tried to stay quiet and calm and carefully raised the camera up slowly so not to scare any one of them. An experience I will never forget. Then we went into the barn where there were a couple of orphaned calves a day old. Kat fed one with a gigantic bottle and I fell in love with a beautiful red/brown calf with beautiful curly hair. It followed me around and then I thought I would see if it wanted to play. I pranced up and down beside it and then it too started to prance in a playful way. I burst out laughing-The sight of a calf prancing is absolutely, heartwarmingly, adorable.

A huge Thank-you to Keri for her hospitality on a most perfect Day. Please enjoy just a few of the images captured during this wonderful Day. Looking forward to sharing with you more images of my personal projects and days in the very near future!