Stills

Strange coincidence: I have just finished a massive shoot of the dipersal sale of our neighbour's milking herd - from last milking to auction ring!

I like this but for one slightly disturbing detail (which may be me): at first look (each time I go to the page) I start off seeing the eye to the left of the picture as the cow's left eye, ie looking sideways on to its face and I then work my way round to seeing it straight on. When I get all that out of the way, the sense of the animal imprisoned in a dark cell prevails. Maybe the light on the ear strikes too precisely with the bright bit tending to take away from the eyes.

So yes, relatively unusual (to a townie!) but just lacking the compositional killer punch.
 

Well, if this doesn't have a 'compositional killer punch' I don't know what would. One sees so many cow face pictures and whilst they are beautiful animals (except when they are pushing our garden fence over) the pictures never say anything to me. This picture makes me work hard to see it fully and in doing so I understand from it that this is a real live seeing hearing thing.

John, if you are taking pictures for an audience that would not appreciate this (in your words: 'would not know what to say') then change your audience.
 

Is there fear in that eye, a glimmer of recognition? There seems to be. It's a haunting photo and nearly abstract in its sparsity of detail. I'd be tempted to burn down the light on the ear, but that's arguable; the composition might end up unbalanced or too distinct with out it.
 

For me this image has a Greek or Crete mythology thing going on. Daedalus built the cow shed where no one fears to tread, except the photographer. They’re a crazy bunch.

This is one that shows that the lack of light (or the presence of darkness if you prefer) is just as an important ingredient in the making of an image as is the light. It’s unusual and it works for me. It really does take me back to my classical studies lessons at school and the scheming of the son of Zeus and Europa.
 

I can't add much more to what has previously been said. This has it all. Perhaps a tighter crop on the right hand side. Beautiful diagonal from the ear to the eye. Just the right expression in the eye. Like I said, you cannot add too much to something that's 99% there. Excellent.
 

apis in the catacombs of the serapeum of saqqara. the last daylight illuminates eye and ear. great illumination. adds a lot of mystery.
 

After all the symbolism that this obviously holds for people, I thought that I ought to dig a bit deeper than my previous comment. For starters I asked some 'arty' members of the family and one had the same impression as me about the left-hand side of the face. The general observation was that it is intriguing and the dark used well. I re-examined my own thinking and the analysis was that I am probably too close to farm animals on a practical level (although that does give some wonderful photo opportunities) but should that affect the way I see the picture? It shouldn't but I fear that in this case familiarity with the subject matter did combine with the observations I made previously about the imbalance of the bright ear to hold back from as enthusiastic a reception as others. So, a telling picture that challenges on a visual and emotional level but still with niggles relating to the ear and ambiguity over the angle of the face (even if there is an echo of cubism there!!).
 

I saw this before the tweek of the eye on the right and I believe the increase of that anchor point has completed the image for me.

It now has an eye grabbing impact, in both ways.