Stills

How long did my mind try to work out where the elephant in this picture was? Seconds. Then the ram slowly came into focus (or recognition more like). I don't know if that was intentional John but I like the image because of that trickery. Unfortunately the elephant is now gone and I can never experience the same reaction again. The art has vanished forever, leaving an unusual view of a ram.
 

John-Jo - two for the price of one! I can see the visual trick. Very original. Hopefully, there is a bit of art left.
 

Sorry John, didn't intend to say that there was no artistic merit left, just that anything close to the original impact/experience cannot be repeated with this particular viewer.
 

I'm glad I'm not the only one that saw the elephant.

There's something rather brawny shouldered and iconic about this shot.
 

I too see this more as an 'elephant' shot than a shearing shot. For the latter much more detail of the shearing process needs to be projected - i.e. more difinition/strength of the actual shears. Perhaps slightly more picture on the top (if this is a crop) would make this work stronger.

Having said that, don't be discouraged by the elephant likeness. I think this imagery is strong enough to carry the picture.
 

I got to this shot rather late and after JohnJo's blog entry, so I'm not coming to it very fresh.

One observation about the elephant question. The illsuion is much stronger if the bottom 25% of the photo is covered up. Full frame, I see the sheep. Part frame I see the elephant. I wonder if others first saw it as I did - scrolling up the page. First one animal and then the other. Harder to do with a paper presentation.

My other thought is an extension of akikana's. I wondered why you called this 'shearing'. To me the shearing is incidental to the animal portrait. I see Castlemilk Moorit (being sheared), not Shearing (of a CM).

If any of that sounds a bit negative, it isn't meant that way. The photo: I like!
 

Words and their meaning, experience and the context it gives: there are few things that can be presented as an absolute! This was certainly a way of ensuring one's own eye-view is tempered by others. I won't go into all the ways we see or observe but I wonder how much that is registered is a product of upbringing and environment. The shearing bit is more straightforward: I was present at the shearing of a number of sheep and there could be no other title! This chap was more splendid than the females but being sheared none the less - the blades are even moving just for Akikana! The ram's head is so bound up with the figure of the shearer that it never crossed my mind that this was a passive picture; it was about activity. Very instructive.