There are all kinds of heroes, but among the most unsung heroes to me are the people who do difficult work day in and day out conscientiously and with an almost defiant determination to succeed. Judy Baldwin (Ed Rouse’s daughter) works as hard as anyone I have seen, shoveling manure, hauling hay, bending over maybe 1,000 times a day, moving huge cows around with affection and authority. There are no days off on a farm, not when it is cold, when there is a blizzard, when it is pouring or muddy.

I could take photos of this women forever. She has a lot of character in her face, and a lot of determination, even some anger, in her eyes. The relationship between a photographer and a subject is tense by nature, I think. Photos can make people look bad, and Judy always looks me right in the eye and almost dares me to make her look bad.

I wouldn’t want do, and I doubt that I could. She is as honest as her father, and as unintimated by the outside world. When I visit, I learn of a dozen crises that would have sunk almost anyone, but is just a days work for this family.  Judy is a farmer, a cow milker and handler a wife and a mother of two girls. There are no easy days in her life, just some harder than others. She could be working behind a desk if she wished. She doesn’t. That is heroic to me.