I thought I loved the photos I lost from the storm, but I like this one more. I was out in the pasture the moment the storm began to clear, there is something spiritual, cleansing, reaffirming at the end of a storm, the moment when the sun begins to break from the clouds. It suggest light after dark, hope, the day that follows night. It is always a special moment, a beautiful moment for me. I was glad I was there with the camera to capture it. It has been a long and challenging winter, if you look at the light, any photographer will recognize the change in it, it speaks of Spring.
A lot of us talk to our dogs, but sometimes I think they actually are listening. I was pouting over the loss of my storm photos when Red went to the door and barked, just like Lassie used to do in those old TV shows. Red rarely, if ever, barns. Lord knows what he was saying, but what I heard was “hey stop whining, let’s go take some pictures” and I put on my boots and grabbed my jacket and camera and headed out to the pasture, Red rushing ahead. When we opened the gate, he took off as if I had said “away to me” and came tunneling up on the other side.
I started taking some photos and I think the new ones are better and more evocative than the old ones. Animals are like that, working animals inspire us, connect with us. It is hard sometimes to know what they are saying and what we want to hear them saying, but it doesn’t matter, it is an ancient ballet, a symbiosis, people who think working animals don’t want to work have never owned one, period. I have no doubt Red was sending me a message, in his own way, using his own language and instincts. I heard it. Good work, I said to him.
This is the other surviving photo from the power outage that occurred while I was downloading, I like it, happy to have kept it. It took us nearly an hour to dig out way out to the pasture gate, 40 feet from the back door. Red was a bit jarred by the snow but he plowed right into it, there are always more days, more photos to take. The storm is amazing in its depth and scope, I am at a loss t understand how anyone who can read and write and see can deny the powerful changes in the weather systems that shape our lives. Another message to us from Mother Earth, they are getting louder and more intense, but still beautiful.
It took us almost two hours to dig our way to the Pole Barn, the snow around the farmhouse is the highest I’ve ever seen snow, there are many places where it is two or three feet high. We dug a path to the waterer, to the feeder, we put hay out in the barn, we shoveled out the chicken roost, Red was heroic plowing through snow a lot higher than he is. I took an hour’s worth of great photos, shots of Red, the sheep, the snow, some really good stuff and when I got into the house and downloaded it to the computer the power went out – it went out last night as well for some hours – and the photos were damaged in transmission, this is the only one that survived.
For me, there are few worse feelings than when that happens, I had just shown Maria the photos I was excited to put them up, do an album of our amazing morning, but I saw they are all gone. This is always a challenge for me, to remember that this is life, and the joy of photography is that there is always another day, another storm, another photo. We cannot control life, big storms like this disrupt things, I will put on my boots and go at it again, find something new and different to photograph. My friend George Forss just called and said he was out walking in the storm and got a great photo of a dog with a sweater taking a dump. I’m not sure if he’ll print it or not, today is Valentine’s Day and George and I were taking our lovers out to the Round House, but I doubt they will be able to open this morning. And our cars are buried under a ton of snow, we can hardly see them.
A snow plow took down our mailbox, I can hardly blame them, the snow is so high and thick, I appreciate the work they do. So I learn again and again about life, it is not controllable, it has it’s own mission, it’s own plan. Grace comes when we accept it. Sorry about those photos, though, you don’t get too many storms like this. And we are lucky..for now we have power, we are filling the tubs with water, loading up buckets in case it goes out again. The animals will not be out of that pole barn for a few days.
