All my life I have admired strong women. Perhaps I romanticize them, I understand women are no more perfect than men, yet I have always found them stronger in many ways, mixing strength with nurture, love with endurance. I love these cows I photograph sometimes on Million Acres Farm. Like the other strong women I photograph, they are not afraid of the camera. They dare me to photograph them and look at me with the same intensity and curiousity that I look at them.

My mother was a strong woman surrounded by weak men who undercut her and thwarted her creativity and great ambition.  Her struggle to find a place in the world for her many real gifts destroyed her, and damaged many of the people around her. My wife is a strong woman who seeks a place in the world for her creative work, and unlike my mother, she has endured and struggled and found a place in the world for her man real gifts. In my work, I always look for strong women, and I celebrate them.

My notions about strong men in the world have changed. Many men think they are strong by being stubborn, controlling, angry and rigid. But they are weak men. Real men, strong men, are supportive husbands, loving fathers, warriors for love and compassion and connection. These cows and I get along. If you stand up to strong women and look them in the eye, and listen to them and do what they tell you to do, they will love you back.