I sometimes protest the truth about photography, to get good photos, you often have to move. Red is a great photographic subject, he controls the sheep with his eyes, and he will not move as long as they are still. So once in awhile, I like to lie down in the mud and grass next to him and imagine what it might mean to be a sheep, getting the border collie eye – Red has a lot of it, I think he could lift cars with it.

I cannot really relate well to sheep, I sort of think they are dumb and graceless, but then, I associate too much with the dog and they associate me with the dog and see me as nothing but trouble. Maria loves the sheep and they love her, and she sees them as beautiful and bright. She sees them as individual spirits, I see them as one collective blob.

I’m not sure how Red sees them, but his determination to herd them is fierce and relentless, sometimes merciless. I have seen him sit out in the sun for hours, sitting in manure, covered with flies, sometimes his drool turns to ice in the winter. If the animal rights people in New York think it is cruel for a horse to pull a carriage in the summer, I can only imagine what they will think when they get around to saving Red from me.

Red’s eye is a spirit force, it speaks volumes to me. I never tire of trying to capture it.