I loved my sheep when I first came to live with them in the country, more than a decade ago. My wonderful dog Rose and I took them out into the woods, even into town, I was a shepherd, it was in my blood. I loved lambing, even on bitter cold winter night, and was touched by the wonderful mothers sheep could be.
Rose did not like the sheep to get close to me, and they learned not to try.
As I became closer to my dogs, herding and working dogs all of them, the sheep and I drifted apart. Part of it was that I was always with the dogs, and so the sheep and I could not really get to know one another. I also got busier and had less time to spend with them. I stopped lambing and that further pulled us apart.
Red is a professional, but he is a forceful herding dog, and the sheep keep their distance from him, he brooks no nonsense.
When Maria came into my life, my relationship with sheep became even more distant, she is so loving and connected to them I think I backed off, being open is not my natural state, and it was easy to turn it over to her and take photos of it. That was pretty much the way it stayed until a few months ago when Maria and I decided to bring these four beautiful but abandoned sheep, the Romneys, the Gang Of Four, to the farm.
Rosemary, above, in particular, caught my eye and I fell in love with her a bit, she is beautiful, alert, and quite posed. The Romneys, unlike our sheep, are imperious, quite regal. They obey Red but are not unduly impressed with him, and they are certainly not frightened of him.
The other Romneys and I are connecting also – Griselle, Biddy, and Izzy. Sheep of entitlement. I love taking their photos, the eyes, the wool, the different shades, their willingness to look me in the eye – few sheep do that, and let me in.
They seem to like it when I get close and talk to them, take their photos. I am trying to spend more time with them, sometimes I even leave the dogs outside the gate. Since the Romneys pay absolutely no attention to Fate at all, she can come in with me.
I love taking their portraits, they have character and presence. And they like to pose, they act like they deserve it, as royalty often acts. The other sheep and I are spending more time together also, and I am paying more attention to them. They are divas, like my mother, and my grandmother, and I have a soft spot for divas.
The farm is like that, it is a wheel that turns and turns. Things come and go, leave and come back, my own emotions are always in flux. Winter is different from summer, Romneys are different from Cheviots, none of them are like a pony or a donkey. Perhaps it is the photography that has pulled me back, perhaps the Romneys have just seduced me, as Flo did. Either way, it’s nice.