My idea about portraits is to only take portraits of people i admire or love. I think the photo reflects what is in the heart of the photographer. The cold wind came up this morning, and my Willa Cather girl came into the barn after shoveling some manure. Maria doesn’t pose, and I don’t ask her to, taking her photo is like taking a photo of the sheep or dogs. You have to get lucky because they won’t sit still for you.

I think I got lucky this morning. My new 85 mm Sigma lens does a nice job of blurring the foreground as well as the background, I like images of people that are not literal. They sometimes are more revealing than anything.