Last week I was assigned something quirky. I love quirky. If possible, I would spend my life documenting things that are just a tad bit strange.
Actually, the most peculiar bit happened a little over a year ago, when Linda the cow tried to make a break for it just before being sold and likely slaughtered. Having been chased around Hutchinson and South Hutchinson for a while, she was finally wrangled up. That’s when Danny Brizendine and his wife, Jennifer Randall, stepped in and purchased the rebel cow.
Brizendine and Randall are California natives (like me!). They didn’t have anywhere to keep Linda, so they paid to have her stay with the man who had originally owned her. But the decision buy Linda spurred another decision to start an animal sanctuary for rescued animals. So since the couple acquired their 13-acre property in California and had built the necessary structures, they decided it was time to move Linda out to California. For all you west coasters familiar with the “Happy Cows Come From California” commercials, I’m sure you recognize the hilarity in this as well. For those of you who are unfamiliar, check YouTube for “California Cow Commercials.”
So I was asked to make one last portrait of the Brizendine-Randall family before they all headed to California. Unfortunately for me, I forgot that cows don’t tend to appreciate being in close proximity to humans. So all the brainstorming done on the drive to the farm became pointless as soon as we began inching toward Linda. So before we scared her off completely, I made some photos of her, some photos of Danny and Jennifer and was about to call it quits when I noticed Danny and Jennifer’s hands held together just below my eyesight of Linda. Thinking on how I had originally wanted to make a photograph that showed Danny and Jennifer’s compassion for the animal, I suddenly saw the photo I wanted. Not one that the paper would want, as there would be no faces, but a photo that I thought would better tell the story.
Maybe not a total success (I wish I had been able to exclude all the cows, but Linda), but still a frame that I enjoyed.
