49.5

Driving around the South Australian countryside I spotted a herd of cows and something told me to stop the car and see what I could capture. The cows were on the far side of an electric fenced paddock and didn’t look interested in moving from their shaded oasis. I took some long range shots, all dull and lifeless, while I knew the sky was perfect for something more dramatic I just had to figure out how to make it happen. I saw some large weeds and wondered what might happen if I pulled them out and threw them inside the paddock. To be honest I didn’t wonder too long as I hastily through a handful and was taken back at the cows moving quickly towards me. They stopped about five metres away from me, which provided another 10 minutes of shooting before the scene still didn’t give me what I was looking for. I picked up as many weeds as I could and threw the pile within a metre, I was taken aback by a stampede of about 10 cows jostling to get best position. Even behind an electric fence I was nervously continuing to take shots as they ran forward when at the last minute they froze with bits of grass going everywhere. At that moment I took this image. It looks like cows standing still, but my heart was pumping from thoughts of being trampled by hungry cows.