Yup, that's a big beast of a Charolais bull coming right at you/me, at the Limavady Agricultural Show, of course:
 |
| On the 'Blad, 60mm, FP4+ on Foma 313 paper |
At the Show they parade these particular animals around a 'ring' - which basically means a made-up portion of a field and there was naught separating yours truly from this magnificent beast except a bit of rope and a Hasselblad. The camera, mind you, might have been a lot more use than the rope had Hardy come to Hardy should Dennis - or whatever they called him - decided to carry straight on rather than turn to his right as the script suggested.
Charolais are beautiful animals. Muscular, with a lovely coat. This one wasn't that big in the grand scale of things - some are really enormous. The stockmen (and women) are brave souls that can handle them, as the weight ratio of bull-to-human means its a no-contest should things go awry. I think you need to be born into this game - I was trusting that the handler knew what he was about and thankfully he did.
