I go trekking all the time in a valley in Pyrenees called Val d’Aran. Just in the frontier with France.

I took the picture after we stopped for a little rest and a sandwich, while the cow was having her own lunch near us.

This image will be part of a series called “A fairy tale country”. Val d’Aran was once upon a time a valley surviving on cattle, agriculture and forest. A hard life. Now people live on tourism. But there are still traces of a culture that has disappeared, like this cow grazing calmly on the side of a road. Only forty years ago, herds of cows and horses were very numerous and in summer they grazed in the mountain meadows, watched by shepherds. The valley was full of meadows, clean and cared for, in which the grass was cut and gathered for the winter. Now the forest and undergrowth have occupied the meadows, and it is increasingly rare to find herds of cows and horses spending the summer in the high mountains.

A way of life sustained by strong men and women, a mountain culture with its customs and traditions that survived until the 70s and 80s, when skiing became popular and tourism arrived that allowed new generations to access a more less harsh life. It also sparked speculation the ground and destroying the character of the architecture of the villages.

This image could represent the disappearance of all this mountain culture. “A fairy tale country” with ogres and witches, poor and great lords and full of magical corners preserved in time. Stone walls, crumbling houses and stables in the middle of the forest, abandoned mines, old paths recovered for tourists, while old people left in the villages looks with parsimony and condescension.

What do you think are the TWO most impactful features that make your image a good photograph? Don’t be shy!

The contrast between background and figure, and the cropped head. Also the diagonal composition of the cow’s body.

If you would be able to make this photo once again, what would be the ONE thing you would like to do better or different?

I don’t think I would do anything different.

Joan Tomás shared his photograph in the FRAMES Facebook Group.

Photographer

Joan Tomás, Barcelona, Spain

WEBSITE 1
WEBSITE 2
INSTAGRAM
FACEBOOK
TWITTER

Equipment and Settings

Fujifilm X-T2 with a basic zoom lens