Iceland. Fall 2014. Two o’clock of the morning.
I walk through volcanic rocks, grass and dark night by a lava field, under the non starryed but very, very green northern sky.
Suddenly a sound makes my hair stand on end and two eyes suddenly glow in the dark …
Here they are. The goats found me.
This short but true story will seem somewhat curious and rare, but the truth is that for as long as I have shutter I suffer a strange disease… wherever I go, goats do. Anybody who knows me or has ever shared a nice walk with me somewhere in natural (even rural or urban!) places knows what I mean.
At first I saw it as something strange, something casual. “Oh look, ¡a goat! I’ll take a picture”, but as time goes by I’m realizing that this habit will become someday not only the thread of a book or a photo exhibition, but also the subject of a psychological or paranormal study.
Today is more like going off the car and looking with the eyes, to notice where they walk or even admit that although I can’t see them they really are there, through the fog, behind a bush, diving under a lake’s dark water… waiting for the best moment to make their big appearance. Sometimes I wake up and think that maybe, lifting the sheets one of them appears and yells a strong … ¡BEEEE!
Over the years I have come to get some sympathy with these bleating animals, and I got introduced under the name “goats” a series of friendly ungulates that meet the same requirement: they suddenly shows up around me when I make pictures, when walking in the mountains, when cycling next to my city’s the river, when I skin potatoes, or even when I write on my blog. This group is not only about domestic and wild goats, but also sheep, mouflon and chamois, although lately I’m thinking seals as my water goats for similar reasons (less regarding ungulates). It is something like when someone calls heron and moorhen “ducks”. It seems tacky but loving at the same time, a mixture of bumpkin and friendly at the same time.
Finally, I leave you with this video that sums up this article pretty good.
I apologize if anyone has come here looking for useful information on wildlife photography (maybe another time). At this point it should be noticed that this post was not the place. Also I apologize if some goat, ungulate or “duck” has been offended.
Credits for the video: difcymru (youtube), Jon Bon Jovi and anonymous Wilhelm Scream imitating goat.