Photographic Memory
Summer & Freedom
To say I love this photo is an understatement. Sometimes I breathe this photo in, remember the moment of capture, revel in the warm air, the sweet breath of two beautiful calves. I remember the stiffening of arms brought close, the camera level with my eyes, holding my breath to still motion, stop time.
Technically, this photo isn’t fabulous. Ears are cropped, borders are cut close, there’s over-exposed light bleeding off edges. I can wish for a wider angle, better exposure all I want, but mostly I realize people don’t care. They see a moment here, perfect and clear, the bonding of two young animals under a golden sun.
Words must accompany them, though. They must always follow this photo around, reminding viewers that these are not two calves who deserve only your adoration, they are two calves who deserve your behavior change.
They are the dairy industry’s discards, the male calves torn from their mothers the day of birth, tossed into metal trucks, shipped to frightening auction yards. They are “veal”, “cheap dairy beef”, names to deny them their calfness, their bovine nature.
I have had people tell me they stopped drinking milk after seeing this photo. It’s one of the reasons I love it so much, why I want it on billboards and buses, flown across great expanses of blue skies for all the world to see.
I’ll never forget the moment I took this photo. Never. It’s a painful reminder of the nameless calves who I couldn’t save. It’s a celebratory moment dampened by the hundreds of cattle and goats and horses who I could not help. The memories of crying babies and frightened mothers lurk dark and tangible behind those golden faces and liquid-brown eyes. Look at them. Remind yourself of why you are vegan. If you aren’t, think about your actions, their consequences, realize you have an incredible power with your choices. Start today and go vegan, you’ll never, ever regret it.
Stephanie Ernst
Marji
Kelly G.
Deb
Mary Martin
What a beautiful photoMarji. With such a sad story to accompany it, I can’t fathom how can anyone turn a blind eye to the heartbreaking dark side of the dairy industry.
Everyone loves babies. Not just their cuteness and petiteness, but their innocence, their wide-eyed wonder, their pure hearts. If more people found out — BEFORE they had already been indoctrinated and hardened — what happens to sweet little calves and piglets, I think they’d swear off dairy in greater numbers.
This photo reminds me of Philip’s blogover at vegansanctuary.blogspot.com. In it, a gentle child named Vanessa stands by a sickly, weak calf who is doomed to a short life of experimentation followed by grisly termination — and she personally escorts the calf to Animal Acres, where she grows into the happy resident named Regina.
Oh this photo is stunning, incredible. Thank you for sharing. I wish everyone could see it and realize that THESE are the faces of the babies that are tortured and killed every time we buy milk or eat a cheese pizza or get an ice cream cone.