This series of photographs began on a trip to Marathon, Texas, near Big Bend in 1995. I was on a lonely stretch of highway between Marathon and Marfa and a big Brahma Bull was standing near the road behind a barb wire fence. He was just standing there as if waiting for me. I drove past him for about a mile and then surprised myself by turning around.

I say that I surprised myself because to this point in my life as an artist I had only looked at the most abstract, subtle, metaphoric, and “spiritual” subject matter to photograph. Bulls were definitely not included. Nevertheless, I went back and began a journey that shaped my future life.

The Bull and Cow presented something different to me. I see incredible form in their bodies. Forms can go beyond what they seem into something that strikes a deep chord within me. It is as if the form itself is a portal into an unknown place within that I feel compelled to look at. It is not only form but texture, light, and a moment in time that I look at. I have allowed myself to be captured by these things. And, when I surrender, much is revealed to me. I’m in awe of their sweetness, frailty, bravado, strength, and monumentality. I hope others will have the same experience when they look at this series and my book, Texas Rangeland, that the University of Texas Press published in 2002.