Into the Light

Posted on 28th October 2026

This picture was intended to be an illustration of the effectiveness of backlighting in photography. I just wanted to make that quite clear, before people started to make incorrect assumptions about my fondness for sheep. The simple fact is that, living in the English Peak District, it’s hard to take a landscape picture without there being at least one sheep somewhere in it.

I do of course realise that this lays me open to suspicious thoughts or even accusations of the kind I’d rather not contemplate.

Police raided the house of a middle-aged man and seized computer equipment that contained dozens of pictures of sheep. He is expected to be charged with the possession or making of lewd and indecent digital images for the purposes of perverted sexual gratification. Magistrates are to spend some time studying the pictures in an attempt to determine whether any of the sheep were underage at the time of the offences. All of the subjects are completely naked, and many are shown in degrading poses such as eating grass or staring blankly at the camera, a clear indication that they had been drugged before being photographed. If convicted, a heavy prison sentence is expected as a deterrent to others involved in the disgusting practice of sheep pornography.

However to me this photograph is not pornographic. The isolated sheep symbolises the loneliness of man’s existence in the vast, barren emptiness of the universe; yet there is hope shown in the rim of brightness around it, which makes it stand out against the surrounding darkness. There is grimness but there is also a glimmer of light. The sheep represents man’s aspirations and dreams standing out against the pitiless background of reality.

I realise that not all people will interpret in this way; they will only be able to see an image of lust and sexual degradation. However that is up to them; a true artist will see beyond the surface appearances. They will not see a sheep; they will find beauty and a symbol of hope, and will cherish it.