38.

     So, a guy in one of my classes (I can't remember his name :/) asked to see more the process of 'getting a deer.' So, I told me dad to get one and he did - shot an arrow right through the poor thing's heart. He came over to my house and said, "Your wish is my command...He was just standing in the road, so pulled over and he just stood there - looking at my truck. I had to shoot him." Because, like most people, he has a bow in his truck at all times. We went back to his house, he put his camouflage outfit on OVER his work outfit, collected the deer, washed his hands, took off the camo and went to work. This deer was just so little - he was a baby. He didn't even have horns yet - mistaken for a doe. Although, he was obviously, a pretty stupid deer for not running away, it's still sad. At the end, we called him Bambi (heartbreaking, I know). Survival of the fittest, I guess but it's still sad. 

     He kept referring to the deer as 'it,' while I kept saying 'he.' I don't know why that was. I was less phased by it then I thought I would be, which I think is sad. I had never seen him do it before - my mom never wanted me or my sister to see it and I never wanted to - I was quite scared that I would become a vegetarian or something. But, from a distance (which was thankfully necessary with the lens I used), it wasn't bad. I thought the smell would be the worse thing but it was the sound. Considering my addiction to crime shows, I'm glad that I knew it was deer because if I had had my eyes closed and just listened, my imagination would have gone wild.

      He said, "Emma - you're gonna make me look like a monster." But, okay, when I photograph my mom she's always cooking or picking the garden - she's good at that but what's my dad good at? Cooking, yes - but his kitchen has awful light. He's good at killing things. In terms of killing animals for food he does quickly and efficiently - if one could look at it this way: humanely. I mean, he got it right in the heart, that couldn't have been a slow death. I don't think that means monster, rather woodsman. I always said that if the world really ends 2012, I'm going to move back in with him and be perfectly well fed. I like that has the ability to do it - I couldn't kill something. When I was kid, I was never scared that something bad was going to happen because if some one broke into the house they'd be incapacitated by the kitchen.  

      The only instruction I gave was for the last one and I said, "Don't look creepy." Fail. The lighting was perfect and it was snowing - which only really affected the middle one; snow smudged my lens but I think it gave the image a pictorialist kind of aesthetic. I like it! 

      What's next? Skinning during trapping season? I don't know if I could handle that.