"With this piece, I really made an honest effort to try something different.  If you notice, there is an extreme shadow to light ratio which can be very challenging to pull off.  But by adding some trickles of sunlight filtering through onto the cows, I was able to balance out that extreme instead of having the top of the painting cut off from the bottom.  I also balanced out the extreme 'pop' of my focal point, the bull, by adding more interest and activity in the shadow as is represented by the cows.  The bull is bugling toward the outside of the image, indicating there is more going on than what you're immediately seeing, while the cows are grouping together, heading in the other direction.  In other words, they're getting out of the way of some potential conflict.  That time of year is always a blast to observe with elk as they really do provide a lot of drama for the wildlife painter, especially in the morning or evening, during their social hour."                                                         - Kyle Sims