And now for something completely different: Lambs!

I like shooting everything - weddings could be an exception - and when presented with an opportunity to photograph animals of any kind, will usually jump. A friend, Erica Burnett Thomas, raises sheep and two of her ewes just had lambs. She doesn't live far from here, so I stopped by Monday morning to make a few images.

I've long been interested in domesticated animals, and their history with humans. Sheep, Ovis aries, are thought to be one of the longest domesticated of agricultural animals. They likely descend from the mouflon, Ovis orientalis, a wild sheep that once ranged extensively across Eurasia and the Middle East. It's thought that sheep first began to be domesticated some 12,000 years ago. Their wool provides a fine fleece, and the meat is savory.

Besides all that, they're cute. Especially the lambs. These two little females are only about a week old.

At this early stage, lambs are gangly and awkward - all legs. She has spotted her sibling, and is dashing her way.

For the most part, the lambs stayed in the shadow of their much larger mom. So much so that the big one had to take pains to avoid tripping over them. A ewe will often shun one of her lambs, and refuse to feed it. That was the case here, up until this outing. I wanted to shoot them outside under the sunlight, and this was the lambs' first excursion outdoors. For whatever reason, the ewe accepted the "black sheep" and began to allow her to nurse and remain in close proximity.

Thanks to Erica for letting me make some images of her flock.