Shepherding is the world’s second oldest profession. Shepherds live on the edge of hills or mountains, harsh weather conditions, of modern society, and of life and death. The experiences I’ve had with Shepherds around the world, and the work I’ve done alongside them has been invigorating, challenging, and maddeningly humbling. Through this work I’ve developed a reverence for the soil and have found the practices of raising food has helped me transcend my fear of death. For me, it is a lifestyle more firmly connected to a natural order and an honest, unguarded reckoning of the strengths and limits of the human body, mind, and spirit. The people in these pictures follow separate rules from our society’s. Their stories can hardly be captured in a photograph or words and the impact they’ve had on me may be even harder to relay. I hope some of the beauty I’ve been lucky enough to witness can be felt in these photographs, and maybe some of their wisdom/spirit will give hope for a remedy to the discord between our modern society and the natural world that sustains us.

I chose to keep the photographs faceless to respect anonymity.

– Gabriella Cobb

GABRIELLA COBB grew up in Vermont studying dance since she could walk, that being her first exposure to the arts. Around the age of 20 she left a career as a professional Ballet Dancer and began seeking substance in life. She traveled the world, hitch-hiking from place to place, working odder than odd jobs, and meeting all sorts of people. Keeping her camera in her pack. Her adventures opened her mind and though her travels were inspiring, she grew tired of the repeated disappointment of human behavior. Seeking to disconnect she found a job on a large dairy operation in New Zealand. Through this job and an intriguing man, whom she later married, she was brought into the world of Agriculture and Shepherding. She fell in love with the freeing and rigorous lifestyle, the culture of respect for the land, and the close relationship with the cycle of life and death. She’s continued to travel and shepherd since moving to the Swiss Alps with her husband. Now, on her own, she continues to graze in the golden hills of California, learns from the soil, grows food, and lives the beauty she loves with a heart that roams free.