Ankole Herdsman, Uganda
Fujifilm X-H2, 56mm f1.2, f1.2 @ 1/125 second, ISO 640

Over the years, I've seen lots of photos of these amazing cows with huge horns. Often there's a romantically attired herdsman moving them along in golden sunlight with fine dust erupting up and around their legs. I imagine being out in the wilds of Africa, miles from anywhere, with few creature comforts and suffering for my art.

Ankole cows are only found in a few countries in Africa and Uganda is one of them. However, with nearly 50 million people crammed into a relatively small country, you're unlikely to be miles from anywhere at any time. And the farm where we photographed our subjects was more like a modern resort: huge rooms, four-poster beds with mosquito netting and manicured gardens all around (in fact, we'd be woken an hour before sunset by the gardeners quietly sweeping the grass outside our bungalows - well, not so quietly and we were worriedly wondering what it was). 

I'm not quite sure whether the resort is aimed at tourists, local business meetings or family events, but the staff all wear a uniform which wasn't going to give us the 'rustic' look we were hoping for. Even the paddock where the cows slept overnight was too 'pretty' for an emotive photograph, but fortunately we had a little mist in the early morning which successfully disguised the location. A coloured cape covered up the logos on the uniforms and the result is what you can see above.

So, with all the effort we took to romanticize the situation, is Artificial Intelligence really a big problem? Yes, if you go to this farm and you get a little morning mist, I'm sure this is exactly what you'll experience, but photographers have always orchestrated their images one way or another - and perhaps AI is just another method still.

But with or without AI, nothing beats the experience of being there in the early morning with those amazing horns and enjoying an hour or so looking for shapes and patterns with what are very docile and approachable cattle.

Wear some farm boots if you're offered them.