Counting Sheep #0001 - Sleep Story

I built this set in Cornell University’s sheep barn to illustrate a story for National Geographic on Sleep and Dreams. We built it over a holiday weekend and were told that someone from the animal husbandry department would be around to help us get sheep onto the set. So I became a bit nervous when our handler told us he was going to enjoy supper with his family leaving me to wrangle the sheep onto the set by myself. “It’ll be easy,” he told me, “just get the most dominant sheep tied to the bed and the others will follow.” After pointing out the most dominant sheep to me which didn’t look at all that dominant, he left. I led the begrudging sheep to the set, tied it to the bedpost and waited. I waited quite awhile. After more than a reasonable amount of time passed I noticed that the other less dominant sheep still looked quite content to be apart from the dominant one. What may have unnerved them was that I had rigged a stuffed sheep (doomed to die at a slaughterhouse) with all sorts of ropes and pulleys in a jumping position above the bed. (N.G. does not like to use Photoshop) Every one of the sheep had to be carried onto the set. None came by their own will.

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Filename: Counting Sheep 0001.jpg
Copyright: © Louie Psihoyos
Image Size: 6000x4483 / 35.9MB; Animal Animals Bed Bedroom Counting Sheep Dream Dreaming Dreams Fantasy Humor Illustration Insomonia Jump Jumping NGS National geographic Prints Sheep Sleep Sleep deprivation Trouble Sleeping
Contained in galleries: Humor, Sleep & Dreams, New York, Prints

I built this set in Cornell University’s sheep barn to illustrate a story for National Geographic on Sleep and Dreams. We built it over a holiday weekend and were told that someone from the animal husbandry department would be around to help us get sheep onto the set. So I became a bit nervous when our handler told us he was going to enjoy supper with his family leaving me to wrangle the sheep onto the set by myself. “It’ll be easy,” he told me, “just get the most dominant sheep tied to the bed and the others will follow.” After pointing out the most dominant sheep to me which didn’t look at all that dominant, he left. I led the begrudging sheep to the set, tied it to the bedpost and waited. I waited quite awhile. After more than a reasonable amount of time passed I noticed that the other less dominant sheep still looked quite content to be apart from the dominant one. What may have unnerved them was that I had rigged a stuffed sheep (doomed to die at a slaughterhouse) with all sorts of ropes and pulleys in a jumping position above the bed. (N.G. does not like to use Photoshop) Every one of the sheep had to be carried onto the set. None came by their own will.