Dog Inverted

Brandy's new bed

We are still fostering Brandy. No commitments have been made. We have not adopted her. Really.

We did get her a dog bed though. She clearly understood that it was for her and even "helped" in the assembly process.

Once assembled, she knew exactly what to do with it.

Though we have not received the final report, initial indications are quite positive.

Good Dog...

Morning Sun

Gorgeous clouds over East Thetford this morning. Unfortunately I missed photographing them. They were truly impressionistic but of course the dog has to be fed and these things are fleeting! The morning did give us this slice of sunlight however and for that I'm grateful.

Snow...

Scary ole Jacks...

Beaming...

Happy Dog...

Jack? You home?

First Snow Panorama

Streaming Sunlight...

Streaming sunlight from this morning's walk with Brandy...

Fall in Vermont...

The simple joys of fall in New England lie all around us these days...

Fall Dahlia

Our dahlia is continuing to grow and change even as the summer comes to an end. I pulled him out of his immediate environment with this image taken on a rainy October day.

By a nose...

Brandy enjoying smells at Dog Mountain.

Brandy at Dog Mountain

Brandy got to visit Dog Mountain yesterday and I practiced taking pictures of her - not always an easy thing to do. Though we are technically fostering her still, it seems inconceivable that she will not continue to be a part of our household. Nevertheless, I'm trying to approach photographing her as if I'm trying to promote her adoption - maybe this is something we can do more of in the future.

We walked along some of the paths above the Dog Chapel. I don't think she was sticking her tongue out at me but... I'm not sure.

Eventually coming around to a nice overlook of the chapel.

Keeping an eye on other dogs - and people!

Brandy!

Our new foster dog Brandy on a walk this morning. She is a very smart dog and red to boot!

I'll stop soon...

Yet more dahlia...

Meg took this shot of the dahlia with some morning dew...

More Fawn pictures

Now that this year's fawns are getting bigger, we see more of them and they are getting closer to the house. This little guy was visiting our front yard yesterday morning...

Fireworks!!

Yesterday was Thetford, Vermont's 250th birthday which was celebrated with a wonderful fireworks display!

Contrasts...

Black and white. Light and Dark. Terrible news and Joyous News. What a tapestry.

More Dahlia...

I told you that I wouldn't be able to stop at just one photo of our blooming Dahlia. Here is the proof in the filtered morning light with just a little dew clinging to him.

Fawn...

We saw the two fawns we've been tracking this summer the other night near the house. It made me pine for a fast long lens because of the weak light and the distance involved but that sort of stuff costs real money. This one came out OK though and shows off our youthful visitor nicely!

Web

We found this sparkling web in the morning light yesterday. The dark trees provided a sharp contrast as the morning light lit up the droplets of water.

Dalia doh!!! "Dahlia" time...

This won't be the last picture I post of our Dahlia. This guy has been with us for several years now - lying dormant in the garage all winter and then coming to life every summer. It seems (to have) a deeper color than in past years and is just gorgeous.

Indulgence...

I'm endlessly fascinated by the lilies in our back yard. They are so beautiful by themselves and serve as such an attraction for all sorts of winged creatures.

Deadheading...

It's summer and time to be deep into the Dead. 

It's hot!

Meg got this shot (through the screen) of this guy succumbing to the hot weather. It's just too hot to stand up!

The lillies are blooming!

Summer is in full bloom here in Vermont.

New Book Available!

We are really excited to publish our first book through blurb.com! We actually developed the book with the intention of entering it into the Photography Book Now competition but amazingly missed the submission deadline.


This is a travel book consisting of some of our favorite photos from around the world (that sounds more exotic than it is) rendered in Black and White to explore the textures and new meanings hidden behind the color.


Take a look and let us know what you think!

Travels in Black and White. by Tyler Brown Meg Kremzner | Make Your Own Book

Juvinile Robin

The other day at work, an interesting bird was clumsily feeding outside my window. I guessed correctly that it was a young robin. Sadly I was shooting through tinted glass but was able to Photoshop out some of the distortion. 


Beautiful bird!

Shroom...

This time of year, completely out of the blue, mushrooms appear all over the place. There are a tremendous variety of them ranging from those crazy Indian Pipe things to the more conventional lawn based toadstools.


I found this one yesterday morning and just love how the toadstool looks sprinkled with little flavor crystals.

Fawn...

Meg snapped this shot of one of this years fawns in our front yard. These youngsters are all ears and legs!

Squirrel Week - Episode 4 - The finale

It has come to my attention that not everyone enjoys observing the callous indifference that our squirrel and chipmunk friends have for our plans, whether those plans include putting seed out for the birds or growing geraniums free from the wanton deadheading of mischievous red squirrels.


I certainly won't attempt to change your mind about such things but I will point out the simple joy in letting go and watching how nature decides to conduct itself. It's sometimes cute, sometimes comical, sometimes family oriented and some times decidedly menacing and without mercy. I'm entertained by the former and squeamish but accepting of the latter especially when we find our predatory friends (foxes and raptors) in our neighborhood.


In the end I'm thankful for the opportunity to see all these creatures doing their thing despite the huge messy, destructive footprint we humans have made on the land. When I think of our impact, I really would prefer not to control whether the red squirrel misbehaves and nips of the near blooming bud of the geranium. I'm just psyched he's here and having a good day!


Oh and sometimes it's just funny.

Have a great Friday Red!

Squirrel Week - Episode 4

The other day, after feeding the bird, I started sneaking up on this red squirrel cleaning up underneath one of our feeders. I kept moving closer to him until I could have reached out and touched him (or so I imagine). He looked like he was always keeping one eye on me.

I shot this with the 50mm prime lens at about f/2.0. It's fascinating to spend time with this lens: unable to zoom without walking or crawling, stuck with the same field of view, oblivious to shutter speed because you can get to f1.4 and getting wicked sharpness right out of the camera.

I'm also falling further and further in love with square cropping for so many photos these days.

Squirrel Week - Episode 3

Enough swallows - let's get back to the task at hand.


This little guy was trying mightily to get up our steel bird feeder but kept slipping backwards. Truly one step forward for two steps back.

We interrupt Squirrel Week to bring you...

Swallows have nested in one of the birdhouses we put out this year and their young ones (which we can hear cheeping sixty feet away) are about ready to start trying to fly. As the day gets closer, they are getting bigger and hungrier. The parents are flying back and forth constantly bringing bugs home to feed the youngsters.

Meg snapped this shot of Junior opening very wide for a delicious bug dinner... Open wide!!

Squirrel Week - Episode 2

I sat with this guy for some time in the late afternoon sun as he munched on black oil sunflower seeds. It would be an overstatement to say that he was "working with me" but he did seem to understand the flattering affect of the sun's rays.

Squirrel Week - Episode 1

We have tried over the years to cultivate an environment for birds around our home. We have seed feeders in the yard, feeders in the woods, we've put in a maple tree that has blossomed into it's own ecosystem and our rugosa roses are sufficiently tall and thorny as to provide protection from even the most persistent raptor. 


This has resulted in not only a nice variety of bird species (though no Northern Flicker this year...) but also a ton of grey squirrels, red squirrels and chipmunks. Though I know some regard these rodents as pests, we've come to enjoy observing the relationships between these various species and the various members of each species (red squirrels being the crabbiest of the group). They each have their own personality and their own level of tolerance for us humans.


This week we'll post some recent photos we've been able to snap of these guys.

There is no doubt  that red squirrels enjoy a good view. We found this fellow surveying the scene as we approached one morning to refill the bird feeders.


This is not the first time we've found a seemingly "human" appreciation in red squirrels for a good view. I posted this picture in February of last year of a red squirrel enjoying a morning snack while watching sunrise from the very top of our Christmas tree which had found a new home on our deck after the holidays.