Every once in a while, I like to take a break from reading words and spend some time looking at books filled with paintings, photographs, or other visual delights.  When that looking includes one of my favorite places on earth, Vermont, it’s a two-fer, and this book did not disappoint!

Kenna is a photographer who has discovered the joy of making images from above, using a drone and providing a ‘bird’s-eye’ perspective on the terrain of the Green Mountain State.  From rolling hills and the Green Mountains, to rich farmland, to rivers, streams and the majestic Lake Champlain, his technique provides a new perspective, a different perspective from our usual, straight-ahead view from five or six feet above the earth.

Among the most striking photographs are those done just after sunrise or before sunset providing long shadows to accompany the trees, barns, bee-hives, boats, and other objects in the Vermont landscape.  There is the occasional person in a photograph, but humans are largely absent.  Each photograph includes the name of the town where it was taken, an added delight for me as a member of the 251 Club, a group of somewhat pathetic and truly obsessive folks whose quest is to visit each and every one of Vermont’s 251 towns.  Having completed visits to 217 of them to date, I found the ‘snap quiz’ element of looking at these photos and trying to remember where each of the towns is located added to my pleasure.

The book benefits from a brief and loving introduction by Bill McKibben, a fellow Harvard alum and Green Mountain state resident.  Whether you spend lots of time in Vermont or have never been there, this is a book that will bring you pleasure each and every time you open it.  Enjoy!