Always Keep Your Friends In The Right Frame

This 51-year-old German photographer started her life all over again after suffering a stroke. Her camera’s romance with animals produces some evocative images of friendship and love between unlikely pairs

- Tanja Brandt

My dog Ingo, a Malinois, and little owl Poldi. I showed Poldi a camera and he had a lot of fun with it. (Top secret for readers: It's not me who takes the pictures!)

2. Harris, a hawk phoenix is the most clever girl in the family (I call her my clever little buzzard). She not only has a bag of tricks up her wing but is quite fast with them. She always sits on the roof at the highest point so that she can keep an eye on everything and everyone. Isn’t it funny? This bench is one of our favourite places, away from our hectic lives.

3. I found these tiny skies in a store. Ingo and his friend's expressions made me laugh. As if they wanted to say, “Oh no! She doesn’t really want us to pose with the skies, or does she?”

4. Lusi and Ingo are a great team. While Ingo is patient, Lusi is incredibly cheeky and curious. He loves to pull Ingo's flews (the thick hanging lips of certain dogs). Before my accident, we were often at the river and loved to watch the flowing water.

5. Probably, the only time Ingo took a bath (not Poldi). It was a fun picture. They were playing in the bathtub, but for the foam, I must admit, I used Photoshop. These two helped me paint my office. We were all soaked in colours by the end of it.

6. They were so excited when they found this green sprinkler from an old building site. It was like a treasure for them. They are usually happy about anything they find to play with.

7. Ingo and Poldi share a great bond. It won’t be wrong to call them best friends. We were playing in the snow near our house.