Vesna Armstrong Photography

I don't take many close ups of plants but these little blobs of ice sitting in dead wild garlic glistening in beautiful winter' light caught my eye. I wanted them to stand out on a dark background so I took quite a few shots from different angles and at different exposures. But the rich dark blue background of the image below was a bit of a nice surprise as I didn't think I'd get anything quite like that.

It snowed heavily the night before. Big, thick snow flakes settling fast. In the morning the sun came out and when I looked eagerly out the window I was delighted to see it was going to be a most beautiful winter day. I did not want to drive in the snow so the most obvious destination for photography was Kirkstall Abbey, which is about twenty five minute walk away from my house. I usually save it for special weather conditions such as snow or fog because the ruin lends itself really well to atmospheric photos. It is a medieval Cistercian monastery situated in beautiful parkland on the north bank of the river Aire, about two and a half miles north-west of Leeds city centre. After the first one I have kept the images in the order I took them so they follow my walk from home to the abbey and around it. The snow was melting rapidly due to the sun shining so I just managed to take my shots before there was very little of it left. ...

I thought I'd take a slightly different approach to my Winter image from the Autumn and Spring ones. This time I used the back bedroom window instead of my usual kitchen window, and decided to focus the attention on the winter scene outside by keeping the still life simple. I used a bowl of oranges for their simple shape and warm contrasting colour, and also because I like the idea of citrus fruit in winter - the comforting smell, the freshness of taste and vitamin goodness. The rest of the images in the series so far:  http://www.vesnaarmstrong.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/seasons-in-my-window.html

On Monday it snowed for the first time this year here in Leeds. A long forecast and awaited snow! Winter is not winter without a bit of snow. I grabbed my camera and took a few shots from my windows while the snow was still falling planning to go outside when it stopped. I did not think much of the photos and did not even bother importing them on the computer until yesterday. I lightly processed a few and was quite pleased with them after all. And here is one I took from my bedroom window a few years ago:

I have not taken any photos this year yet ( suffering from major withdrawal symptoms!) so  have been looking through my archives for an image to process and share. It seems the majority of the ones that move me the most are in my Zagreb 2012 folder so here is one of them I took in my beloved old Upper Town. It is a window in a courtyard shown in the second image. Love the vintage look of the window and juxtaposition of things around it and in the courtyard. The available light of a sunny summer day filtering in from above created a lovely mood in amongst the walls of old buildings.

This quirky and cute cottage is situated on a path between Tong village and Fulneck, just at the entrance to Fulneck. It is named after Noddy, a character from the children's story created by a famous English children's author, Enid Blyton. Particularly fascinating is the dove cote at the side of the cottage with  Noddy's friends peeking out of the holes. One day I may knock on the door asking for a property release just so I can meet the owner of the cottage! The focus here on Google seems to be yet again much softer than elsewhere.