Vesna Armstrong Photography

When we had another bout of heavy and unwanted snow last Friday I was so uninspired by it that I was determined not to bother taking any more snow pictures at all. But it has been so cold since that the snow is melting very slowly and there is still so much of it around, so I thought maybe I will go out after all and capture the mood of this exceptionally wintry month of March. The shot bellow was taken yesterday just outside Tong village, not far from where I work. Countryside always looks beautiful covered with the white blanket of snow but right now I am ready for a different kind of beauty - that of blue skies and fresh colours of spring. Surely spring must be around the corner despite this cold weather.

When I was buying this cup I did not have a clue what sort of cup it was. And neither did the old ladies volunteering at the charity shop. I bought it simply because it was unusual and because of its vintage design even though there is probably no great age to it in terms of when it was made. It was only much later on that I found out watching a TV antiques show that it is actually a moustache cup. It was invented in Victorian era when moustaches were fashionable and pampered with wax to keep them dry and to protect them from getting stained as well as to stop the wax from melting and ending up in the drink. You can see the moustache guard on my image, but not the moon-shaped opening underneath it which allows the passage of liquids. I did not include the opening because I chose instead to get a good view of the floral pattern on the outside of the cup.

Still no spring in the air, it has been cold and wet, so here is something from the archives. It was taken in my dream land, the Lake District, one of the two places (the other being Yorkshire Dales) where I hope to live one day in a farmhouse surrounded by animals and beautiful countryside I got to love so much. On this occasion, which was last spring, I stayed in a guest house at Keswick around which there are numerous very interesting walks, an absolute paradise for photographers, hikers and nature lovers. Cannot wait to go back there again this year as soon as an opportunity arises.

I set myself a goal to learn something about photography every week. It may be something to do with taking pictures or with post processing, a simple technique or something more complex, it does not matter as long as I am continuously learning. Of course, it has to be something that suits my images and style. I look at photographers' blogs a lot and last night I came across this easy but very effective tutorial on Kim Klassen's blog on how to use Gaussian blur and Levels Adjustment Layer in PS to achieve a soft, dreamy look. I really liked it and decided to use it on my still life with daffodils and tulips I had shot the other day and was waiting for me to decide how to process it. I also applied a texture to give interest to the background, and also to remove some of the excessive smoothness Gaussian blur creates. Being all about vintage, I finally gave the image a slight sepia treatment which desaturated the colours and produced a brownish tint.

I love Golden Acre park. No matter how many times I go there there is always something new to photograph depending on the time of year, day and light, weather or simply chance or luck. And there are still paths I have not taken yet and corners I have not explored. On this particular day the weather was cold but sunny, and it was half term so the park was buzzing with parents and kids off school. I managed to take quite a few shots I was happy with. A rare great winter day!

I normally try to avoid creating twee images but sometimes that is the best way to express how I feel towards my subject. I am so happy I can find some spring flowers at last, even if only in the local supermarket or at the garden centre, that I just have to exaggerate my work they appear in. And primroses are just so dainty in themselves. Love the fact they come in all the different rich colours. I came across the wicker bicycle in one of the charity shops I visit regularly and immediately knew I wanted to use it with primroses. I added some white daffodils to improve composition balance and I also had to add a texture with writing and black border as I almost desperately felt something was missing in the top left corner. It had to be something that fits just so and took me a while to find the writing I liked.