Vesna Armstrong Photography

The weather has been very inclement with a lot of high winds and torrential rain causing floods all over West Yorkshire. Kirkstall, just around the corner from where I live has been affected, as well as my beloved Haworth. Owing to this I have felt like working on a dramatic and atmospheric image. I shot this one in Haworth, back in April. It is a scene you see from the path behind the Bronte Parsonage, which leads to the main road and is on the route of many Bronte Country walks starting at the parsonage. How I wish I lived there so I could just quickly nip out with my camera to capture that fleeting light and those elusive moods as they occur! Maybe one day if I am lucky enough. For now, most of the time I have to rely on my imagination and creative ability to reproduce that sort of feel out of mundane shots. Edited image Original  I applied two textures from the brand new Distressed Textures pack called "Artist Palette Seasons", and a free grunge clouds text...

It may seem easy to select some objects for a Christmas still life with so many different decorations, options and possibilities around, but it is not the case with me. I have to think quite hard because I am not interested in any of the usual material like baubles, Santas, snowmen, or anything gaudy or glittery or modern. As usual, I like natural or hand made things, and anything traditionally used to mark Christmas as holiday. I thought this time I would go for food as the main focus of my photo, and I chose panettone . It is originally an Italian sweet and aromatic bread prepared for Christmas, but it is also very popular in other parts of the world, England being one of them. I like its shape and simple look (and the taste, for that matter!), as well as the texture inside. I paired it with some traditional symbols of the festive season - spiced oranges and nuts, and for a bit of splash of red colour I used poinsettia leaves and a few cranberries, both very Christmassy addition...

Christmas time is always the busiest time in my life. There is a lot to do at work (retail) and of course at home. And then there is all the Christmas shopping too. I suppose it is the same for a lot of people out there.Time for photography is scarce and I must admit that spoils it for me a bit. My plan for next year is to keep my mind open to Christmas shopping all year round so hopefully by December I will have bought all the presents and instead of walking around with bagfuls of shopping I will be strolling with the camera in my hand taking pics rather than frantically looking for those elusive presents. This year, however, I have had to satisfy myself with just a little project I set myself, and that is to capture Christmas spirit on the go through quick snaps with my android phone. So here they are in the order I shot them. This has to be the most beautiful Christmas shop window I have ever seen. It is of my favourite Haworth shop, Rose & Co. Apothecary, known as the pl...