Vesna Armstrong Photography

One of the greatest pleasures in life for me is coming across new, to me unknown flowers and creating a still life image with them. I don't have a good florist near me, so I depend mainly on the local supermarkets to provide me with such pleasures. I was delighted to find these pretty clusters of blue flowers on a bare rigid stem, perfect to photograph in small glass bottles.

Gotts Park Rambalds entrance to Armley Park Trees in Armley Park Poppies near Armley War Memorial  Armley Park fountain Verbena in Gotts Park Rose Garden  Gotts Park Mansion 

These shop bought gorgeous white, blousy, divine smelling peonies must have been the most beautiful flowers I've ever had in my house. And they provided the subject for my first ever peony still life.   

Despite the circumstances related to the Covid 19 pandemic slowly improving now, I still have not ventured very far from my home and have only been taking walks that do not involve any driving. Here are a few pics from my favourite local walk the other day around the fascinating Kirkstall Abbey ; it was a cloudy, rather dull, but nevertheless pleasant June day. An overcast day is always a good and easy day for photography; the light is diffused and even, so you know what to expect in your photos, and there is always a great scope for post processing if that is what you want to do with your images. Part of the ruins of Kirkstall Abbey. As a big Brontë fan I like to mention that, incidentally, this is the site where Patrick Brontë, the father of the three Victorian literary Brontë sisters, proposed to his wife, their mother in 1812.  The ruin of the Kirkstall Abbey Church. The impressive remains of the structure still stand up to their  full height. Abbey House Museum . It stan...

This is our little house on the hill surrounded by fresh springtime greenery and flowering pyracantha and cow parsley. We have lived here for sixteen years now having moved up from London. The house is not in a great area of Leeds, but we love its quiet cul-de-sac location on the edge of a park and the beautiful views over north-west Leeds we get from the upstairs windows. It is our humble abode we call "our cottage". Even though it is a modern town house its interior resembles a cottage or a country house as that is the style we prefer. I captured some of its decor charm in my Home Isolation in B&W Pictures Part I and Part II posts.. Some time in the hopefully not too distant future we will be moving away to live in a dream house in the village of Haworth, Brontë Country. Until then, we shall continue to live very happily in this house which we instantly fell in love with when we first saw it and still feel pretty much the same about it. "A hous...

It is time to share the last in the series of still life images I created during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, entitled "Stay At Home Still Life". The pandemic is far from over yet, but for now things are slowly getting better, and the lockdown measures have been relaxed. Staying at home is still very much advisable, but it is not a strict measure any more. Since I am now free to go out and take photos wherever I want as long as I return home the same day, my further still life work won't be conditioned by having to stay at home any more. I took the image below a couple of weeks ago while bluebells were still at their best. I adore wildflowers and picked what was in bloom at the time - blue and white bluebells, buttercups and cow parsley, and to add a splash of red colour I threw in a red tulip or two as well. I popped the flowers in the blue and white jug from my jug and basin set and placed them on a little antique stool. I couldn't resist adding a little but...

Some beautiful light and dramatic colours on my yesterday's evening walk with our dogo Midge. 

Last night I went for a local walk around Gotts and Armely Parks, two beautiful parks that are joined together and divided by the lane called Redcote Lane. The weather has been warm and sunny for a few days and it had started to change. The blue skies were turning dark and purple with the sun mostly hidden behind rain clouds; and the light was unusual and quite pleasing. I was happy to discover Lantern Lane in Armley park, which is a narrow path among trees on either side. In the past it was used by cloth workers to reach their place of work in the textile mills of nearby towns. Long hours of work meant walking in the dark, so the workers could be seen carrying lanterns along the path. Hence the name Lantern Lane. Gotts Park Mansion, also known as Armley House Scene from Lantern Lane Lantern Lane Armley Park Armley Park   My exploring and learning about the local area and its beauty continues. It is one of the good things that happen to me in the Covid19...