Vesna Armstrong Photography

There is one good thing about persistent inclement weather a photographer can take advantage of: they can catch up on editing and sharing any photos that have been sitting in the archives for too long because there never seems to be their turn to be dealt with. One of such sets of pics I have are those I took last year during a usual visit to my home country Croatia. My niece Haidi, her partner Bruno and I took ourselves for a day trip to one of Croatia's fascinating castles, Veliki Tabor . The fortress sits high up on top of a hill, near the town of Desinic in the northwest region of Croatia called Zagorje, not far from the village where my mother was born and raised. Built in the middle ages, the castle is preserved almost in its original form and is one of Croatia's best preserved and most attractive castles. Veliki Tabor is known for a number of legends and stories the most famous one being the story of Veronika of Desinic, who falls in love and has a forbidden affair wit...

It's been nearly two weeks since I got back from one of my visits to Zagreb, the beautiful city full of character I was born and raised in. I had a really good time - pleasant, eventful, filled with fun and special moments, but, I must admit, I didn't take very many photos. In fact, it was only on two days, out of two weeks I was there, that I took a considerable amount of pics, and I feel absolutely fine  about it. I'm trying to slow down and be easygoing and spontaneous about everything I do in my private life now, and my photography is no exception. I shall share selected photos from the recent trip to Zagreb in two blog posts; for this first one I have prepared some random images from around the town, most of which were taken in the historic Upper (Old) Town which continues to attract and inspire me by far more than any other part of Zagreb. "Window to Zagreb", part of the Summer Festival installations at Strossmayer Parade in the Upper (Old) Town from wh...

Since I bought my iPhone back n January and particularly since we got our dog in February I found myself taking a lot more photos than before. I am so happy about the new creative energy and inspiration, but I have ended up with a large backlog of photos waiting to be edited and shared and am constantly playing a catch up. I was even thinking of pausing in taking new photos, but that proved impossible. Today's post is another one that should have been done many weeks ago; back in April when I visited my beloved native city of Zagreb I also made a short trip to the beautiful region of Kordun in the central Croatia, near Bosnian border, where I have some lovely friends. It was a very pleasant day; dry but rather overcast and not too hot; perfect for an early spring stroll in a captivating countryside. I particularly loved the lacey look of white blossom trees strewn all over the landscape. Cetin castle - Stari grad Cetin.

"A woman from Zagreb will readily leave her town, but will then become a victim of severe homesickness. When you meet her somewhere far from Zagreb you get to know about the city in a concise and somewhat idealized and sentimental way." ~ Veselko Tenzera (1942-1985, Croatian writer and journalist ) I have decided that each time I visit my beloved native town of Zagreb, I will focus on just one or two of its many beautiful and interesting sites and take a handful of key photos to post here on my blog. To start with, on my brief visit at the beginning of this month I chose one of the most  remarkable and obvious choices - the historic Stone Gate. This fascinating piece of architecture was  first mentioned in the medieval times and used to be one of the entrances into the Zagreb old town, called "Upper Town". North entrance, which is the entrance from the lower town. In 1731 the city was consumed by a huge fire, and according to a legend, in the flat above th...