Vesna Armstrong Photography

I haven't taken any new photos for the past few weeks. I was ill with the flu when we had a spell of heavy snow, and "the beast from the east" was thrashing England. Then I started a new job, which for me is a bit like starting a new life, so while I am in training and finding my feet in the new job and new circumstances of living I have put my photography on the back burner. However, when it's time to relax I like nothing more than editing photos, and I decided to look in my archives for something to process for a blog post. The weather has not been nice: low, wintry temperatures, another bout of heavy snow followed by incessant rain and then more snow. It's already mid March, and I'm sure everyone is, like I am, eagerly awaiting a turn in the weather and some much welcome signs of spring. In this spirit I thought I'd share a few photos I took in the beautiful August weather of 2016, when we were on holiday at Ullswater, one of the lakes in the wonderful...

As usual, in between taking pictures of landscape and scenery, I have fitted in some still life work as well. To me still life is very important part of my photography; it is a must do for every month of the year; it is what gives me a true sense of creative achievement in this wonderful pursuit that photography is to me. In the current winter months I have chosen three very different themes. Winter, with its absence of flowers and colours in the nature, is a good time to do some, what I call, non-floral still life work. I simply look around the house for some objects that I could use to create a story around, while at the same time putting together a visually engaging set up in which the elements interact well with one another. This time it was my antique brown poison bottle and a reproduction of an old bill of fare I bought in the Mother Shipton's Cave Attraction gift shop in Knaresborough. This is a found still life which I saw in my friend's lovely house in Hawort...

These days I seem to always stick to colour photography. However, on this particular occasion I ended up dabbling with black and white sepia. Here is how and why. It was a Sunday morning and my third and last day in Haworth. I arranged with G and a friend to come over for breakfast and then go for a walk before driving back to Leeds. I thought a walk around the nearby Leeming reservoir would be nice and relaxing on this winter day. We drove a short distance to Oxenhope and started our walk from the village post office. All along the walk there were extensive, breathtaking views over the reservoir, the village of Leeming and surrounding areas. I always enjoy looking at sweeping, distant views, but, to be honest,  photographs of most of them leave me quite indifferent. It was mainly an overcast day and the diffused light and pale colours of the winter landscape made my photos look quite flat, insipid and simply lacking impact. I thought I had to do something with the photos to make...

It was a very cold, but bright day when I left Leeds for Haworth on Monday morning. As I got off the bus at the bottom of the cobbled Main Street I turned my face up towards the sun and felt the usual surge of happiness and excitement at simply being here; and the more so this morning because I was on my way to the amazing Ponden Hall , possibly the model for Thrushcross Grange, or even more likely, Wuthering Heights. I thought I'd walk up to the top of Main Street and get a taxi from there; that way I wouldn't miss out on any possible photos of my favourite street in the world. By the time I got to the top of the street the sun was already hidden behind some rather ominous clouds, and by the time I rang for a taxi it was snowing heavily; large, thick flakes, whirling in a gusty wind were settling fast on the ground and in no time the place was blanketed in white. The taxi driver quite understandably wouldn't take me to Ponden Hall as the snow storm was likely to be ev...

Last Friday was a gorgeous winter day in my favourite Haworth. It was very cold, but the mellow winter sun was out all day. I waited till it got quite low to go for a little stroll with my camera. I loved the blue shadows and golden highlights. The Parsonage Museum - the home to the Brontë Sisters, the Victorian literary geniuses. In the middle on the right there is the Old School Room, where all of the Brontë siblings taught. It was built by their father, the Rev Patrick Brontë. Later on the day I took this photo, a private view of the new exhibition to mark Emily Brontë's 200th birthday took place here. The path behind the Parsonage, which is a path to the sisters' beloved moors. For me it is impossible to walk along here without Charlotte, Emily and Anne in my mind. The wonderful, for me downright magic Main Street, where photo opportunities never run out. This is Changegate, called the Ginnel in the Brontës time, which leads to Lord Lane. I though...

On my recent brief visit to the beloved Zagreb earlier this month I was asked by my lovely niece Haidi and her boyfriend Bruno to photograph the new lines of their lifestyle fashion brand "Creaturae". As I always say, I don't really take photos of people, but occasionally I like working with people who don't mind being photographed, look good on photographs and know how to pose. Haidi is always a great pleasure to take pics of, and this time I also met and worked with two friends of hers who proved to be very good models too, as well as very nice young people. It was thankfully not too cold a day but it was drizzling steadily, so we had to find a location where we were going to be covered from above. The best choice was the attractive, old bandstand in the popular Zrinjevac park, not far from the city square. Haidi, who is a yoga teacher , was very pretty in the black viscose dress hemmed with a red frill, and as usual, was relaxed and looking very natural in...