by Steve Tanham
Close your eyes for a second and listen to your own mind. You don’t need to be anywhere quiet. It can simply be where you are. There are two schools of thought involving meditative practices: the first says you need to be somewhere detached from the world; the second states that the world – our world – is specially configured to give us deeply … Read More The worm-word and I : part ONE
by Steve Tanham
Close your eyes for a second and listen to your own mind. You don’t need to be anywhere quiet. It can simply be where you are. There are two schools of thought involving meditative practices: the first says you need to be somewhere detached from the world; the second states that the world – our world – is specially configured to give us deeply … Read More The worm-word and I : part ONE
by Steve Tanham
Although it was a continuation of the same trip, it would be misleading to continue with the ‘Poolewe Diaries’ as a title. The sailing from Ullapool to the Hebridean main island of Lewis marked the second week of the Scottish adventure, so a change of title is appropriate… Arriving on the island of Lewis, you get a strong sense of the remoteness of the … Read More A Hebridean Diary (1) Impressions of Lewis
by Steve Tanham
I’ve always loved piers… Most partly grown-up small boys do. It’s that sheer expanse of linear possibility… Breathtaking. Piers are usually associated with railway towns. In many ways the railway town was the forerunner of modern urban development. The ‘seaside’ was invented by railway companies who provided the means to get there – in three graduations of ‘wealth: third class; second class and first. … Read More That ‘end of the pier’ feeling
+ #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Consciousness, Lake District, myths and spirituality, Photographic techniques, Photography
by Steve Tanham
Continued from Part Six… The final day of a weekend like ‘The Journey of the Hero’ has to serve many purposes. It has to reinforce what has been shared; it has to send people on their homeward journeys with a smile… and a desire to do it, again. In short, it needs to embrace the companions with a warm hug! It also needs to … Read More Heroes in a Landscape (7) End of the Quest
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by Steve Tanham
Midsummer from the Pike My thanks to fellow blogger Ashley, for his evocative Haiku this morning, and from which I stole the title of this blog. My … On the hill of summer Michael from the Rivendale Review ‘took me home for the Solstice’ with this blog. I used to mountain bike ‘up the Pike’ on the Solstice evening. Surrounded by lakes and mountains, … Read More On the hill of summer
by Steve Tanham
Continued from Part Four…. See index below. We’re in Ullapool. Waiting to board the ferry to the Outer Hebrides – the island of Lewis, to be precise. Our first week in the far north-west of Scotland is over. We’ve marvelled at some of the most dramatic scenery we’ve ever seen. My iPhone has struggled to cope with the sheer scale of this land. It’s … Read More A Poolewe diary (5) : over the Minch to Lewis
by Steve Tanham
The raw picture had some pleasing elements. The ‘follow-line’ from the foliage down to the sea was attractive, but the width of the foreground diluted the impact. The first step was to deepen the ‘feel’ with a number of tonal changes. There’s no instant fix. It’s a process of trial and error. There is a danger of going overboard with the effects and making … Read More The subtle art of cropping
+ #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Consciousness, Lake District, myths and spirituality, Photographic techniques, Photography
by Steve Tanham
Continued from Part Five… There comes a moment in any weekend event when the carefully cultivated sense of order breaks down… no matter how good the plan. At that point one looks to ‘heaven’ knowing that the success is in the ‘laps of the Gods’. The man striding up the hill from Great Salkeld towards Long Meg Stone Circle possessed a brain whose capacity … Read More Heroes in a Landscape (6) Fellowship of the Shepherd
by Steve Tanham
We’ve got to approach this, carefully… Or you won’t have as much fun as I did. Badacro Creek… I’m not sure there’s a ‘creek’ in there, but if there’s not, there should be. Badacro is well known in these parts as a safe anchorage for boats, particularly sailing boats. It lies at the heart of a ‘jigsaw’ of inlets and creeks just south of … Read More A Poolewe diary (4) : Once upon a time in the far north-west
by Steve Tanham
We’re often in Heysham Village. Its beach is the nearest decent one to where we live. The Collie thinks it’s well worth the 40 mins drive… But the beauty is not the beach, it’s the cottages in the the main street that are special. The road winds steeply down to the start of the shore path that can be followed for several miles along … Read More A house in Heysham Village
by Steve Tanham
It seemed we were learning anew, each day… The decision to abandon the walk along the long ridge path to Ashness Bridge had been forced upon us by time constraints. It would cost us the boat ride back to Keswick – something that had immense emotional appeal – but, instead, it had given us back… calmness. After a snack lunch by the lake shore … Read More Heroes in a Landscape (5) River and Cave
Sun in Gemini 