by Steve Tanham
Above the folded, faded parasols Long-closed as dripping bathers left To lave and lather sun-screen From bodies exhausted with indolence. Abandoned paperbacks part-read discarded, folded with sticky fingers in pages marked for tomorrow… Point, mute, at the sky. +++ Where +++ Patterns like wild beasts’ pelts stretch From Africa to seas once crossed by Portuguese navigators whose outer space Was ocean, vast, un-mapped and … Read More Virgin sky
by Steve Tanham
I remember my opening thought was ‘how am I going to convey the size and beauty of this place with mere photographs!?’ I had never heard of the Gouffre Géant (giant caves) of Cabrespine, though my son had. He’s of the techno-literati who can get detailed information on his iPhone within seconds – all of it relevant to where you are. We were doing … Read More Shimmering temple of the underworld
by Steve Tanham
Someday soon in their lifetimes, our children will look back on ‘old photos’ like this, and smile at the hilarious lengths of wire we used to have to carry round – together with the multi-plug adaptors – to keep alive our small army of electronic devices. Their pocket-sized multi-phased, bio-safe, adaptive ‘boosters’ will transmit low power around and – probably through – human bodies … Read More A smile on Sunday : cables
by Steve Tanham
It’s hard to say why I like this view of the shore houses at Bolton-le-Sads so much. It’s probably because, at this point in the final walk of the day, Tess the collie is ‘waggy-tail’ happy and leading the way around the deep tidal channel and back to the car via a tricky and unmarked route which sees us jumping over some of the … Read More A Wednesday photo
by Steve Tanham
I’ve always had an open mind on the reality of ‘fairies’ – earth elementals to many magical folk, and a very real presence to many in our woodland, and particularly landscapes with streams. We recently had a visit by my son, his wife and family – two young girls who are both intelligent and delightfully open to new expereinces. They live in Queensland, Australia, … Read More Shooting the Fairies
by Steve Tanham
Taken recently, these photos of Maude’s Meadow, in Kendal, may well show the ‘last gasp’ of that beautiful week of golden weather we had – most certainly the best of the summer – here in Cumbria. Maude’s Meadow is tucked away at the start of the Windermere road out of the town. If you didn’t know it was there, you’d never stumble across it. … Read More Last Gasp…
by Steve Tanham
Some structures strike you immediately as a ‘model of life’. It’s not that they are exact, or even comprehensive, but somehow they reflect an important aspect of life. When I took this shot, of the interior of the Bentall Centre in Kingston-on-Thames, it reminded me of a J.C. Escher drawing; several of them, in fact. Escher is famous for his multiple ‘stairways’, many of … Read More Structures of Organised Life
by Steve Tanham
I’d read about it but never seen it: the celebrated ‘goose crossing’ manoeuvre at Bowness-on- Windermere. With my wife off to do the monthly shop at Costco (Haydock on the edge of Merseyside) via a close friend’s house for a cuppa in Leyland, Lancashire, I needed to brave the constant heavy rain and take Tess the collie for a decent walk. ‘We’ opted for … Read More Goose Crossing
by Steve Tanham
The ‘gentle autumn’. It’s a phrase you might find in a poet or painter’s description of their work. As far as I know it has no official meaning. But for me, it’s quite specific, and describes the period in which the end of summer and start of autumn overlap. That time when there is still heat in the air – at least once the … Read More Start of the ‘Gentle Autumn‘
by Steve Tanham
I didn’t expect to be going back to Carcassonne in 2024. A few years ago, we began our cycling trip along the Canal du Midi here. I wrote extensively about the trip at the time. But then my son, who recently moved their family to Canada as part of a job promotion, announced he had booked a few days in Carcassonne to allow the … Read More Seven from Carcassonne
by Steve Tanham
Kingston-on-Thames; an ancient English borough, and a place we love to return to each year as the summer is coming to a close, and the sense of the autumn is on the breeze. Three hours on the train from Oxenholme – Kendal’s main west-coast station – a quick snack in London, then on to Waterloo Station and another train out to the south-west, getting … Read More A return to Kingston-on-Thames
by Steve Tanham
Continued from Part Two The rest of the story is best told in the pictures taken on the day… The Basilica of Aquileia as seen today is the result of a series of evolutions of the church built by Bishop Teodoro at the beginning of the 4th century, much of it remarkably intact. These periods of enlargement culminated in the long nave seen in … Read More Aquileia: a spiritual nexus of the ancient world (3)
Sun in Gemini 
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