SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Category: Lake District

January 14, 2024 + #Photography,, #Silenti, Consciousness, iPhone photography, Lake District, Mindfulness, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose, Seasons of the year

The liquid depth of January

by Steve Tanham

(📩 330 words, a two minute read) I love to discover a scene that epitomises (for me) the main characteristic of each month. January is a particular challenge! I took this one dangling the iPhone precariously over the safety railings of the village’s old bridge. As can be seen, the River Kent is in full flood, though not dangerously so. In mid December, 2015, … Read More The liquid depth of January

December 3, 2023 + #Silenti, Lake District, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose

Pale December Light

by Steve Tanham

The fading light in December is a challenge. There is a temptation to ‘settle’ for a monochrome approach to taking shots; looking only for high-contrast situations. But there are opportunities for compositions that lend themselves to a limited spread of subtle colours. As a second stage, modern editing tools can be applied to bring out a small selection of colours as highlights – such … Read More Pale December Light

November 28, 2023 + #Phoetry, #Poetry, #Silenti, Consciousness, Lake District, nature

The nature of fading colour

by Steve Tanham

©Stephen Tanham 2023 Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a mentored, journal-based journey from personality to the awakening of realised Self and its world of Being. http://www.thesilenteye.co.uk and http://www.suningemini.blog

November 12, 2023 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Castles, Consciousness, Lake District, landscapes

The Fury on the Horizon

by Steve Tanham

It’s a steep climb from Kendal’s town centre up to the old castle that still stands guard over this ancient town. Once there, you are greeted with 360 degrees of lovely landscape, ranging from the north end of Morecambe Bay to the Lakeland hills. Just to the north-east lie the less visited Howgills. I always glance across, as the view of hills and dales … Read More The Fury on the Horizon

November 5, 2023 + #Silenti, Consciousness, Lake District, landscapes, Photography

The surrender of final beauty

by Steve Tanham

Sometimes, the moment just is … in all its beauty. The leaves, their work done, let go the link to their sustenance and fall through space to an unknown place, where their form blazes briefly amidst their kin, before losing its cohesion in the harshness of winter, returning everything they have been, but not this memory, to the good earth. ©Stephen Tanham 2023 Stephen … Read More The surrender of final beauty

October 22, 2023 + #Phoetry, #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Consciousness, Lake District, landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose

The waterways of Bolton-le-Sands

by Steve Tanham

It’s like a Dutch canal system in miniature. It’s usually freezing cold, and seems to go dark quicker, there, than anywhere else we visit. Welcome to the hidden gem of the shore at Bolton-le-Sands, Lancashire. There’s a main channel that divides the long shoreline in two. The collie loves it, as she can vault over the narrow waters in pursuit of the frisbee; then … Read More The waterways of Bolton-le-Sands

September 17, 2023 + #Silent Eye, #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Consciousness, Lake District, landscapes, Photography

The waters of early autumn

by Steve Tanham

As a child, I remember being conscious of a few autumn days that had a ‘special gold’ in them. Walking the collie by the River Kent, I realised we were experiencing another. I looked down at the surface of the water and knew I had a short time to record one of the special moments that characterise such mellowness. ©Stephen Tanham 2023 Stephen Tanham … Read More The waters of early autumn

September 12, 2023 + #Humour, #Silenti, Consciousness, Lake District, nature

The extra coffee

by Steve Tanham

My wife and her sister had just left to do some local shopping. I was set to take the two dogs – one ours, the other minded for two friends touring northern Spain – onto the nearby beach for their second run of the day. It was a prospect neither seemed keen on… My mind had registered the lowering sky … but only subconsciously. … Read More The extra coffee

August 27, 2023 + #Silenti, Lake District, landscapes, nature

Dying back…

by Steve Tanham

Our beloved ash tree, which defines the far end of the garden, is doomed. We have several ash trees around the perimeter of the garden, and they – like all the others in this part of the world – seem destined to be either felled or cut right back to a small spread around the main trunk; the latter being left standing as a … Read More Dying back…

August 13, 2023 + #Silenti, Lake District, landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose, Short stories

Yard 17

by Steve Tanham

Kendal has a network of old alleyways. I’ve written about them before. They form useful shortcuts across the town. A kind of ancient ‘worm-hole’ is how it feel when you’re striding along one, knowing that you’re shaving precious seconds off the normal time; or sheltered, collar up on the long raincoat, from the cutting wind and rain of a Cumbrian January. Yard 17 is … Read More Yard 17

August 6, 2023 + #Phoetry, #Silenti, Lake District, landscapes

Sky like a painting

by Steve Tanham

It’s an effect I often try to achieve and seldom do. But on this occasion… Taken in Sedgwick on our evening dog walk last week. The dark July rain had relented, granting us a few hours of sunshine. The ‘washed’ feel of the landscape seemed to add to the feeling of something painted. And the clouds, well… ©Copyright Stephen Tanham 2023 Stephen Tanham is … Read More Sky like a painting

July 9, 2023 + #Silenti, Consciousness, Lake District, landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography, Seasons of the year

Gold and Grey

by Steve Tanham

I love that moment – when summer sun and dark clouds fight to cover the land below in a fast-moving and alternating patchwork of colour and it’s absence. If there’s gold on the land to bejewel the electric grey of the sky, even better… Here, at Fell Foot Park, on the southern tip of Windermere, the extremes always seem to be marked, both summer … Read More Gold and Grey