SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Category: landscapes

May 4, 2021 + #Silenti, English Lake District, landscapes, Mystery Schools, Photographic techniques, Photography, Seasons, Four Seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter,

Seeing with Clouds

by Steve Tanham

In clouds, I find endless joy and food for both emotion and meditation. People often say, humorously, “You seem to be able to get clouds to do things for you!” I’m not sure that’s the case, but I am sure that I have an affinity with the sky and with the formation, shape and movement of these wonderful entities – and that has altered … Read More Seeing with Clouds

April 11, 2021 + #Silenti, Consciousness, landscapes, nature, Photography, Seasons of the year, Seasons, Four Seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter,

Turning Tides

by Steve Tanham

There are some moments when you just know that a seasonal tide is turning. It’s not often that they are capable of being recorded. This morning, I stepped out of the house, carrying the recycling, to find the brightest, most energetic cloud I’ve seen for months. It was ‘climbing up’ the sky behind the larch trees and seemed to be accelerating in a way … Read More Turning Tides

March 28, 2021 + #Collie dogs, #Silenti, landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography, Travel and Photography

Signs of Spring (3) : Raid a Resort!

by Steve Tanham

We all have preconceptions about places we know well. As photographers, we are uniquely placed to ‘sneak up’ and shoot a different story, deliberately skewing things.. The Lancashire resort of Morecambe is less than 30 minutes drive from where we live. Tess, our collie, loves the beaches there, and there is a three mile promenade allowing pleasant Sunday walks with access to take-away coffees … Read More Signs of Spring (3) : Raid a Resort!

March 21, 2021 + #Collie dogs, #Silenti, landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography, Travel and Photography

Signs of Spring : Beaches

by Steve Tanham

It’s easy when you have a dog. The charging collie clearly loves a beach. But I’m having as much fun as she is. You see, one of the greatest places to see the sky is the beach… Where the ocean meets the land is a wonderful place. Rocky, sandy or urban-developed, this ‘littoral zone’ has a special magic that spills over into opportunities for … Read More Signs of Spring : Beaches

March 9, 2021 + #Silenti, Consciousness, landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography, Silent Eye School

Eyes in the Sunset

by Steve Tanham

I love this time of year. The early spring offers an interesting mixture of summer light and winter forms. The last few weeks of the bare organic structures offer mischievous possibilities for a slight degree of editing… But sometimes, nature surprises without any artifice on the photographer’s part. In the opening shot, I was walking Tess through the local forest when I was startled … Read More Eyes in the Sunset

February 2, 2021 + #Silenti, Lake District, landscapes, nature, Seasons of the year

Winter’s Morning Moon

by Steve Tanham

As January lets go its dark and icy grip, passing us, with a smirk, into the often colder clutches of February, the marginally lighter mornings contain surprises that are harbingers of the spring to come. (440 words. A three minute read) One of these is what I have come to think of as the ‘winter morning moon’. Often quite high in the sky, the … Read More Winter’s Morning Moon

January 24, 2021 + #Silenti, landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography, Silent Eye School, Silent Eye Workshops, Yoga

Winter walks with Camera (7) : panorama

by Steve Tanham

The modern mobile phone puts an arsenal of photographic tools at our disposal. One of the strangest and most difficult to master is the panorama… yet the results can be wonderful. (550 words. A four minute read) The panorama is not a gimmick. It’s a wide-angled shot in which the correct proportions are retained, rather than the treatment of a ‘fish-eye’ lens, where the … Read More Winter walks with Camera (7) : panorama

December 13, 2020 + #Silenti, Consciousness, Lake District, landscapes, mystical travel, Photographic techniques, Photography

Winter wanderings with camera (2) Water: form and flow

by Steve Tanham

It flows, seemingly singular… until something intrudes. Then, instead of resisting, it parts at the level of molecules, and recombines on the other side. The bank is the end of one world and the beginning of another; a place of soft contrasts, where organic forms reach the limit of their existence, and begin to dissolve. The water embraces them all. Its force and flow, … Read More Winter wanderings with camera (2) Water: form and flow

December 5, 2020 + #Silenti, Lake District, landscapes, mystical travel, Photographic techniques, Photography

Winter wanderings with camera (1) mood and meaning

by Steve Tanham

Winter… Most, but not all, of the colours are gone. What remains is a harder edge of the spectrum, where contrast is to be hunted rather than assumed. And texture and shade take on a different level of purpose; to stand in for the vividness of summer’s colour, to beckon our eye to look deeper. The sky is the photographer’s winter friend, donating half … Read More Winter wanderings with camera (1) mood and meaning

October 25, 2020 + #Silenti, Lake District, landscapes, mystical travel, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography

Mellow moods for Autumn (4) : by the river

by Steve Tanham

Autumn is a beautiful time in the Lune Valley… The River Lune rises in the gentle hills of the Eden Valley, in Cumbria, the last western county before you cross the border into Scotland. It flows for 53 miles in long curves, defining a series of beautiful valleys. It’s most scenic section is where it passes a few hundred metres from the centre of … Read More Mellow moods for Autumn (4) : by the river

October 11, 2020 + #Silenti, Lake District, landscapes, Mystery Schools, myths and spirituality, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography

Mellow moods for Autumn (2) The Secret Path

by Steve Tanham

There are three ways back from the centre of Kirkby Lonsdale to Devil’s Bridge, where most visitors park their cars, if they’re just there for the views and, possibly, a coffee. There’s the river path, itself, with the steep descent down Mill Brow to the Lune Valley; there’s the main street out of the town to the south; and there’s this – the tree-lined … Read More Mellow moods for Autumn (2) The Secret Path

October 4, 2020 + #Silenti, Consciousness, Lake District, landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography, Seasons of the year

Mellow Moods for Autumn (1)

by Steve Tanham

A series of seasonal shots for Sunday, in either monochrome or with the colour reduced to give that mellow mood… The mists and the lane. The first mists gently fill the spaces between the trees at the end of the lane. So ‘soft and special’ you want to run out and take the shot before the shafts of sunlight disappear… ©Stephen Tanham, 2020. Stephen … Read More Mellow Moods for Autumn (1)