by Steve Tanham
I’m having a conversation with a lizard. Nothing to be alarmed about, the lizard is only in my head – quite literally, in fact. As Homo Sapiens developed over the long course of our evolution, the nature and function of the brain changed with us. At the top of our spine resides the first proper brain we possessed, named the Limbic. It is a … Read More Conversations with a Lizard
by Steve Tanham
The strange object – bottom right in the photo – is the top of our folded sun parasol which lives next to our patio table, outside the house. The ‘shades of lilac’ object in the background began its life as one of the biggest explosions the Earth would have ever seen… And its effects took approximately three days to reach the sky over our … Read More Aurora
by Steve Tanham
February has few attractions, other than it gets us to March, the prospect of Easter, and a definite change in the light. But, here on Lake Windermere, February does produce some wonderful morning mists… Boats slide gracefully into view, with a mystery and elegance that no digital effect can produce. There is also a quality of silence… like no other season. As though everything … Read More The soft mists of Windermere
by Steve Tanham
Stark, naked, the long cold night of winter Draws my will to live in shapes Whose beauty lies in number, Unseen to hands that touch My rough and dusty bark… ———- The limit of life is my companion As pale sun begins to feed Across the stellar miles And seeks – within the rough And blackened frame – The tiny hiss of sap. ———- … Read More Long naked division
by Steve Tanham
(📩70 words, winter poetry, a one-minute read) ———- ©Stephen Tanham 2024 All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12 ProMax. Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a journey of the soul guided by lessons, inner guidance and outer companionship. There are two blog streams: http://www.thesilenteye.co.uk (mystically-oriented writing) and http://www.suningemini.blog (general … Read More Raze
by Steve Tanham
(📩100 words, a one-minute read) The sky lit bright with promise The dark earth sodden and soft The tree – the form returning life will use to shape itself. Like, yet unlike, Each season different yet the same With a billion variants we do not see… ———- ©Stephen Tanham 2024 All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12 ProMax. Stephen Tanham is a … Read More Structures of Unfolding
+ #Photography,, #Silenti, Consciousness, iPhone photography, Lake District, Mindfulness, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose, Seasons of the year
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
by Steve Tanham
There was something of the celebrated children’s story ‘The Ice Queen’ about the beauty of the white formation of swans gliding towards me across the mercurial waters of the upper pond in Roundhay Park, Leeds. Saturday, and we were making a delayed New Year visit to our young grandson. Always a challenging journey at this time of the year – along the frozen A65 … Read More The swans of Roundhay
+ #iphonephotography, #Phoetry, #Poetry, #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, nature, Photography, Spirituality
by Steve Tanham
Sodden, like a soldier’s backpack hauled across the final freezing mile. The face of one determined To outlive, within an icy smile. A green chord, stroked arpeggio Denied its solemn tone But knowing minor E contains The fire in flint and spark in stone. The forest, bright with inner flame Disguised in mud and weeping bark Waits, silent, dripping, lost in time A holding … Read More Sodden
by Steve Tanham
I walk the collie through the local forest and marvel at the intensity of the green mosses and lichen growing on the limestone boulders and the forms of dead or dying trees felled by the savage winds we get in these parts – particularly between the start of November up to the new year. With the other side of my mind I curse the … Read More Green that thrives in winter
+ #iphonephotography, #Phoetry, #Photography,, #Silenti, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography
by Steve Tanham
There comes a time when even the most creative use of ‘pale colour’ results in a lesser image than its equivalent in black and white. When we get a shot for which no amount of digital rescue or fine-tuning will deliver success, it’s time to let the powers of monochrome have a go… Good results can often be achieved by taking the original to … Read More Beyond the edge of colour
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
Sun in Gemini 
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