SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Category: Photography

I didn’t explain about the three drills… I’ve written about the new one – a slinky DeWALT with a noise that makes you shiver with DIYlight. The other two are older versions by the same maker. Buying the new one was prompted by the failure of both my re-chargeable batteries, when I tried to use the drill after a year of idleness… So, technically, … Read More Locked-down and Armed: one man’s struggle with entropy (5) – The White Rabbit

June 30, 2020 + History, humour, landscapes, Photography

Locked-down and Armed: one man’s struggle with entropy (4) – Push and Twist

by Steve Tanham

I didn’t set out to have three drills… The posh one, a nice DIY model from DeWALT, was bought because both the batteries for my previous drill failed at the same time, after lying idle in their case for nearly a year… My fault. So, with lockdown looming, we dashed out to Wickes in Morecambe and got a new one. Portable drills have come … Read More Locked-down and Armed: one man’s struggle with entropy (4) – Push and Twist

June 23, 2020 + History, humour, landscapes, Photography

Locked-down and Armed: one man’s struggle with entropy (3) – Two Peters…

by Steve Tanham

(Continued from Part two) Everything was quiet… Several hours after I began swinging the sledgehammer, there was finally peace from the destruction. I pulled up a wooden box and sat on it, wiping the congealed sweat from my forehead onto my arm. The Lucky Bag ‘number square’ idea from the last post seems to have caught the imagination, so I’ve updated it, below, to … Read More Locked-down and Armed: one man’s struggle with entropy (3) – Two Peters…

June 20, 2020 + #Poetry, Mystical poetry, nature, Photography, Seasons of the year, Spirituality

Summer Solstice 2020

by Steve Tanham

They placed a test within the breast Of humans, who go round and round To gaze on fullness, once, and then Descend, with scent and sigh From gold on face to black And back… ➰ So little held, this joy of June’s Delight and softest night with dawn A moment’s slumber distant Long grass between the fingers Petals’ kiss, a fleeting bliss A setting … Read More Summer Solstice 2020

June 16, 2020 + History, humour, landscapes, Photography

Locked-down and Armed: one man’s struggle with entropy (2) – ‘If I had a hammer..’

by Steve Tanham

“If I had a hammer…” The words rang out in my head. Peter, Paul and Mary giving it their all with one of the most memorable protest songs of the 1960’s. Now, I did have a hammer – a rather big one – and I was striding up the garden path towards an unsuspecting ‘Saltpetre’ with a hefty degree of intent… Bernie’s words rang … Read More Locked-down and Armed: one man’s struggle with entropy (2) – ‘If I had a hammer..’

June 14, 2020 + #PhotoZen, #ShortWrytz, nature, Photography, Spirituality

#ShortWrytz : Lucky

by Steve Tanham

Sometimes, you just get lucky… You’re standing there with a camera that will actually reach into the shot that you’ve just seen. You know that the moment will last less than a second, so you don’t even breathe, you just press. Sometimes, you get lucky. A second later, the glorious white flicker is gone… but left behind is the ghost it allowed you to … Read More #ShortWrytz : Lucky

May 26, 2020 + #ShortWrytz, nature, Photography, Places and Prose, Seasons of the year, Silent Eye School, Solar Year, Spirituality

#ShortWrytz : Fractal Loving

by Steve Tanham

I confess, I’m in love with the sky… A strange opening to a blog post, I know, but, when I came to think about my photographic relationship with the sky, it was simply one of love. “Look up!” The admonition was from Sue Vincent, one of my fellow Directors of the Silent Eye, when talking about churches and what lies above the normal eye-level. … Read More #ShortWrytz : Fractal Loving

May 19, 2020 + #Silenti, Consciousness, English Lake District, Photography, Spirituality, Stream of Consciousness

Painted Pebbles in the valley of the Moon

by Steve Tanham

John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era. He was also an art patron, watercolourist, prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, education and political economy. For the last quarter-century of his life, he lived at Brantwood – a house he designed on the shores of Lake Coniston. Despite this, one of … Read More Painted Pebbles in the valley of the Moon

May 5, 2020 + #ShortWrytz, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose, Seasons of the year, Silent Eye School, Solar Year, Spirituality

#ShortWrytz : The Time-Capsule

by Steve Tanham

I’ve written about it, before. The Saltpetre is a gunpowder store that was used to house the produce of the local gunpowder factory by the river Kent. The ‘black powder’ as it used to be called, was brought up through the village, slowly, by horse and cart – the cart having dressed wheels to help prevent sparks. There were many deaths in the village … Read More #ShortWrytz : The Time-Capsule

March 31, 2020 + #Silenti, Collie dogs, Dementia, humour, Lake District, landscapes, Photography, Silent Eye School, Spirituality

Circles around Sedgwick (1)

by Steve Tanham

It’s a Viking word, Sedgwick. It dates from the time when the Lake District was part of the Danelaw, the half of England under the rule of the Norsemen, and means ‘place by the river’. The river in question is the Kent, which flows from Kentmere lake through Kendal on its way to the estuary at nearby Arnside, then out as a major channel … Read More Circles around Sedgwick (1)

March 17, 2020 + #ShortWrytz, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose, Seasons of the year, Silent Eye School, Solar Year, Spirituality, Travel and Photography, Writing

#ShortWrytz : Dreams of Trees

by Steve Tanham

The river is just below. Close and beautiful, as always, but he’s photographed it a hundred times and the winter’s challenge is to find a new place; a place hidden in the old, hidden in the usual. And then, as he turns to seek elsewhere, it’s there. Devoid of leaves, its tall structure is all there is, but its presence is magnificent and dark … Read More #ShortWrytz : Dreams of Trees

March 10, 2020 + #Poetry, #Silenti, Lake District, nature, Photography, Poetry, Seasons of the year, Spirituality

Unfolding Lilac

by Steve Tanham

And then one day there will unfold Before delighted gaze A purple ring where thickest mud Had tempered walks on winter days ⦿ Where sliding boots had struggled To cross the sodden land Our eyes now look with wonder To gaze on colour’s gentle hand ⦿ Time and tide’s persistence Their essence of ascent From sodden bulb to flower’s joy A hidden rite of … Read More Unfolding Lilac