by Steve Tanham
There’s something about March that is difficult to define… It’s a classically liminal month. Not quite the end of winter; not quite the start of the spring. You can be knee deep in mud yet standing next to a clump of glorious crocuses. When you get a good photograph, it’s to be celebrated … as they can be few and far between. This shot … Read More Bench March
+ #Silent Eye, #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Consciousness, Lake District, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose
by Steve Tanham
Just had to take this shot. Didn’t even know it was there until I stepped into the cafe next to the boarding pier for a quick cup of tea during one of our dog walks around Bowness-upon-Windermere. It was a grey Tuesday with poor light, and I hadn’t expected to find much to photograph, I collected my tea from the counter and turned to … Read More The Swift and Windermere
by Steve Tanham
As we approach the spring, it can be instructive to consider examples of how cherished things struggle to maintain vitality – and which ones succeed. The inevitable cycles of growth, maturity and decay are ever-present. But they are not all-powerful. Business fortunes as well as personal fate obeys certain laws of success and decline. As a young computer salesman with a (now long defunct) … Read More Decline, Fall … and Renewal
by Steve Tanham
I never used to like strong sun. The temperate summer of verdant and lush England always suited me fine. The rain was the price of the incomparable greens of the Spring. Everything was balanced… And then I became more involved with creative photography… and my trusty iPhone Pro has never been far from my questing fingers and eyes, since. But then I noticed, while … Read More Lines against the Sun
by Steve Tanham
Arnside on one of the dullest days of the year. In the viewfinder, there was nothing of interest. Half-heartedly, I pressed the shutter button and put the phone camera back in my pocket, content that I had a record of my visit. But when I looked at it over a coffee, back home, this appeared. Blurred and practically monochrome. But it was moody and … Read More Less is more
+ #Silenti, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose, Silent Eye School, Social History, Travel and people, Travel and Photography
by Steve Tanham
For over two decades, the centre of Manchester was only a short journey from our offices in the rapidly changing landscape of Salford Quays – then a barren set of post-industrial docks whose only offering to the 1990’s was a floating wine bar, soon to be burned to a hulk of floating black wood because it’s owner wouldn’t pay protection money to the neighbouring … Read More A return to Manchester
+ #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Consciousness, Lake District, landscapes, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose
by Steve Tanham
Here in the Lake District, colour can be hard to find in the Jan-March depths of winter. So I thought it might be fun to explore the replacement of faded colours – like those found in last year’s grasses and ferns – with a colour treatment that was blatantly artificial, yet suggested hidden fire and life… The grasses above are a good example of … Read More Stories of Winter Fire
by Steve Tanham
It’s called ‘The Lots’. It’s a heavily protected stretch of undulating land behind the rocky headland of Silverdale’s rugged coastline. Silverdale is one of the most northerly places on the Lancashire coast. Before the boundary changes that created Cumbria (soon to be sliced into a new set of nonsensical pieces) Lancashire extended all the way around Morecambe Bay to Barrow-in-Furness. The peninsula on which … Read More Silverdale in February
by Steve Tanham
One of the ‘easy wins’ in photography is to vary the shooting height of the camera by either getting higher… or, as in this case, lower. The large-screen camera phones have made this easy to do, since once you have placed the device on or close to the ground – often thanking your last Pilates class – it’s still possible to see the shot … Read More From Below…
+ #Silenti, English Lake District, Lake District, landscapes, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose
by Steve Tanham
Some days define… In this case the cold. The vastness of Morecambe Bay is sometimes defined by its light. In this case the deep blue of an early afternoon with icy winds to match. Ice on the foreshore by the lifeboat’s hovercraft station, clustered into tiny pools on the dark mud. Two small fishing boats – most of Morecambe’s shrimping fleet – provide the … Read More Some days define…
by Steve Tanham
There are photos that epitomise some particular quality of the natural world. January has a dearth of such moments. Its light is so thin that composition – outside of the contrasts of monochrome – is practically a matter of pot luck. But I was lucky. This part of the promenade at Grange is one of the coldest places you can be at this time … Read More Epitome
by Steve Tanham
New Years’ Day and we traveled from Kendal to Ilkley to have lunch with my son and his family. They live in Leeds and we often use Ilkley as a half-way meeting point to have a walk on the moor and then come down to the Hermit pub/restaurant that looks down on Burley-in-Wharfedale. The River Wharfe is a beautiful river originating within the Yorkshire … Read More The Seventh Day of Christmas
Sun in Gemini 