SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Category: #Silenti

I’m partial to stations… especially those that have history. The Victorian railways were a magnificent achievement, and changed British society in far-reaching ways. (600 words; a five minute read) During the late 1950s, and early 1960s my grandparents in Bolton used to take me for days out to the seaside. We never got as far as Grange-over-Sands, the lovely town that nestles at the … Read More #ShortWrytz: favourite buildings – Grange Station

February 14, 2021 + #Silenti, Photographic techniques, Photography

Winter walks with camera (10) flowing water

by Steve Tanham

Winter landscapes involving water are plentiful, but water can be a tricky subject to photograph. The eye is much more subtle than a camera lens, and we have to help the camera overcome this… (200 words, a two-minute read) Watery landscapes can look pale and ‘flat’ if you let the standard camera settings take charge. The lens is doing what it’s supposed to, but … Read More Winter walks with camera (10) flowing water

February 11, 2021 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Psychology, Silent Eye School, Unconscious

The Big Picture (4) : a kind of hammer

by Steve Tanham

As children, we lose ourselves in play and the toys or games that give the play structure: a skipping rope, chalk to mark out a court, balls to kick and control… perhaps, now, a computer to enter a virtual world. As adults we inhabit a different world, and the entanglements of our earlier years may pay us a return visit… (1400 words; a ten … Read More The Big Picture (4) : a kind of hammer

February 9, 2021 + #Cats, #Collie dogs, #FurryFives, #RagDollCats, #Silenti, Cats, Collie dogs, Consciousness, Dark Humour, Dementia

Books, coffee, knowing things…

by Steve Tanham

(This post is 600 words, a five-minute read) I loved the image… I’d credit its creator if I knew where it came from; but there it was in my in-tray. The cool black cat with the importantly steaming mug of coffee, and an engrossing book with covers in my favourite colour… all of it pushing back the awfulness of an English February. There’s a … Read More Books, coffee, knowing things…

February 7, 2021 + #Silenti, Photographic techniques, Photography

Winter walks with camera (9) dull green and soft ochre

by Steve Tanham

We think of winter as being full of disadvantages for the photographer, but it also brings unique colours and dynamic contrasts: from clouds in the sky to the low sun on the landscape. (200 words, a two-minute read) One of the most subtle contrasts is between the dull green of winter’s foliage and the colour of the residual life of trunk, branch, twig and … Read More Winter walks with camera (9) dull green and soft ochre

February 4, 2021 + #Silenti, Biology and mysticism, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Higher Mind, Life-sciences, Psychology, Silent Eye School, Unconscious

The Big Picture (3) : objects of desire

by Steve Tanham

The word ‘object’ has many meanings; but none more mysterious and potentially wonderful as the meeting of spirituality with the findings of psychology’s Object Relations Theory… (1400 words; a ten minute read) Everything in our daily world comes from them; they are the highs and lows, the anguish and the triumphs, the misery and the joy… and above all else, the overwhelming violence of … Read More The Big Picture (3) : objects of desire

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 31, 2021 + #Silenti, Photographic techniques, Photography

Winter walks with camera (8) first frosting

by Steve Tanham

I love that fragile first coat of snow that changes the landscape like a frosting… yet leaves the main features visible behind the sheet of white. Here, the thin snow is not sufficient to do anything but emphasise the railway tracks and the tall, bordering conifer trees. There was something stark about the collie and the single post in the field near the coastal … Read More Winter walks with camera (8) first frosting

January 29, 2021 + #Silenti

Acts of rebellion…

by Steve Tanham

From Sue… and evergreen. The Silent Eye Yesterday, I was looking through my photo files in search of a particular shot amongst the tens of thousands of files stored on my various drives. Most of those photographs document our journeys through the landscape, visits to sacred places and the beauty and history hidden within our mediaeval churches and cathedrals. Some, though, document the events … Read More Acts of rebellion…

January 28, 2021 + #Silenti, Consciousness

The Art of Drowning

by Steve Tanham

I’ve drowned before… Drowning comes in the form of waves. Eventually, when your ability to fight back has gone, even the smallest wave can make the difference and take you beneath the surface to a place of the unknown. Many years ago, I faced the inescapable collapse of the software business that we had spent eight years building from nothing. The business climate had … Read More The Art of Drowning

January 26, 2021 + #Poetry, #Silenti, Mindfulness, Mystical poetry

A dream of Ice Crystals

by Steve Tanham

Mystical poetry. (140 words, a two minute read) ➰ In icy dream We ate our picnic, you and I And watched while moonbeams Lit the curls of how and why And seated watchers watched the sky ➰ No frozen crusts of bread: This food of soul was liquid light Drawn, once, upon the glittering night Enmeshed, entwined, in meanings bright Like crystals on the … Read More A dream of Ice Crystals

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