When the final colours of autumn fade, there comes a time when a photographer’s attention changes to shape…
The fractal structures that propelled the fluids of life from Mother Earth to leaf, flower and fruit are revealed in near-monochrome starkness.
Other ‘forms’, some man-made, emphasise this distinction and evolution. Their shapes invite a ‘softening’ technique when taking this kind of photograph. This suggests an approach for the whole set, which I promptly redo!
Our final shot (above) takes this ‘softening’ technique to the extreme, and makes the image more like a painting.
-🔷-
©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 courses in deeper self-understanding alongside a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one sharing their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.
Contact via: rivingtide@gmail.com
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Last Leaves
by Steve Tanham
There’s always a day when you know you are walking among the ‘last of the leaves’.
Following the River Kent along the last mile of its length is a good way to experience the ´final fading’ of the Autumn landscape.
The steep banks of the river are covered in a variety of old trees – some of them dating back over a hundred years.
The final stretch, before the steep steps up to the A6, has a veritable carpet of fallen leaves, as in the opening photograph.
It’s a sobering moment – saying goodbye to the vast swathe of now-fading leaves … but the vibrancy of the spring is not far away.
-🔷-
©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 monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one sharing their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.
Contact: stevetemeq@gmail.com
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Mid-afternoon; a phone call from one of the best friends from my college days saying that her journey to our twice a year reunion had gone better than expected and that she would be a hour early.
Would we be in or should she park up somewhere and join us, later?
Tess the collie was overdue a decent walk. A man in a big Landrover had come to give our log-burner its annual service. Tess had waited patiently but it was wearing thin…
I could feel the cogs whirring. My subconscious mind had spotted a potentially dovetail.
Come off the motorway at Carnforth, I said. Follow the A6 north and turn into Levens Hall and we’ll meet you in the cafe … I glanced at my watch. Forty minutes time…
Tess did not like my pace through what is one of the county’s most beautiful landscapes. I was practically dragging her by the time we crossed the A6 and entered the central estate of the hall – and its cafe. From here – after our coffee and cake – we would have a lift home.
But by then, my camera had in it three of the best sunset-filled shots I have ever taken
Shared here … I hope you like them.
-🔷-
©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 monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one sharing their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation
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And out into the misty morning
by Steve Tanham
One of the advantages of taking Tess the collie out for her first dog-walk of the day is that feeling of being ‘immersed’ in the sights, smells and sounds of the seasons.
Here in Cumbria, the summer fades off abruptly and the chilly early morning air is accompanied by often beautiful mists. The dog loves this time of year – perhaps favourite doggy smells are heightened by the encroaching moisture.
At the very start of the walk, the old canal path (to which our garden has direct access) takes you past the aqueduct – the old centre of Sedgwick that used to be a key feature of the Preston-Kendal canal. Now closed and drained, it provides a haven for wildlife, and also affords great views across the village’s houses to the minor fells between us and Kendal town centre, only four miles distant.
There’s a certain ‘soft’ quality to the whole experience; a sense that this is to be savoured before the long Cumbrian winter and its icy winds blow it all away…
The elevated canal path is higher than the rest of the village and affords great views down into the few streets. The summer – with its abundant foliage – obscures this, but the autumn thinning leaves begin to reveal it in its faded green and gold glory – especially when caught by the rays of the rising sun.
As we walk, the mist begins to thin out) This is the upper structure of the aqueduct – look at the steepness of those massive stone steps none of which are uniform. Not to be risked if there is any chance of ice. The village council built the more softly sloping path in the previous photo to provide an alternative and prevent accidents. I once fell down four of those steps and it hurt…
Arriving later in Morecambe to meet up with Bernie’s sister, we are faced with the most beautiful sky. Autumn offers such a mixture of colours, but its glory is brief and to be seized…
-🔷-
©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 monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one sharing their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.
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Above the folded, faded parasols
Long-closed as dripping bathers left
To lave and lather sun-screen
From bodies exhausted with indolence.
Abandoned paperbacks part-read
discarded, folded with sticky fingers
in pages marked for tomorrow…
Point, mute, at the sky.
+++
Where
+++
Patterns like wild beasts’ pelts stretch
From Africa to seas once crossed by
Portuguese navigators whose outer space
Was ocean, vast, un-mapped and fierce.
+++
Laying aside the new notepad
No longer virgin..
Alone and briefly shamed,
I think of dinner…
…….ooo……
©️ Stephen Tanham 2024
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I remember my opening thought was ‘how am I going to convey the size and beauty of this place with mere photographs!?’
I had never heard of the Gouffre Géant (giant caves) of Cabrespine, though my son had. He’s of the techno-literati who can get detailed information on his iPhone within seconds – all of it relevant to where you are.
We were doing day trips: Father-Son-Grandson (two years old) – from the lovely city of Carcassonne using a small Renault rental car.
I knew there were giant caves here in the Occitanie region of southern France, but I had no idea how beautiful they could be.
The Gouffre géant – a giant underground chasm, is located 25 km from Carcassonne, and its presence dominates the small village of Cabrespine nestled high in the Clamoux gorges, at the foot of the Pic de Nore (1211m), close to the Pyrenees.
Cabrespine’s chasm and cave system is considered one of the ten most beautiful caves in the world and one of the largest – yet, unlike many of its peers, it is open to the public.
Part of the reason for this is the use of non-intrusive but extensive steel barriers to prevent ingress to the more dangerous areas of the cave floor and steep walls.
One of the reasons for this Géant’s success is that you can enter directly into the cave then onto the (optional) steel walkway that penetrates to the middle of the vast space.
To put the size into context, the cave is a near-spherical chamber that would happily swallow the Eiffel Tower… or about fifty Arc De Triomphes!
The tiny figure in the above photo (actually a dummy of a climber) and highlighted by the mauve spotlight is a (literally) moving tribute to the tenacity and bravery of the cavers who discovered the cave in the 1930s, using only hand tools, ropes and pulleys – and that after hiking for twenty miles to get here!
At the bottom of the chasm, there is an underground river with a blue marbled bed. This river continues through the Grotte de Limousis and finally emerges again beneath the Lastours Cathar châteaux, over twenty km away.
The Cabrespine ‘géant’ is famous for its wealth of crystallisations: aragonite, curtains, columns, waterfalls… all stars of the show, as well as the usual display of impossibly old stalagmites and stalagtites.
As per my title for the post, it was far more than a cave. There is a definite ‘hallowed’ feeling about this beautiful and startling space.
In my view, it is impossible not to feel the emotions of awe and wonder of the place. There is a vivid sense of the energy of ‘earth’, in all its meanings…
Truly a temple of the underworld.
(Above: colours in a way you’ve never seen them before)
Emerging from the underground wonder, there is a strong need for refreshments!
-🔷-
©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 monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one sharing their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.
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Someday soon in their lifetimes, our children will look back on ‘old photos’ like this, and smile at the hilarious lengths of wire we used to have to carry round – together with the multi-plug adaptors – to keep alive our small army of electronic devices.
Their pocket-sized multi-phased, bio-safe, adaptive ‘boosters’ will transmit low power around and – probably through – human bodies in domestic settings.
Personally, I can’t wait, and hope to live long enough to enjoy the new ‘freedom from cables’.
We’re enjoying a few days in Scotland. Couldn’t resist it! I hope to post some shots of the gorgeous autumn colours to follow!
Oh, yes… And here’s a fantasy image (made in NightCafe AI) of what the dream power box might look like. Size of a matchbox, of course … whatever that was.
-🔷-
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12ProMax or created using NightCafe Studio Al.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one on their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.
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It’s hard to say why I like this view of the shore houses at Bolton-le-Sads so much. It’s probably because, at this point in the final walk of the day, Tess the collie is ‘waggy-tail’ happy and leading the way around the deep tidal channel and back to the car via a tricky and unmarked route which sees us jumping over some of the smaller tidal pools.
The peace of the sky is a fitting contrast to our wet-footed clambering back to the footpath!
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12
ProMax or created using NightCafe Studio Al.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one on their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.
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I’ve always had an open mind on the reality of ‘fairies’ – earth elementals to many magical folk, and a very real presence to many in our woodland, and particularly landscapes with streams.
We recently had a visit by my son, his wife and family – two young girls who are both intelligent and delightfully open to new expereinces. They live in Queensland, Australia, where the climate and terrain is very different to Cumbria.
Our daughter-in-law has fond memories of staying with us during part of her final year at Durham-Newcastle medical school, when we had just begun the conversion of the old bungalow into what would be our future home. She wanted to show the children the places of her memories of the Lake District, even if their stay was to be only a few days.
We do our best to keep in touch with ‘the Aussies’ via video link and email, and the two girls love the little videos that I make when we are on walks, or when I’m taking Tess through the forest. A particular favourite was a series of video ‘shorts’ I took last spring, to introduce them to our very own ‘fairy-land’ on the Low Sizergh Estate. They are fond of the idea of fairies, and I had noticed they had several books on the topic.
We got busy devising an agenda that would dovetail one event into another without exhausting anyone…
Australia is a long way from Cumbria and they were still a little jet-lagged when they arrived.
Low Sizergh is a great place for families to bring their children either en-route to or coming back from a visit to the Lake Windermere area.
The fast-expanding old farm is both farm shop and cafe and offers a short walk through the forest and back through the place of the fairies. When we moved here, 13 years ago, we spent many days exploring the local walks.
The arrival of Tess the Collie regularised my visits to this beautiful enclave, which follows the banks of the largest stream to emerge from the higher ground near Levens and flows down the wooded farmland to enter the River Kent.
The Sizergh team have invested in expanding the ‘fairy presence’, and have recently added a magical tunnel made from willow. Our two girls, enchanted, began their journey there:
The end of the willow tunnel intersects with the return of the stream and soon we came to the ‘fairies parliament’ – a set of carved mushrooms on which they are reputed to sit and sing via moonlight. The girls loved it and crossed the stream to sit with them.
They looked very happy when they returned, jumping across the stream ‘as instructed’, and they hinted of conversations with the fairy-folk…
But our visit had to be brief, as we were due to catch a ferry from Bowness to Ambleside in the next 90 minutes, so I promised them I would come back on a sunny day after they had returned to Australia and see if I could take photographs of the real fairies to send to them.
In a grandfather-grandchild conspiracy, we had agreed that real fairies were free to take many physical forms, including those ‘bursts’ of sunlight through dense foliage.
I waited until one of those days where the autumn light was perfect and returned. The fairies must have been okay with my grown-up presence because they were very cooperative. Here are two of the best…
As I was leaving, I noticed a part-buried wooden stump on which were carved the words:
I sit in the sunshine and muse: the doorway to past lives
Hard to ignore…
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12 ProMax or created using NightCafe Studio Al.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one on their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.
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Taken recently, these photos of Maude’s Meadow, in Kendal, may well show the ‘last gasp’ of that beautiful week of golden weather we had – most certainly the best of the summer – here in Cumbria.
Maude’s Meadow is tucked away at the start of the Windermere road out of the town. If you didn’t know it was there, you’d never stumble across it.
The small park is circular in shape and marks part of the base of the steeply climbing Fellside area of Kendal, on which the streets are ‘stacked’ layer after layer to nearly the top of the Fell.
This part of Kendal was home to many of the original Quakers. To this day, Kendal has a strong connection with the Quaker faith. There is a Quaker college in nearby Ulverston.
In the centre Maude’s Meadow, there is a monument to those local soldiers who were killed in WW1.
In summer, the circle of grass has a bright centre of colourful plants.
The grassy edges of Maude’s Meadow are popular as a summer picnic spot. This is a sea of mud during the wet winter months…
And there are many ad-hoc seats for personal meditation and reflection.
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12
ProMax or created using NightCafe Studio Al.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one on their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation
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Some structures strike you immediately as a ‘model of life’.
It’s not that they are exact, or even comprehensive, but somehow they reflect an important aspect of life.
When I took this shot, of the interior of the Bentall Centre in Kingston-on-Thames, it reminded me of a J.C. Escher drawing; several of them, in fact.
Escher is famous for his multiple ‘stairways’, many of which appear to contradict the ‘laws of connection’. When I looked, again, at the photo I’d taken in Kingston, I saw the Escher in it, but there was a sense of much more order, and my mind began working on the parallels.
The floors brought to mind the idea of ‘levels of consciousness’, from the molecular stage of the materials, through the organic level of the body to the attainment of stable higher levels achieved in such practices as meditation.
The levels also reminded me of the constant ‘vertical’ movement of mood – something whose instability and unpredictability we dislike and fight to contain in interior structures that do not allow negative energy to flow.
The moving stairways I see as both will and inspiration. We can’t always use self-discipline to get us ‘up a level’ but a combination of that and inspiration might well.
The roof/ceiling of the Bentall Centre is a soft and beautiful contrast to the complexity beneath. It speaks of the grand curves of the skies and heaven, and of the ordering of the causal levels of being and consciousness.
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12
ProMax or created using NightCafe Studio Al.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one on their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.
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I’d read about it but never seen it: the celebrated ‘goose crossing’ manoeuvre at Bowness-on- Windermere.
With my wife off to do the monthly shop at Costco (Haydock on the edge of Merseyside) via a close friend’s house for a cuppa in Leyland, Lancashire, I needed to brave the constant heavy rain and take Tess the collie for a decent walk.
‘We’ opted for Bowness-on-Windermere. It’s only half an hour from where we live on the edge of Kendal and has a few excellent coffee shops for when Tess has done enough walking. Sadly, she can’t run much these days without the arthritis slowing her down painfully. Collies tend not to live much longer than ten years or so, and she’s approaching that.
The pitch and put golf course is open to responsible dog walkers and is one of her favourite walks. We potter around the edges and she explores all the new smells.
Arriving, we park at the far end of the golf course which requires a one-way circuit of the semi-circular lakeshore road. At this time of year the geese divide their days between the park – next to the golf course – and the narrow edge of Lake Windermere.
Their famous ‘crossing’ is at the narrowest point of the road.
They gather on the park, often in their hundreds, then the leader makes a lot of noise and they all – literally – line up in an orderly fashion and head for the lake … via the main road.
I stopped, of course. The lead goose turned its head to examine me through the rain … and nodded at me. I gazed in silent admiration as the whole flock followed in military precision. Thankfully, my phone was in the breast pocket of the raincoat I was wearing. The car was stationary and I managed to fumble it out halfway through the flock’s crossing, as you can see from the photo.
It was a cheery and uplifting moment.
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12
ProMax or created using NightCafe Studio Al.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers spiritual correspondence courses and a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one on their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.
Sun in Gemini 
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